TOP TEN: Fastest rising searches on Google in 2011

A list released by the search engine giant throws light on what Internet users were looking for on Google in the year that went by.

Each year Google releases lists of search terms, people, events that were searched the most on its website. This is a list of the fastest rising searches in 2011.

10. Ed Sheeran

The English singer and songwriter, Ed Sheeran made waves earlier this year when his No.5 Collaborations Project reached number two on the iTunes chart without any support of a music label or any promotion whatsoever.

The EP or Extended Play sold over 7,000 copies in its first week itself.

Later, in June 2011, his debut single The A Team debuted at number 3 on the UK charts.

9. Rebecca Black

The teenage pop singer who shot into limelight thanks to a critically panned single called Friday came ninth in the list of Fastest rising searches in 2011.

Rebecca Black's mother is said to have paid $4000 to record the single and have the music video out as a vanity release.

The video went viral on Youtube and on twitter she knocked off Japan earthquake as the top global trending topic.

She has since shot into limelight having been featured in an ABC Primetime Nightline: Celebrity Secrets special Underage and Famous: Inside Child Stars' Lives and being flown to Australia by Telstra to promote their 4G services.

Black is also planning to come out with her independent album.

8. Minecraft

The popular sandbox-building video game, Minecraft that was released publicly in 2009 and has been in a state of constant upgrade was officially released MineCon on November 18, 2011.

7. Adele

The British songwriter and singer, Adele has found her way into the Guinness Book of World Records' 2012 edition.

She is the first female to have two albums and two singles in the UP Top Five at the same time while her album 21 is the first in UK to sell 3 million copies in one calendar year.

What's more, the album has also beaten the record of Madonna's The Immaculate Collection by being the number one album in the UK by a solo female artist.

6. Ryan Dunn

Ryan Dunn was a television personality best known for Jackass, the popular American television reality series.

On June 20 this year his Porsche drove off the road and hit a tree after Dunn who was driving it after an evening of drinks with his friend Zachary Hartwell. The car was said to be traveling at the speed of over 200 km/h in a zone where the top permitted speed was about 89 km/h.

Incidentally it was the very place where his car had flipped eight times in 1996.

5. iPad 2

The much-awaited second-generation tablet PC from Apple was launched amidst much fanfare on March 2, 2011.

With the amount of anticipation every new Apple product receives before and after its launch, it'd have been a surprise if iPad 2 had NOT been one of the 'Fastest rising searches in 2011'.

4. Groupon

The deal-of-the-day website that is said to be the company 'on pace to make $1 billion in sales faster than any other business, ever' ended on number 4 of the list of fastest rising searches on Google in 2011.

Groupon, which has become popular because of discounted gift certificates started out with its first market in Chicago and then expanded to Boston, New York City and Toronto.

3. FIFA 12

At number three in the list of fastest rising searches is FIFA 12 -- the latest version of the popular soccer video game.

The release of FIFA 12 demo was announced on August 16 at the Gamescom in Germany. The MS Windows version was launched on September 13, 2011.

2. iPhone 5

Quite understandably, yet another Apple product found its way into the list. Only iPhone 5 hasn't exactly launched.

In the weeks preceding the launch, it was rumoured that Apple was releasing the iPhone 5 – the next generation iPhone. However on October 4, 2011 at Apple's Let's Talk iPhone event it was revealed that iPhone 5 was in fact iPhone 4S!

1. Royal wedding

Among the many things it has been called, the wedding ceremony of Kate Middleton and Prince William was dubbed as the wedding of the century. Much has been written and spoken about the wedding itself which many compared and contrasted with the marriage of William's parents Princess Diana and Prince Charles.