Google Search 2011: The Fastest-Rising Terms Of The Year

Google has released its Zeitgeist 2011 review looking back on the search engine's top trends of the year.

The company has launched a mini site where visitors can explore interactive lists of the most popular topics that users queried Google to find. Here, you can see the fastest-rising global search terms and compare more specific categories of search trends, such as the fastest-falling search terms or the fastest-rising consumer gadgets. Google also breaks its data down by country; users viewing search data for the U.S. can check out lists of the top 10 searches across categories like sports, news and celebrity.

In a post on the Google Blog, Google fellow Amit Singhal, marveled at the various search terms that highlight cultural drifts and momentous events that took place around the world this year. Writes Singhal:

When looking at the data, it is fascinating to see the cultural fads and trends that took over the globe, from cupcakes (making top food lists in over a dozen countries) to the Dukan diet and high-profile weddings, but Google was used for much more than staying up to date on the sisters Middleton and Kardashian. From local celebrities in Finland to Singaporeans looking for news on the revolutions in Egypt and Libya half a world away, people turned to Google to learn more about what was happening on the world stage. It wasn’t just the man-made moments that topped the charts this year, but also the natural disasters that literally shook the world, from Hurricane Irene in the U.S. to the earthquakes in Christchurch and Japan.

This year, the top global searches that spiked fastest in popularity included the death of two public figures, a gadget that never launched, an awesomely bad YouTube video and more. Check out the slideshow (below) to view the 9 fastest-rising Google searches of 2011. You can also take a look at our Zeitgeist 2010 coverage to see how trends have shifted since last December. To compare Google's year-end review data with that of rival search engine's check out Yahoo's top 10 searches of 2011 and the most popular gadgets on Bing. Then, take a look at the 15 most-shared news stories on Facebook, as well as the top 7 Twitter hashtags from the past year.

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Comments

[libertarian101]

12:43 AM on 12/19/2011

What's google?

[Nick Walton Realtor]

06:26 PM on 12/18/2011

I must be getting old as I have never heard of Rebecca Black either.

[Kritikos]

02:45 PM on 12/16/2011

Say What?!

[Yes We CanCan]

12:40 PM on 12/16/2011

Who is Rebecca Black?

Who is Ryan Dunn?

(And don't answer back "duh".)

[Clare53]

02:32 PM on 12/16/2011

Beats me.

[BG-back]

07:08 AM on 12/16/2011

OWS or the ME uprisings never made it???

[HeartlandLiberal]

07:04 AM on 12/16/2011

Well, I Googled Rebecca Black out of morbid curiosity, and was led to her song, "Friday" on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfVsfOSbJY0&feature=artist

That is several minutes of my life I want back. Please. At least the UPS ad with the cute animated stop action origami dinosaur was worth watching. The video? Not so much.

Also interesting are the likes vs. the dislikes of the video: 76,134 likes, 281,658 dislikes .

Many in the comments also get right to the point, e.g.:

"I asked my 15 year old niece if this is what kids her age listen to, she punched me in my face. I deserved it."

[Runey]

08:06 AM on 12/16/2011

lol. I'm surprised you hadn't at least heard about it before this!

[invirginia]

08:38 AM on 12/16/2011

I haven't heard of it either. Now I'm glad. Thanks HeartlandLiberal for doing the legwork for me.

[Yes We CanCan]

12:41 PM on 12/16/2011

Don't laugh! Not everyone cares about trivia.

[PenguinLinux]

11:24 AM on 12/16/2011

I'd rather be Rick Rolled than watch that video ever.

[HeartlandLiberal]

06:59 AM on 12/16/2011

Rebecca Black? Who the heck is Rebecca Black? I guess I will have to Google her.

One other question: Did this report simply exclude searches that were porn related? Frankly, I have a hard time believing they would not appear in any such list.

[Yes We CanCan]

12:41 PM on 12/16/2011

Same here. F/F

[NevadaLiberal]

01:07 AM on 12/16/2011

Google Santorum, and click on the opening site.

[Alma Carranza]

01:04 AM on 12/16/2011

Why is Adele not #1. Why. WHY.

[WhatWhat1]

06:22 AM on 12/16/2011

Never heard of her. (Really).

[HeartlandLiberal]

07:08 AM on 12/16/2011

You should Google her, as I did Rebecca Black. You will be pleased to discover someone who can actually sing with incredible beauty and spirit. Unlike Rebecca Black, whose video on YouTube is drawing dislikes like flies on.... well, honey, to be kind. At the moment: 76,140 likes, 281,665 dislikes.

But go listen to Adele's "Someone Like You", then "Fire in the Rain". I just hope her doctor's can knock some sense into her after her recent throat surgery, and get her to stop smoking, before she destroys one of the most amazing voices to have emerged in the music world in some time.

[roscoewpa]

12:28 AM on 12/16/2011

wheres Rick Santorum hes gotta be in the top 10

[Liberal Chic]

11:58 PM on 12/15/2011

It's times like this when I just say, "COME ON AMERICA! We are better then this!"

[bryan broome]

02:26 AM on 12/16/2011

Apparently we are not. But I take great pride in not having googled any of the top 10. I have Yahooed! google though.

[MikeyJaii]

11:58 PM on 12/15/2011

No porn?!?!

[tyrant510]

01:44 AM on 12/16/2011

i'm sure they don't include it in the rankings. ;)

[zenbamboo]

11:41 PM on 12/15/2011

Okay. I confess. I had something to do with Rebecca Black's ranking. But now I can't get that song out of my head!

[WhatWhat1]

06:23 AM on 12/16/2011

You've made your bed . . .
:-)

[babyjesussaysso]

11:33 PM on 12/15/2011

I am so unhip I didn't search for any of those things...

[bryan broome]

02:27 AM on 12/16/2011

Unhip? Let's call it refined.

[babyjesussaysso]

12:41 PM on 12/16/2011

Works for me...

[Lisbeth35]

10:58 PM on 12/15/2011

so, now the cycle continues and I now have to google who is ryan dunn?

[tiptop3]

12:00 AM on 12/16/2011

no kidding and what's a rebecca black?