Some people regard the end of a year as an opportunity to plot the changes they’d like to make in their lives in the upcoming new year. Some people feverishly plan to get wasted on New Year’s Eve. Some people don’t care about the transfer into another year. If you happen to work in the media, the impending end of the year means you need to make a mad dash to compile as many meaningless Best Of lists as possible before January 1. It’s an imperative of journalism. If writers and websites don’t make as many lists as possible at the end of the year then the neutrinos at CERN get space-rabies and start to devour our reality like piranhas feasting on a bleeding two-headed cow carrion.

YouTube’s done their part to carry on this tradition. First they issued the most popular videos of the year, which is general enough that people’s interest probably justified the list’s creation. Then they reminded us which companies did the best job of mind-wiping us with marketing campaigns and compiled a list of the top advertisements of 2011. Sometimes, yes, even commercials can manipulate our emotions enough to stir within us a reaction while simultaneously beaming the Pavlovian command line “Buy Buy Buy” into our brain. People like to re-watch these commercials sometimes so, again, this list is justified.

Still trying to cover all of the made-up bases of Best Of lists, YouTube has now compiled a list of Most Viewed Food Videos of 2011. No, seriously. This is a list they made for people to watch. And here they are, in order of popularity:

Actually, if we’re going to validate this list with any integrity, this next video, which is the #5 Most Watched Food Video, should have been #1. Not only does this list prove that YouTube employees have nothing better to do this time of year except troll around their own website trying to think of different lists to make but they also have completely arrested sense of humors. Anyways, this is my favorite: Vegan Black Metal Chef!

YouTube still has three whole days before 2012 hatches so expect many other superfluous Best Of lists to be forked our way sometime soon. My hope is that we’ll see lists like Best High School Fight Videos, Most Popular Videos Of People Impersonating Animals, and Most Painful Cheerleading Fails and Most Painful YouTube Reactions to Most Painful Cheerleading Fails (a twofer!), and Best Liked Watching of Hotdog Eating Lady GaGa Impersonation Contests. You got any suggestions for YouTube Best Of video lists? Let us know below with your comments!