Wikipedia:2008 Top 50 Report
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Annual Top 50 edit
Based on the Zeitgeist data and prepared with commentary by:
Commentary
Rank Article Class Image About 1 YouTube 
The online video sharing platform is a consistently popular article, and as such frequently features on the Top 25 Report. It celebrates its third anniversary this year. 2 Barack Obama
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer." The Illinois senator has made history as the next President of the United States - and the first African American to hold the office. Obama and his running mate Joe Biden won a decisive victory over John McCain (#14), winning the Electoral College and the popular vote by a sizable margin, including states that had not voted for the Democratic presidential candidate since 1976 (North Carolina) and 1964 (Indiana, Virginia, and Nebraska's 2nd congressional district).
Obama received the largest share of the popular vote won by a Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and was the first Democrat to win an outright majority of the popular vote since Jimmy Carter in 1976. Obama's total count of 69.5 million votes stood as the largest tally ever won by a presidential candidate until 2020, when this was surpassed by both major party candidates in a high-turnout election. He was the first Democrat to win without Arkansas and Missouri since those states joined the Union in 1836 and 1821 and the first Democrat to win the presidency without winning West Virginia since 1916.
Obama flipped nine states that had voted Republican in 2004: Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia, as well as Nebraska's 2nd congressional district. As of 2022, this is the last time Indiana and North Carolina have voted Democratic, the last time that either a Democratic or Republican candidate received fewer than 200 electoral votes, and the last time an incumbent U.S. senator was a major party nominee. This is the only election in American history where both major party nominees were sitting US Senators.
3 Facebook
image commentary 4 Myspace
image commentary 5 United States
(#2) has become the first African American President of the United States, beating (#14) in (#24) 6 The Beatles
This year, an upcoming game based on The Fab Four in the Rock Band series of music video games was revealed on October 30. The game is being developed with the blessing and critical input of Apple Corps, including the surviving former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, who have both made public appearances promoting the game. George Harrison's son Dhani has helped to bridge discussion between Harmonix and Apple Corps, while Giles Martin, son of the Beatles' music producer George Martin, has ensured high-fidelity versions of the Beatles' songs would be available. 7 Deaths in 2008 
image commentary 8 Sarah Palin
The Governor of Alaska was nominated for the vice presidency at the 2008 Republican National Convention, shortly after her selection was announced by John McCain (#14)'s campaign. She was the first Republican female vice presidential nominee and the second female vice presidential nominee of a major party, after Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. The McCain-Palin ticket subsequently lost the 2008 election to the Democratic Party's then-U.S. Senators Barack Obama (#2) and Joe Biden. Throughout the race, her public image and experience came under media attention. Although her vice presidential bid alongside McCain was unsuccessful, the 2008 presidential election significantly raised Palin's national profile. 9 The Dark Knight (film)
image commentary 10 Outlook.com
image commentary 11 Lil Wayne
image commentary 12 List of Naruto characters
image commentary 13 Favicon
image commentary 14 John McCain
The longtime senior U.S. Senator from Arizona lost to Barack Obama (#2) in the presidential election. 15 Naruto
image commentary 16 World War II
image commentary 17 Heath Ledger
image commentary 18 Heroes (TV series)
image commentary 19 China
image commentary 20 Miley Cyrus
image commentary 21 Grand Theft Auto IV
image commentary 22 Cloverfield
image commentary 23 Adolf Hitler
image commentary 24 2008 United States presidential election
The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama (#2), the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden (pictured), the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain (#14), the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin (#8), the governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American to be elected to the presidency, as well as being only the third sitting United States senator elected president, joining Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, Biden became the first senator running mate of a senator elected president since Lyndon B. Johnson (who was Kennedy's running mate) in the 1960 election. 25 2008 Summer Olympics
image commentary 26 United Kingdom
image commentary 27 World War I
image commentary 28 Lost (TV series)
image commentary 29 India
image commentary 30 Bleach (manga)
image commentary 31 EBay
image commentary 32 New York City
image commentary 33 Internet Movie Database
image commentary 34 George W. Bush
The outgoing President will be succeeded by (#2), whom he met in the Oval Office, and has begun the presidential transition of power. 35 Britney Spears
image commentary 36 PlayStation 3
Sony's newest PLAYSTATION console, which was released last year. 37 Gmail
image commentary 38 Family Guy
image commentary 39 House (TV series)
image commentary 40 2 Girls 1 Cup
The viral shock video of the year, that anyone who's seen it will know the meaning behind the chocolate milk pictured here. Its popularly has been aided by a series of reaction videos that depict people reacting to watching it. 41 Canada
image commentary 42 Large Hadron Collider
image commentary 43 List of songs in Rock Band
image commentary 44 Japan
image commentary 45 Batman
image commentary 46 Global warming
image commentary 47 Jonas Brothers
This is the bottom line, it's true! The American pop rock band formed in 2005, who have gained popularity from their appearances on the Disney Channel television network. They consist of three love bug brothers: Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas. They moved to Little Falls, New Jersey, in 2005, where they wrote their first record that made its Hollywood Records release. This year, the group was nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards and won the award for Breakthrough Artist at the American Music Awards. They may get a little crazy and get a little loud, but that's just the way they roll. 48 Guitar Hero World Tour
image commentary 49 List of Naruto: Shippuden episodes
image commentary 50 Kim Kardashian
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