Google Publishes Zeitgeist 2009 – Michael Jackson Crowned King Again
Robin Wauters
Dec 1, 2009

Microsoft already featured the top search terms entered in its Bing search engine this year, leading us to conclude that “Michael Jackson Beats Out Twitter”. On Bing, that is.

But we could have picked nearly the same headline for Google’s just-published Zeitgeist 2009, only it would read “Michael Jackson Beats Out Twitter, Facebook And Windows 7″.

Google once again examined the billions of queries that people around the world typed into its search box for the past year, weeded out the spam and NSFW stuff and came up with this list of the fastest rising search terms on a global level:

1. michael jackson
2. facebook
3. tuenti
4. twitter
5. sanalika
6. new moon
7. lady gaga
8. windows 7
9. dantri.com.vn
10. torpedo gratis

No, I don’t know why so many people searched for a free torpedo, nor do I know what a sanalika or a dantri.com.vn is, but lists never lie so we’ll take their word for it.

For the United States only, Twitter actually beat Michael Jackson for the ‘Fastest Rising’ category, which means those Google found to be the most popular searches conducted in 2009 and were next ranked based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2008.

The full list for Google.com (US):

1. twitter
2. michael jackson
3. facebook
4. hulu
5. hi5
6. glee
7. paranormal activity
8. natasha richardson
9. farrah fawcett
10. lady gaga

‘Swine flu’ was the most search term on Google News for the U.S., and images of Lady Gaga were also in high demand.

Head on over here for much more data.

Also check out Yahoo’s Year in Review.

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  • http://www.twitlan.com Tweet in 81 languages

    Michael Jackson is Crowned King Always

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Toon_See/1451243531 Toon See
  • Richard

    “No, I don’t know why so many people searched for a free torpedo, nor do I know what a sanalika or a dantri.com.vn is”

    Wouldn’t have been too hard for you to have looked them up though, would it? Or did the “not written in English, therefore doesn’t count” rule apply?

  • http://www.taitran.com TaiTran

    For your information, dantri.com.vn is one of the top online newspapers in Vietnam

  • Richard

    My point being that it is interesting and significant that only 6 out of the global top 10 are in English

  • Robin Wauters

    Thanks :)

    why do so many people search for it in Google instead of using the term as input for the website?

  • Robin Wauters

    Of course it is. Lighten up a little.

  • Stefan

    Because its a common thing nooby people do. They search Google for the url they already know. Then click on the searchresult to open the page.

  • Minh Nguyen

    dantri.com.vn is a “cheap” news website hosted in Vietnam. In Vietnam, dantri.com.vn is called “lá cải”, kind of rag that offers articles on entertainment, daily dirty lives.

  • strauss

    SMS are called called torpedo in Brazil.

  • David

    Why are they published the Zeitgeist at the beginning of december? The year is not over yet…

    This leads to the fact that the Zeitgeist is not accurate since Twitter, Lady Gaga or the free torpedos could climb to the top but they will be unnoticed, since they won’t appear in the 2009 Zeitgeist (1/1/09- 11/30/09)..and also not in the 2010 Zeitgeist (1/1/10 – 11/30/09).

    So this is a non accurate statistic for 2009

  • Robin Wauters

    I’m aware of that, but to make it to the top 10 that has to be quite some volume of ‘nooby people’ inputting that URL in a search engine.

  • http://www.blogtechnika.com Himanshu

    The list is obvious but strange too, because of the entry of Lady gaga, sanalika and dantri.com.vn. What the hell are they? We never heard about it anymore. Anyways I like the way Twitter and Michea Jackson rises. These are my two personal favorites.

  • http://fanpixie.com/michael-jackson/google-publishes-zeitgeist-2009-michael-jackson-crowned-king-again/ Michael Jackson @fanpixie – Google Publishes Zeitgeist 2009 – Michael Jackson Crowned King Again

    [...] Wonder Musical Artist Google Publishes Zeitgeist 2009 – Michael Jackson Crowned King Again …Twitter actually beat Michael Jackson for the ‘Fastest Rising’ category, which means [...]

  • Ethnocentrics

    Torpedo is a brazilian popular term for SMS… So the search would look like : “Free SMS”

  • http://www.wirelessgamingkeyboard.com wireless gaming keyboard

    MJ, ha my idol.., lady gaga? hmm..

  • Joshua Barnes

    Wait, 2009 ain’t over. Add “Crunchpad” to the list.

  • http://www.ignimedia.com igniman

    seriously, he’s right. that might be acceptable for an american TC editor, not for u.

  • http://hoailinhfc.com Liem Nguyen

    Dân trí mà lá cải mày, sao mày ngu vãi thế :) Phải người Việt Nam ko rớ mày :))

  • iVivek

    I wonder how the uncensored version of this will look like :)

  • Mike Harvey

    +1

  • http://www.oyunstudyosu.com Mehmet Ecevit

    Sanalika is a free virtual world, created and operated by OyunStudyosu, a rising Turkish game company.

  • Ngọc Đức

    dantri.com.vn được tim kiếm nhiều ở google nhưng vnexpress được alexa.com xếp thứ 4 trên bảng xếp hạng ở Việt Nam,là một người Việt Nam tôi cũng có đôi chút tự hào về trang dantri.com.vn

  • TanNg

    The reason that all mispelling correction point to keyword dantri.com.vn , so after mistypo people will click search with keyword dantri.com.vn offered by Google.

    Try dantri.cm , dantri.copm.vn or “dantri.com.vn chuyenla.vip” you will see the effect.

  • Adam

    I’m really surprised that “hi5″ was #5 in the U.S. I don’t know anyone that uses that site.

  • http://www.candeias.me/2009/12/01/michael-jackson-google/ Michael Jackson on 2009 Google’s Top Searches – Candeias Blog

    [...] TechCrunch.com wrote: [...]

  • http://dateric.com Dat Eric

    I think it best result for DanTri behind VnExpress – other online newspaper

  • http://dateric.com Dat Eric

    I think it’s best result for DanTri behind VnExpress – other online newspaper

  • VnExpress.net

    Nguoi Viet ma thay Dantri phat trien manh ve…..url trong top 10 the gioi thi cung xau ho ho thac mac.

    Mistypo la ly do nhu ong TanNg ah? nguoi Viet khong nhieu bang dan China no mistypo nham dau.

  • Jakob Bork
  • http://enzosilva.com/blog Enzo

    Torpedo is the term used in some states of Brazil to refer to SMS (or text message)… No idea why… ;)

  • http://www.taitran.com TaiTran

    To explain why the full URL “dantri.com.vn” was returned:

    1. Google’s domination in Vietnam as a Search Engine

    2. Branded query.
    Internet users from Vietnam learn top newspaper brands (i.e. “dantri”) from their connections. One issue between learning the brand and actually visiting the site is that the precise URL to the site is hard to guess. A typical site from Vietnam might be “.com”, “.com.vn”, “.vn”, “.net”. The quickest way for users is to throw the keyword to Google, without trial-and-error and without having to remember the URL.

    3. For many related search queries, Google returns the suggestion “dantri.com.vn”. This explains how that keyword rocketed in 2009.

    Explanation by @TanNg, a Vietnamese Internet entrepreneur who is familiar with the newspaper dantri.com.vn

  • gertrude

    the only hope in hell of finding anything resembling honest info on the beautiful gentle genius artist King who was assassinated by the vicious bullying culture of present-day media and those who actually believe any of the filthy, never-substantiated slander of the tabloid press – which includes “mainstrean” media since there is now nothing EXCEPT tabloid press, is to google him. See http://www.reflectionsonthedance.com, http://mjkit.forumotion.net/all-odd-things-f8/2005-trial-transcripts-t3795.htm, http://www.deargavinarvizo.com, and get the Michael Jackson Conspiracy book by Aphrodite Jones for sane and honest reports. the brief Tom Mesereau vid on the trial transcripts site is a nice little eye-opening moment. Justice For Michael. Long Live the King.

  • http://hoailinhfc.com Liem Nguyen

    Tôi thích Vnexpress.net và dân trí, sau đó là zing và 24h.com :D

  • shell517nj

    Heck Yeah Michael broke another record! I wish Michael Jackson could see how much the world loves and misses him. He is absolutely the King. He will forever be in the hearts of millions and millions of fans around the world. Long live the King of Pop!

  • victoria

    Yes he is the king but it seems not on BING, wherein he was crowned No.1 as a “trending search” only and not as a person. And you know who was the no.1 searched person for bing?

    Curtains down… PEREZHILTON… WTF, right?

    Strangely, Why is Twitter not on the top ten list of Yahoo’s Overall Searches? And wow! google trends didn’t matched the zeitgeist report this time.

    Judge The 2009 Most Searches Here: http://bit.ly/bing-yahoo-google-top-searches-official

    And suddenly all became clear now.

  • fengjunxing

    I use Google Chrome, and when I just type “D”, Chrome will returns the suggestion “dantri.com.vn” . It’s the reason why…

  • fengjunxing

    yeah, right! Dantri.com.vn called “Lá Cải” !

  • fengjunxing
  • http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/01/top-searches-2009/ Side By Side: A Look At The Top Search Trends From Yahoo, Bing, And Google

    [...] are in: Bing, Yahoo, and Google have all released their top search trends for 2009. We’ve been following them over the last few days, and decided we’d put them side by side to see if any [...]

  • http://BrutusReport.com Steve

    He didn’t have that much time to get all that search traffic as his death happened in the 2nd part of the year.

  • http://blogviet.info Tinh

    Đúng, bạn nên tự hào vì dù vnexpress xêp cao hơn dantri.com.vn nhưng vnexpress chưa bao giờ đạt kỳ tích này, nhưng cách hành xử của họ là sửa bài viết để loại dantri.com.vn ra khỏi danh sách 10 thì thật đáng xem lại

  • http://blogviet.info Tinh

    I love Dantri.com.vn

  • http://blogviet.info/cntt/top-10-tu-khoa-duoc-tim-nhieu-nhat-nam-2009-michael-jackson-thong-tri-1.html Blog Kiếm Tiền

    Top 10 từ khóa được tìm nhiều nhất năm 2009: Michael Jackson Thống Trị #1…

    Đã đến thời điểm cuối năm 2009 và chuẩn bị bước sang năm mới 2010, các mạng tìm kiếm lớn nhất là Google, Yahoo và Bing đã đồng loạt tiết lộ top các từ khóa được cộng đồng quan tâm nhiều nhất trong năm 2009. Trong các từ khóa đó, ấn tượng nhất vẫn là cá…

  • http://blogviet.info/cntt/vnexpress-sua-bai-viet-de-loai-dantri-com-vn-ra-khoi-danh-sach-top-10-tu-khoa-cua-2009.html VnExpress Sửa Bài Viết Để Loại DanTri.com.vn Ra Khỏi Danh Sách Top 10 Từ Khóa Của 2009? | Blog Kiếm Tiền

    [...] vậy, sau khoảng 2 giờ, mình dạo qua các trang như Linkhay và TechCrunch nghe các blogger bình luận và quay lại thì quá ngạc nhiên khi VnExpress đã nhanh [...]

  • Mustaa

    Congratulations to Sanalika !

  • http://www.lytechnology.com/side-by-side-a-look-at-the-top-search-trends-from-yahoo-bing-and-google/ Ly Technology » Side By Side: A Look At The Top Search Trends From Yahoo, Bing, And Google

    [...] are in: Bing, Yahoo, and Google have all released their top search trends for 2009. We’ve been following them over the last few days, and decided we’d put them side by side to see if any [...]

  • http://csertoglu.typepad.com/sortipreneur/2009/12/turks-on-google-2009-sahadan-and-sanalika-.html SortiPreneur

    Turks on Google 2009: Sahadan and Sanalika? …

    Right after my earlier post today on top search terms of 2009, I saw that Google had just released their Zeitgeist 2009. While it’s difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison with Yahoo and Bing, the Fastest Rising List gives a……

  • Tran Minh Quang

    I think it’s a shame for dantri, the second online news website in Vietnam
    Many times when I access dantri.com.vn, their server was not responding and I have to click once or twice on the Google search link for dantri.
    Dantri should upgrade their system

  • Tran Minh Quang

    To TaiTran
    3.5 million search for “dantri.com.vn” in Google
    You and your team should upgrade your system
    Too many time, Vietnamese people can’t access them so that google show search link for it
    It’s a main reason not dantri.com.vn is good or better than other site
    dantri is only a second choice for people want to see other way to express news which they already saw in Vnexpress

  • Ben

    Are you sure it’s not

    “how to tell my girlfriend i have herpes”

  • Ben

    and long live the king….

  • http://www.theresamorris.com/Mainpage/?p=1170 INNOVATION FOR 21st CENTURY PROFIT! : Theresa MORRIS Blog

    [...] Google Publishes Zeitgeist 2009 – Michael Jackson Crowned King Again (techcrunch.com) [...]

  • tofani

    again…again…and again….LONG LIVE THE KING ……… love so much to Michael Jackson

  • shell517nj

    steve you are right Michael Jackson did pass away the 2nd half of the year. But millions and millions and millions of fans like myself were searching for anything we could find about Michael. the day of his death alone slowed down and even crashed many online systems.

  • http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/30/top-mobile-voice-searches-2009/ Top Ten Mobile Voice Searches Of 2009 Are Action-Oriented

    [...] and Twitter are also on Google’s list of top searches for 2009, but that list is dominated more by news, entertainment, and celebrity related searches such as [...]

  • shell517nj

    Don’t forget the internet crashed when he died and then ran slow for months there after. Millions and millions around the world, were seeking as much information about the King of Pop and why he had gone too soon!

  • http://www.louisvuittonhouse.com/ vuitton

    micheal when will you come back to us~

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