Happy New Year to my wonderful readers. It's each and every one of you that make the labor of daily blogging worth it. I can't thank you enough for your continued support, encouragement, kind letters and comments.Although If It's Hip, It's Here received less national press than in 2008, the blog finally broke into Alexa's top 100,000 and readership has almost doubled.2009 was a very unusual year with lots of political, technological and cultural milestones and firsts, as well as tragic losses and economic struggles. It was the year we lost Michael Jackson and found Twitter. Swine flu spread as did the popularity of Lady Gaga. Facebook reached an all time high and myspace faded fast. And Tiger Woods fell from grace while we enter the Year of the Tiger.According to Google Zeitgeist, the following were the most popular search topics of 2009 both globally and in the US.Most popular Google searches worldwide, by category, of 2009:
1. michael jackson2. facebook3. tuenti4. twitter5. sanalika6. new moon7. lady gaga8. windows 79. dantri.com.vn10. torpedo gratisFastest Rising in Entertainment (Global)1. michael jackson2. transformers3. eminem4. naruto shippuden5. beyonce6. peliculas id7. paranormal activity8. anime online9. natasha richardson10. poker face lyricsFastest Rising in Food & Drink (Global)1. acai berry2. picnic3. クックパッド4. tesco direct5. senseo6. peanut butter recall7. nespresso commande8. habibs delivery9. mocktail10. masterchef australiaFastest Falling (Global)1. beijing 20082. euro 20083. heath ledger4. barack obama5. amy winehouse6. kraloyun7. dailymotion8. bebo9. wii10. emuleFastest Rising in Sports (Global)1. real madrid2. us open3. ufc4. sahadan5. livescore6. pacquiao vs cotto7. wbc 速報8. pga tour leaderboard9. confederations cup10. l'equipe footballPopular Queries By QuarterThe graphs below capture the fastest rising query for each quarter of 2009 (United States only), visualized over the entire year. To find the fastest rising query for each quarter, Google looked at the most popular searches conducted every three months and ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to the previous quarter. Note how some queries maintain a moderate level of search volume over an extended period of time, whereas others peak sharply and suddenly.Fastest Rising:Michael Jackson:Disasters:Late-Night TV Shows:Celebrity Scandals:Games:Athletes:And these were the most popular Google searches, by category, in the United States in 2009:Google.com - Fastest Rising1. twitter2. michael jackson3. facebook4. hulu5. hi56. glee7. paranormal activity8. natasha richardson9. farrah fawcett10. lady gagaGoogle News - Fastest Rising1. swine flu2. susan boyle3. jon and kate4. adam lambert5. rihanna (chris brown)6. new moon7. inauguration8. michael jackson9. nadya suleman10. missing link foundGoogle Maps - Fastest Rising1. mount everest2. laguna seca3. in-n-out4. grand canyon5. eiffel tower6. white house7. great wolf lodge8. wild animal safari9. voodoo doughnuts10. path stationGoogle.com - Fastest Falling1. john mccain2. olympics3. heath ledger4. barack obama5. sarah palin6. circuit city7. ron paul8. iron man9. spore10. wii fitGoogle Image Search - Fastest Rising1. lady gaga2. new moon3. michael jackson4. megan fox5. selena gomez6. rihanna7. taylor swift8. bella swan9. alice cullen10. jacob blackGoogle Mobile Search - Fastest Rising1. twitter2. michael jackson3. facebook4. imdb5. cta bus tracker6. bebo7. nba scores8. univision.com9. steve mcnair10. espn.comThe methodology used to determine the above:To compile the 2009 Year-End Zeitgeist, Google studied the aggregation of billions of queries people typed into Google search in 2009. They use data from multiple sources, including Insights for Search, Google Trends and internal data tools. They also filter out spam and repeat queries to build out lists that best reflect "the spirit of the times." All of the search queries they studied are anonymous—no personal information was used.Except where noted, all of these search terms are most popular for 2009—ranked in order of the queries with the largest volume of searches this year. In some cases, they list the "fastest rising" queries, which means they found the most popular searches conducted in 2009 and then ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2008. Conversely, "fastest falling" queries were very popular in 2008 but flattened in popularity in 2009.
