Apple's iPhone topped the list of fastest rising search items on Google in 2007, but it's nowhere to be seen in 2008. This year's annual Zeitgeist has revealed Google's fastest-rising search queries and it suitably reflects the U.S. election.
That isn't to say that President-elect Obama is once again victorious, though. The senator's surname is only the sixth most-searched-for query, behind the late Heath Ledger - star of the year's biggest blockbuster, The Dark Knight.
Topping the global list is the losing Republican Party's vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, followed by "beijing 2008" and "facebook login" in second and third places, respectively.
In the UK, "iplayer" became the fastest rising query of the year, but the most popular searches remain dominated by social networking websites with Facebook and YouTube featuring in the top three. In a year of economic depression, the term "jobs" also entered the top 10.
The UK's top-ten results in various categories are detailed by Google as follows:
Fastest Rising | Most Popular | Politicians (Most Popular) |
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Recipes (Fastest Rising) | Finance terms (Fastest Rising) | Hottest tickets (Fastest Rising) |
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For global results, please refer to the official 2008 year-end Google Zeitgeist website.