It’s that time of year again. Google has updated its Zeitgeist site for 2012, looking at the most popular search trends of the year. The company has been doing this for 12 years.
Google has added some bells and whistles to the site that weren’t available in previous years. There is an interactive map showing search spike locations and times, for example.
Google is also launching Zeitgeist Android and iOS apps. The Android app will be available today, the company says, but does not specify when the iOS version will be ready.
Google says it has seen 1.2 trillion searches in 146 languages.
Here, Google reviews the year in under three minutes (video produced by Whirled):
“Global superstar Whitney Houston topped many countries’ lists as well as three of our overall trending lists—her unexpected death surprising fans around the world,” says SVP & Google Fellow Amit Singhal. “From Korea, YouTube sensation PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ signature dance took the world by storm, landing him the #1 spot in many countries and making his song the second most trending query of 2012. (PSY’s video became the #1 most watched in YouTube history—stay tuned for YouTube’s Rewind for more.)”
“Then there was the superhuman,” he adds. “Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner’s epic free fall jump made him the #6 globally trending person of the year, while the 2012 Olympics and its various athletes made it into almost every country’s top trends. And NBA player Jeremy Lin also rose on the charts this year, making him the #1 trending athlete globally.”
He also notes that web users took “a serious interest” in threats to the open Internet like SOPA and ACTA, which both appeared on many countries’ lists.
Now, let’s look at some of those lists.
The World’s Top Searches
1. Whitney Houston
2. Gangnam Style
3. Hurricane Sandy
4. iPad 3
5. Diablo 3
6. Kate Middleton
7. Olympics 2012
8. Amanda Todd
9. Michael Clarke Duncan
10. BBB12
The World’s Top Image Searches
1. One Direction
2. Selena Gomez
3. iPhone 5
4. Megan Fox
5. Rihanna
6. Justin Bieber
7. Harry Styles
8. Minecraft
9. Nicki Minaj
10. Katy Perry
The World’s Top Consumer Electronics Searches
1. iPad 3
2. Samsung Galaxy S3
3. iPad Mini
4. Nexus 7
5. Galaxy Note 2
6. Play Station
7. iPad 4
8. Microsoft Surface
9. Kindle Fire
10. Nokia Lumia 920
The World’s Top Google+ Hashtags
1. #SOPA
2. #Awesome
3. #Sandy
4. #IO12
5. #Curiosity
6. #Olympics
7. #SXSW
8. #Debate
9. #BlastFromThePast
10. #Eastwooding
Top Trending Searches In The U.S.
1. Whitney Houston
2. Hurricane Sandy
3. Election 2012
4. Hunger Games
5. Jeremy Lin
6. Olympics 2012
7. Amanda Todd
8. Gangnam Style
9. Michael Clarke Duncan
10. KONY 2012
Top Trending People Searches In The U.S.
1. Whitney Houston
2. Jeremy Lin
3. Amanda Todd
4. Michael Clark Duncan
5. Kate Middleton
6. One Direction
7. Morgan Freeman
8. Peyton Manning
9. Joe Paterno
10. Paul Ryan
Top Trending Events Of 2012
1. Hurricane Sandy
2. Presidential Election
3. Super Bowl
4. Olympics
5. UEFA Euro 2012
6. KONY Movement
7. SOPA Protest
8. Aurora Shooting
9. Trayvon Martin Case
10. Hurricane Isaac
Top Trending How-To Searches In The U.S.
1. How to love
2. How to rock
3. How to vote
4. How to install
5. How to hate
6. How to archer
7. How to wobble
8. How to calculate
9. How to root
10. How to tebow
Top Trending “What Is” Searches In The U.S.
1. What is SOPA
2. What is Scientology
3. What is KONY
4. What is Yolo
5. What is Instagram
6. What is Pinterest
7. What is Lent
8. What is Obamacare
9. What is iCloud
10. What is Planking
Top Image Searches In The U.S.
1. One Direction
2. Funny Pictures
3. Nicki Minaj
4. Justin Bieber
5. Love
6. Flowers
7. Selena Gomez
8. Heart
9. Money
10. iPhone 5
Top Searched Cities in Google Maps In the U.S>
1. San Francisco, CA
2. Chicago, IL
3. Denver, CO
4. Los Angeles, CA
5. New York, NY
6. Dallas, TX
7. Washington, DC
8. Houston, TX
9. Seattle, WA
10. Boston, MA
Top Searched Local Places In Google Maps
1. Hotel
2. Restaurant
3. Walmart
4. Apartment
5. Starbucks
6. Target
7. Parking
8. Bank
9. Camping
10. Home Depot
Top Searches For International Travel Destinations From U.S.
1. Toronto
2. Paris
3. San Juan
4. Cancun
5. Vancouver
6. Rome
7. Montreal
8. Tokyo
9. St Thomas Island
10. San Jose del Cabo
Top Trending Tech Gadgets In U.S.
1. iPad 3
2. iPad Mini
3. Samsung Galaxy S3
4. Kindle Fire
5. Nexus 7
6. Microsoft Surface
7. Galaxy Note 2
8. Samsung Galaxy S2
9. iPhone 5
10. Nokia Lumia 900
Top Trending Phone Searches In U.S.
1. iPhone 5
2. iPhone 4s
3. Samsung Galaxy S3
4. Galaxy Note
5. Galaxy Note 2
6. Blackberry Bold
7. Blackberry Curve
8. Nokia Lumia 900
9. Windows Phone 8
10. Motorola Droid Razr
Top Trending Mobile/Tablet Apps In U.S.
1. Temple Run
2. Instagram
3. Google Play
4. Draw Something
5. Logo Quiz
6. Socialcam
7. Angry Birds Space
8. Pinterest
9. Amazon App
10. Facebook App
Top Trending Video Games In U.S.
1. Diablo 3
2. Borderlands 2
3. Mass Effect 3
4. Halo 4
5. Skyrim
6. Black Ops 2
7. Madden NFL 13
8. Resident Evil 6
9. WrestleMania XXVIII
10. FIFA 13
Top Google Doodles in U.S.
1. Soccer Doodle
2. Moog Doodle
3. Turing Doodle
4. Halloween Doodle
5. Nemo Doodle
6. Zipper Doodle
7. Valentine’s Day Doodle
8. Archery Doodle
9. Father’s Day Doodle
10. Faberge Doodle
There are plenty more lists where those came from. You can browse numerous countries across numerous categories, including News, Pop Culture, Fashion, Lifestyle, Science, Tech & Gadgets, Sports, Humanities and Cities.
Facebook also put out its top trends today.