IndustryYahoo Year in Review 2012: Election, iPhone 5 & Kim Kardashian

Yahoo Year in Review 2012: Election, iPhone 5 & Kim Kardashian

For the 12th consecutive year, Yahoo has revealed the most popular searches of the year. From memes and obsessions to scandals and viral photos, Yahoo managed to capture dozens of top 10 lists based on people's search queries.

Yahoo 2012 Year in Review

It’s back. For the 12th straight year, Yahoo has announced their annual year in review. Since 2001, Yahoo has compiled lists of the top search queries entered into the search box in an attempt to determine the year’s top stories, fads, and celebrities.

Changing it up every year, Yahoo decided they would make the 2012 edition of Year in Review a mega list of top 10 lists for various categories. From memes and obsessions to scandals and viral photos, Yahoo managed to capture dozens of top 10 lists based on your search queries.

The Overall Search Top 10 of 2012

The top 10 overall searches from 2012 contained six celebrities: J-Lo, Lindsay Lohan, Whitney Hoston, Kate Middleton, Kate Upton, and Kim Kardashian.

For the third year in a row a celebrity did not take home the number one spot. Instead, the phrase [election] gained the top search on Yahoo in 2012.

The phrase [political polls] also made the list at number eight. This is in stark contrast to last presidential election year where Britney Spears and WWE toppled Barack Obama in 2008 and the only term remotely close to voting was the 2008 #10 spot, [American Idol].

For only the fourth time in the past 12 years and second consecutive year, Britney Spears did not make the list. She had originally taken the top spot for the first six years of the list’s existence.

Apparently, our culture has grown up slightly.

2012 Top 10 Yahoo Searches

  1. Election
  2. iPhone 5
  3. Kim Kardashian
  4. Kate Upton
  5. Kate Middleton
  6. Whitney Houston
  7. Olympics
  8. Political Polls
  9. Lindsay Lohan
  10. Jennifer Lopez

From animals to wonders in space, Yahoo compiled a near A-to-Z list of top 10 search queries. Here’s more of what people searched for on Yahoo in 2012:

Top Obsessions

  1. iPhone 5
  2. Political Polls
  3. Mega Millions
  4. “The Hunger Games”
  5. Honey Boo Boo
  6. “Fifty Shades of Grey”
  7. One Direction
  8. “Call Me Maybe”
  9. “Gangnam Style”
  10. Titanic

Top News

  1. Election 2012
  2. Whitney Houston
  3. Hurricane Sandy
  4. Gas prices
  5. Trayvon Martin case
  6. Colorado Shooting
  7. Jerry Sandusky trial
  8. Joran van der Sloot
  9. Miami cannibal attack
  10. Facebook IPO 

Impressive Animals

  1. Stingray photobom
  2. Purple squirrel
  3. World’s smallest dog
  4. Fat cat
  5. World’s cutest dog
  6. Canine hero
  7. Loyal German Shepherd
  8. Pit bull troublemaker
  9. Gorilla carries child
  10. World’s longest snake

Top Scandals

  1. Kate Middleton photos
  2. Jackson family fight
  3. Lance Armstrong doping
  4. General David Petraeus affair
  5. Saints bounty suspensions
  6. Bobby Petrino affair
  7. Secret Service in Colombia
  8. Jimmy Savile/BBC controversy
  9. Air Force sexual assault investigation
  10. London Whale

Women’s Issues

  1. Sandra Fluke
  2. Elizabeth Warren
  3. Planned Parenthood
  4. Abortion
  5. Air Force scandal
  6. Susan G. Komen
  7. Darla Moore
  8. Sheryl Sandberg
  9. Todd Akin
  10. Time breastfeeding cover

Viral Photos

  1. McKayla Maroney
  2. Angelina’s Leg
  3. Moon as Olympic ring
  4. Mohawk Guy
  5. Sedated bear falling out of tree
  6. Kissing kids photobomb Obama
  7. Space shuttle in transit
  8. Real-life Barbie
  9. Most retweeted Obama photo
  10. Ridiculously Photogenic Guy

International News

  1. “Kony 2012”
  2. Pussy Riot Punk Band
  3. Costa Concordia
  4. “Innocence of Muslims”
  5. North Korea
  6. Libya
  7. Malala Yousafzai
  8. Julian Assange
  9. Syria
  10. Bo Xilai

Wonders in Space

  1. Mars Rover
  2. NASA
  3. Solar Eclipse
  4. Meteor Showers
  5. Space Jump
  6. Space Shuttles
  7. Neil Armstrong
  8. SpaceX
  9. Transit of Venus
  10. Blue moon

Natural Disasters

  1. Hurricane Sandy
  2. Colorado wildfires
  3. Texas tornadoes
  4. Hurricane Isaac
  5. FEMA
  6. Texas hall
  7. Blizzard
  8. Hurricane Leslie
  9. Drought
  10. Heatwave

Want to revisit past installments of the most popular searches on Yahoo? Check out SEW’s coverage from 2011 and 2010.

Resources

The 2023 B2B Superpowers Index

whitepaper | Analytics The 2023 B2B Superpowers Index

8m
Data Analytics in Marketing

whitepaper | Analytics Data Analytics in Marketing

10m
The Third-Party Data Deprecation Playbook

whitepaper | Digital Marketing The Third-Party Data Deprecation Playbook

1y
Utilizing Email To Stop Fraud-eCommerce Client Fraud Case Study

whitepaper | Digital Marketing Utilizing Email To Stop Fraud-eCommerce Client Fraud Case Study

1y