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Nov
28
20 11

The Top 2011 Searches from Bing: A Year of Breakthroughs and Heartbreaks

According to Bing searches, 2011 was the year of musical superstars, continued celebrity fascination, saving money, concern for human tragedy and new royalty. From rising stars and weddings to intense trials and natural disasters, Bing has captured history through the searches that mark the year’s most important people, places and moments in time.

Based on the aggregation of billions of search queries, the following post highlights the "most searched" of 2011:

 

Most Searched Person of The Year:

  • Bieber fever turned out to be contagious this year, making Justin Bieber the most searched person on Bing in 2011.  

Justin Bieber

Top Ten Most Searched Person In 2011 vs 2010:

Rank

2011

2010

1

Justin Bieber

Kim Kardashian

2

Kim Kardashian

Sandra Bullock

3

Jennifer Aniston

Lady Gaga

4

Lindsay Lohan

Tiger Woods

5

Jennifer Lopez

Barack Obama

6

Britney Spears

Justin Bieber

7

Katy Perry

Kate Gosselin

8

Megan Fox

Jesse James

9

Lady Gaga

Jennifer Aniston

10

Miley Cyrus

Michael Jackson

 

Most Notable Changes in Bing’s Most Searched Celebrity in 2011 versus 2010:

  • Bieber fever just got hotter: Justin Bieber moved from #6 in 2010 to #1 in 2011.
  • The fascination in Kim Kardashian remains strong in 2011, with her moving slightly from #1 in 2010 to #2 in 2011.
  • Six out of the top ten most searched people on Bing in 2010 fell out of the top ten in 2011, including Sandra Bullock, Jesse James, Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods, Barack Obama and Kate Gosselin.
  • New to the top ten most searched people on Bing in 2011 include Katy Perry, Jennifer Lopez, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Megan Fox, and Miley Cyrus.
  • Unfortunate news for Barack Obama heading into an election year, the President fell from #5 in 2010 to #49 in 2011.
  • Team Aniston is on an upswing, with Jennifer Aniston moving from #9 in 2010 to #3 in 2011, while Angelina Jolie fell from #17 in 2010 to #26 in 2011.
  • Dating the Biebs has its benefits…Selena Gomez went from #50 in 2010 to #11 in 2011.
  • Fueled by eight #1 hits for Teenage Dream, Katy Perry went from #26 in 2010 to #7 in 2011.
  • After not even cracking the top 50 in 2010, Jennifer Lopez rocketed to the 5th most searched person in Bing this year.
  • American fell in love with the Middleton sisters in 2011, with Kate coming in at #12 and Pippa at #21.

Most Searched News Stories:  

  • The high profile trials of Casey Anthony (#1) and Conrad Murray (#7) were followed closely by Americans this year.
  • Of the natural disasters in the top ten list, Hurricane Irene (#1) captured the most attention, followed by Japan’s earthquake and tsunami (#4) and the Joplin tornado (#6).
  • Remembrances were top-of-mind this year, including the 9/11 Ten Year Anniversary and the one-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake.

 

1

Casey Anthony Trial

2

Osama Bin Laden Death

3

Hurricane Irene

4

Japan Earthquake/Tsunami

5

Amy Winehouse Death

6

Joplin Tornado

7

Michael Jackson trial/Conrad Murray

8

9/11 10 Year Anniversary

9

Republican Candidates - Herman Cain, Rick Perry

10

Haiti anniversary

 

Most Searched Sports Stars:

  • Girl power! The boys got served by Maria Sharapova in sports-related queries, beating Tiger Woods by 4 percent and Brett Favre by 117 percent.
  • Women’s Tennis also dominated the field with Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki all finishing among the top 5 most searched sports stars.
  • When it comes to major sports, Derek Jeter ruled the diamond, Kobe Bryant outdueled King James (Lebron) on the hardwood and a retired Brett Favre won top honors on the gridiron.

Top 5 Most searched sports stars were:

 

1

Maria Sharapova

2

Tiger Woods

3

Serena Williams

4

Brett Favre

5

Caroline Wozniacki

6

Kobe Bryant

7

Lebron James

8

Lamar Odom

9

Hope Solo

10

Carmelo Anthony

 

Most Searched Musician:

  • While Justin Bieber was the most searched musician on Bing in 2011, Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears are showing that old school beats new school, bringing in more searches than Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga.

The Top 10 most searched musicians were:

 

1

Justin Bieber

2

Katy Perry

3

Jennifer Lopez

4

Britney Spears

5

Lady Gaga

6

Selena Gomez

7

Nicki Minaj

8

Rihanna

9

Beyonce

10

Taylor Swift

 

Most Searched Consumer Electronics:

  • Gadgets also captured interest this year. Xbox was the most searched consumer electronics product of the year on Bing, beating out Playstation and Wii as the favorite games console of the year.
  • Interestingly enough, one of the most searched consumer electronics of the year doesn't even exist yet! Speculations about the iPhone 5 came in as the fourth most searched consumer electronic device.

The Top Ten Most Searched Consumer Electronics are:

 

1

Xbox

2

Kindle

3

Playstation

4

iPhone 5

5

iPad

6

Wii

7

iPad 2

8

Nook

9

Windows Phone 7

10

Macbook Pro

 

Most Searched TV Shows:

  • Not only is American Idol the most searched TV show, but it ranks as the most searched reality show in 2011 as well. Heading into its 11th season, American Idol had a strong hold on searches in 2011, beating second place winner, Dancing with the Stars(DWTS) by 43 percent.  

The Top Ten Most Searched TV Shows in 2011 were:

 

1

American Idol

2

Dancing with the Stars

3

Glee

4

Jersey Shore

5

Family Guy

6

Chelsea Handler

7

The Young and the Restless

8

True Blood

9

Audrina

10

Big Brother

 

Most Searched Reality TV Shows

  • American Idol of course takes top honors as it is the most searched TV show overall for 2011 followed by DWTS, which also finished second overall.
  • Moving abroad and filming in Italy kept Jersey Shore on its strong run as the show finished third overall.

Top Ten Most Searched Reality TV Shows in 2011 were:

 

1

American Idol

2

Dancing with the Stars

3

Jersey Shore

4

Audrina

5

Big Brother

6

The Bachelorette

7

The Bachelor

8

The Biggest Loser

9

Survivor

10

Deadliest Catch

 

Most Searched Reality Stars:

The Top Ten Most Searched Reality Stars in 2011 were:

 

1

Kim Kardashian

2

Kate Gosselin

3

Khloe Kardashian

4

Heidi Montag

5

Kourtney Kardashian

6

Kendra Wilkinson

7

Snooki (Nicole Polizzi)

8

Kristin Cavallari

9

Audrina Patridge

10

Tori Spelling

 

  • The Kardashians can’t be stopped – Kim, Khloe and Kourtney all placed in the top 5 list for the most searched reality stars of the year on Bing!
  • The Hills continues to be a reality star making machine, as three cast members made the top 10: Heidi Montag at #4, Kristin Cavallari at #8 and Audrina Patridge at #9. Lauren Conrad came in at #14.
  • The reality star ladies rule, with 24 out of the top 25 most searched reality stars being female. The most searched male reality star was Ryan Seacrest.
  • Bethanny Frankel is the queen of Bravo, representing the most searched Bravo reality star of the year and the most searched present or past member of the Housewives franchise.
  • Camille Grammer, followed by Sonja Morgan and Jill Zarin, was the most searched member of the current Housewives cast.
  • Snookie was by far the most searched cast member of the Jersey Shore receiving twice as many searches as the runner-up, J-Woww and six times as many as Pauly-D.
  • Jennifer Lopez was far and away the most searched American Idol personality with over 13 times more searches than Ryan and Randy combined.

Most Searched Late Night TV Shows:

  • When it comes to late night television, Chelsea Handler is too hot to handle-, beating out all the male hosts. . Specifically, she beat second place winner David Letterman by 318 percent and third place winner Conan by over 369 percent.

Chelsea Handler_thumb[2]

  • In addition, David Letterman was the most searched network late night star and Team Coco beat out Jay Leno in Bing searches.

The Top Nine Most Searched Late Night Shows in 2011 were:

 

1

Chelsea Handler

2

David Letterman

3

Conan O’Brien

4

Jon Stewart

5

Jay Leno

6

Jimmy Fallon

7

Jimmy Kimmel

8

Stephen Colbert

9

Craig Ferguson

 

Most Searched Daytime Talk Shows

  • Aided by her role on the popular Dancing with the Stars, Wendy Williams came in as the most searched daytime talk show, beating out heavyweight Ellen DeGeneres.
  • The newbies were piquing people’s interest, with Anderson Cooper coming in at #3 and Rosie O’Donnell coming in at #5.

The Top Ten Most Searched Daytime Talk Shows in 2011 were:

 

1

Wendy Williams

2

Ellen Degeneres

3

Anderson Cooper

4

Rachael Ray

5

Rosie O’Donnell

6

Regis and Kelly

7

The View

8

Nate Berkus

9

The Talk

10

Gayle King

 

Most Searched Morning Shows

  • ·The Today Show continues to reign supreme in the morning show circuit, garnering twice as many searches as Good Morning America.

The Top Searched Morning Shows in 2011 were:

 

1

Today Show

2

Good Morning America

3

The Early Show

4

Fox & Friends

5

Morning Joe

6

CNN American Morning

 

Most Searched Movies:

  • Tom Cruise and the Mission Impossible franchise are poised to make a comeback as the upcoming Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol edged Twilight: Breaking Dawn for the most searched movie in 2011.
  • Sequels reigned supreme this year, as the top 5 searched movies were all follow-ups to original stories.

The Top Ten most searched movies were:

 

1

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

2

Twilight: Breaking Dawn

3

The Hangover 2

4

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

5

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

6

The Help

7

The Smurfs

8

X Men: First Class

9

Just Go With It

10

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

 

Most Searched Celebrity Event:

  • When people say a wedding is all about the bride, the rule extends to royal weddings as well! While the royal wedding was by far the most searched celebrity event of 2011, Prince William didn’t even make the top 100 list, while his beaming bride, Kate Middleton, came in as the number 12 most searched person. And the female focus extended through the Middleton family, as Kate’s sister and maid of honor, Pippa, ranked at number 21.

 

Royal Couple_thumb[1]

  • Real royalty outranked Hollywood royalty with searches for the royal wedding outpacing searches for Kim Kardashian’s wedding four to one.

Top Ten Most Searched Celebrity Events in 2011 were:

 

1

Royal Wedding

2

Final Harry Potter

3

Kim Kardashian Wedding

4

Beyonce’s Baby Bump

5

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson Dating

6

Demi Moore/Ashton Kutcher Scandal

7

Kate Hudson Baby Bump

8

Lady Gaga Coming Out in the Egg

9

Lindsey Lohan Arrested

10

Russell Armstrong Suicide

 

 

Most Searched Destinations:

  • It looks like a lot of people relate to the ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ catchphrase, as Las Vegas won the top spot as the most searched destination in the world in 2011.

The top searched destination in other regions of the world include:

  • Asia = Singapore
  • Africa = Alexandria, South Africa
  • Australia/New Zealand = Sydney, Australia
  • Caribbean = Cancun, Mexico
  • Europe = Paris, France
  • Middle East = Dubai, UAE
  • South America = Lima, Peru

Other Interesting Search Data For the Year:

  • Most Searched Viral Video: 2011 was all about Friday -- Rebecca Black’s Friday that is. As the most searched viral video on Bing, Rebecca Black’s video even beat MTV video music award winner Adele by 34 percent. 
  • Most Searched Celebrity Couple: When it comes to the most searched celebrity couple on Bing, there’s a tie between Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith and Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber tied. The royal couplecame in third.
  • Most Searched Economic Terms: With the economic difficulties we’re facing, it’s no wonder that bankruptcy and selling a home were among the top financial terms searched in 2011. Topping the list were searches for real estate agents, perhaps showing the difficulty and need in selling a home. 
  • Most Searched Charities: Despite the economic issues plaguing the country, charitable giving was still on the mind of many Americans. The YMCA took home honors as the most searched charitible organization, with the American Red Cross, Lance Armstrong Foundation, SPCA and Habitat for Humanity rounding out the top 5.
  • Most Searched Celebrity Children: When it comes to celebrity children, Suri Cruise is by far the most popular kid on the block. The runner ups, Malia and Sasha Obama were far behind with only a third of the searches conducted for Suri Cruise.
  • Most Searched Diet Plan: Diets are always a popular topic and Weight Watchers took the crown for 2011 beating out Calorie Counting, Atkins, HCG and the Cholesterol Diet.

clip_image004

For more background, check out the article on Microsoft News Center.   

- Kari Dilloo, Lisa Gurry and Lise Brende, Bing

 

  • Comments (8)

Comments

  • surilamin
    surilamin
    11/28/2011
    9:04 AM

    Whoever made the video, fantastic job!  Please have this person take over your marketing department

  • RodrigoAtDell
    RodrigoAtDell
    11/28/2011
    10:22 AM

    Fantastic job!!!

    So do you have Top 2011 Searches from Brazil?

  • GeorgeLC
    GeorgeLC
    11/28/2011
    1:14 PM

    Good job. The main obections I have are the prominence given to David Letterman, who had sex with a bunch of his female underlings and didn't get fired for being a scumbag (what happened to NOW?); my other main objection is to the fascination with the phoney personality of Kim Kardashian (poor little scheming and opportunistic so-and-so)..  Thanks to Bing for reporting, but let's try to Promote more people who are Worthy of our attention.  You can do it by the slant you give on "News".

  • shashanksaxena92
    shashanksaxena92
    11/28/2011
    1:45 PM

    how 'bout y'all do this daily and have a "trending" section on the bing homepage, so users can see all the top stories of the day!! :)

  • Durex condooms
    Durex condooms
    11/29/2011
    3:27 AM

    The people don't differ very much with previous year.

  • lisaisacat
    lisaisacat
    11/29/2011
    7:06 PM

    The video is cool. Some of names in list never heard before. :( Only familiar with movies and Electronics. XD

  • Gatwick Hotels
    Gatwick Hotels
    12/2/2011
    11:42 AM

    Fantastic I too only recognised some of the search terms.

  • patin-14
    patin-14
    12/3/2011
    6:17 PM

    I agree with surilamin!   This Should be a commercial.