Ah 2010, what a year it has been. What’s the best way to find out what was on everyone’s minds over the course of the past year? By looking at the top Google searches, top Twitter trends, and most watched YouTube videos, duh! The search giant has gone all out this year with their public Google Zeitgeist 2010. What were this year’s hottest search terms? Well, just look in the bar graph above! The creepy video chat service Chatroulette took the top prize as the fastest rising query, and the rest of the list includes celebrities Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Apple’s iPad, game portals Friv and GameZer, ringtone maker Myxer, and social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. Click here to browse the entire Google Zeitgeist report. Search terms are categorized subject matter and region, and Google also put together some snazzy interactive maps to support the data analytics.
Look after the break to learn about the most popular Twitter trends and the most watched YouTube videos of 2010.
And the #1 overall top Twitter trend of 2010 is… the Gulf Oil Spill. What!? It’s not Justin Bieber? How could this be? I could’ve sworn that the pop star lived on the Trending Topics list for one year straight. Well he did make the list coming in at #8. Popular movies like the mind-melting obsession that is Inception and the cult favorite Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows made the list, too. The FIFA World Cup, the noisy Vuvuzelas, and the master predictor Pulpo Paul solidified top spots. In addition to the Gulf Oil Spill the devastation caused by the Haiti earthquake also made waves in the Twittersphere. And last it is interesting to see that Apple’s iPad device overtook Google’s Android platform in the latter half of the list. Click here to see more top Twitter trends organized by categories like News Events, People (Biebs is #1 here), and Hashtags.
Update: Twitter has gone ahead and let loose the top ten most retweeted tweets. They include tweets mainly from celebrities like Rihanna, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Joe Jonas, Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne, and Drake. Steven Colbert took the top spot with his “oil-soaked birds” gag.
Apparently Top Trending Topics and Most Retweeted are part of a larger “Twitter 2010: Year in Review” portal. Head over to that site and you’ll also find sections like “Who’s New”, “Most Powerful”, and “#Hindsight2010”.
Now let’s turn things over to YouTube. There have been so many great viral hits this year; did your favorites make the cut? Watch the video above for a YouTube Year in Review recap. The top ten most popular YouTube videos in 2010 were…
Top 10
#1: Bed Intruder Song – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW…
#2: Tik Tok Kesha Parody – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7n8Gq…
#3: Greyson Chance ‘Paparazzi’ – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDlC7…
#4: Annoying Orange Wazzup – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL_qGM…
#5: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (Old Spice)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykV…
#6: Giant Double Rainbow – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk…
#7: This Too Shall Pass OK Go – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFn…
#8: The Twilight Saga Eclipse Trailer – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2HIda…
#9: Jimmy Surprises Bieber Fan – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKEQwv…
#10: Gymkhana Three, Part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TshFW…
2010 definitely proved to be a double rainbow all the way kind of year. It was that intense.