The top four Google searches and fastest-rising search requests this year have been about four different men: Nelson Mandela, Paul Walker, former "Glee" star Cory Monteith and the surviving Boston Bomber suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, according to the Associated Press.
This year's report is the largest sample Google has ever taken to construct their list of top searches and trends; 72 countries were included opposed to the 55 from last year, according to the AP. The deaths of "Fast & Furious" star Paul Walker and South African Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela topped the charts.
A Google Spokeswoman told the Washington Post that although searches for Nelson Mandela were already strong before his death earlier this month, Mandela's death brought in more searches about his death and life, sending his name to the top of the list.
Actor from "Glee," Monteith, was also a top search after the star overdosed, and Tsarnaev's involvement in the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three also made top searches. Paul Walker's recent tragic death by car accident blew up social media sites, placing Walker right in front of Mandela as a top search, the AP reported.
The iPhone 5S was also on the list as Apple's most popular product, but it only places third in the Google rankings: the Samsung Galaxy S4 was placed as eighth, and PlayStation 4 placed at ninth, according to the AP.
Also on the list of top searches were the "Harlem Shake," a song and video that led to a frenzy, the royal baby, Prince George, and North Korea was placed at number 10 on the list of top searches.
In a sub-category of most searched person, a list usually made up mostly of singers, Kim Kardashian was placed as the third most searched person. Her soon-to-be husband Kanye West came in at number 10, the AP reported.
The top person searched is Miley Cyrus who also topped Yahoo's search rankings for this year, the AP reported. Cyrus, Kardashian and Justin Beiber were the only three people to appear in each most searched person list from Google, Bing and Yahoo.
Beyonce was placed in the fifth position of top searched person, with Rihanna a bit ahead of her in the third position, and Taylor Swift in fourth place, according to the AP. All three ladies were also featured on Bing's list which is most close to that of Google's.
The Google review of top searches is usually released last out of Yahoo, or Bing, but is usually the most insightful with information because Google processes two out of every three search requests , according to the AP.
Google's annual round-up is comprised of search requests not only placed in Google, but by its competitor sites, like Microsoft's Bing or Ask.com, as well, for the most comprehensive report, the AP reported.
Because some topics are ever-present, like the Nelson Mandela example where his name was already one of the top searches when he was alive, Google tries to keep their yearly list fresh with searches that have "the biggest annual gains," a category Google has labeled as "trending" the AP reported.
