Gangnam Style, Kate Middleton and the iPad 3 ride high in 2012 searches

Gangnam Style, Kate Middleton and the iPad 3 all in Google's 2012 zeitgeist
Gangnam Style!

What do Victoria Pendleton, the iPad 3, Skyfall and Gangnam Style have in common? They are all featured in this year's Google Zeitgeist list for 2012 for the year's hottest search terms.

Gagnam Style was always a likely inclusion given that Psy's Korean super hit went viral in a big way, even managing to usurp Bieber at the top of the YouTube watch list.

Interestingly Euro 2012 managed to outperform the 2012 Olympics, while Andy Murray's one-two punch of Olympic gold and a Grand Slam victory made him the most popular Olympian.

Y factor?

The falling star of X Factor means that its normal dominance is restricted to judges and a drop out – with Lucy Spraggan's songwriting skills gaining her an entry in the music list and Gary Barlow and Tulisa also making the people list

Kate Middleton made her normal entry into the trending searches list and the gadget world's top ten entry was provided by iPad 3.

Other interesting entries include Netflix – which arrived in the UK and bagged itself an impressive 6th spot, while Whitney Houston was the top trending person following her death in 2012.

Trending Searches 2012

1. Euro 2012
2. Olympic tickets
3. Whitney Houston
4. Kate Middleton
5. April Jones
6. Netflix
7. Natwest online
8. iPad 3
9. Gary Barlow
10. Gangnam Style

Trending People

1. Whitney Houston
2. Kate Middleton
3. Gary Barlow
4. Tulisa
5. Jessica Ennis
6. Fabrice Muamba
7. Michael Clarke Duncan
8. Morgan Freeman
9. Prince Harry
10. Usain Bolt

British Olympians

1. Andy Murray
2. Tom Daley
3. Jessica Ennis
4. Mo Farah
5. Victoria Pendleton
6. Bradley Wiggins
7. Chris Hoy
8. Rebecca Adlington
9. Laura Trott
10. Louis Smith

Global Olympians

1. Usain Bolt
2. Michael Phelps
3. Roger Federer
4. Yohan Blake
5. Ryan Lochte
6. Venus Williams
7. Rafael Nadal
8. Novak Djokovic
9. Tyson Gay
10. Missy Franklin

Trending TV Shows

1. Mike the Knight
2. Homeland
3. TOWIE
4. The Jonathan Ross Show
5. Celebrity Big Brother
6. Sherlock
7. The Great British Bake Off
8. Game of Thrones
9. Big Bang Theory
10. How I Met Your Mother

Trending Movies

1. Skyfall
2. Prometheus
3. The Hunger Games
4. Magic Mike
5. Taken 2
6. The Avengers
7. The Woman in Black
8. The Dictator
9. Sinister
10. The Devil Inside

Trending Music Artists

1. Lucy Spraggan
2. The Military Wives
3. Will.i.am
4. Emeli Sande
5. Psy
6. One Direction
7. The Spice Girls
8. Muse
9. Girls Aloud
10. Dizzee Rascal

Trending Songs

1. Gangnam Style
2. Call Me Maybe
3. Blow Me One Last Kiss
4. Beneath Your Beautiful
5. The Official Olympic Song (Survival by Muse)
6. Skyfall
7. Somebody That I Used To Know
8. We Are Young
9. Too Close
10. 212

Trending Sports

1. Synchronized Swimming
2. Murderball
3. Wheelchair Basketball
4. Volleyball
5. Archery
6. 100 metre sprint
7. Taekwondo
8. Gymnastics
9. Cycling
10. Athletics

How to (top searches for 'How to' in 2012)

1. draw
2. kiss
3. make
4. crochet
5. knit
6. meditate
7. flirt
8. sing
9. hack
10. pronounce

What is (top searches for 'What is' in 2012)

1. love
2. icloud
3. 3G
4. scientology
5. instagram
6. autism
7. diabetes
8. yolo
9. illuminati
10. ms

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.