Wikipedia:2012 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 Facebook 
image commentary 2 Deaths in 2012 
image commentary 3 YouTube 
The online video sharing platform is a consistently popular article, and as such frequently features on the Top 25 Report. 4 Fifty Shades of Grey
image commentary 5 One Direction
image commentary 6 The Avengers (2012 film)
image commentary 7 2012 phenomenon
This year saw a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events would occur on or around 21 December 2012. This date was regarded as the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, and festivities took place on 21 December 2012 to commemorate the event in the countries that were part of the Maya civilization (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), with main events at Chichén Itzá in Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae were proposed for this date. A New Age interpretation held that the date marked the start of a period during which Earth and its inhabitants would undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 21 December 2012 would mark the beginning of a new era. Others suggested that the date marked the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world included the arrival of the next solar maximum, an interaction between Earth and the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, Earth's collision with a mythical planet called Nibiru, or even the heating of Earth's core.
Scholars from various disciplines quickly dismissed predictions of cataclysmic events as they arose. Mayan scholars stated that no classic Mayan accounts forecast impending doom, and the idea that the Long Count calendar ends in 2012 misrepresented Mayan history and culture. Astronomers rejected the various proposed doomsday scenarios as pseudoscience refuted by elementary astronomical observations. And just like when the people thought the world would end after Y2k, absolutely nothing happened on or around 21 December 2012.
8 The Dark Knight Rises
image commentary 9 United States
image commentary 10 The Hunger Games
image commentary 11 The Big Bang Theory
image commentary 12 Game of Thrones
image commentary 13 How I Met Your Mother
image commentary 14 Barack Obama
"Tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward." The incumbent president won the 2012 presidential election against #15. Obama won his reelection bid by a margin of 51.06 to 47.21%. This was the first time since 1944, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt won re-election, that a Democratic president had won by a majority of the electoral votes and over 51% of the popular vote twice. Obama is pictured here alongside artistic gymnastic McKayla Maroney, who was not impressed.
15 Mitt Romney
The former Governor of Massachusetts lost the 2012 presidential election to #14. 16 The Walking Dead (TV series)
image commentary 17 2012 Summer Olympics
image commentary 18 Whitney Houston
Among the famous faces to die this year (#2) was "The Voice", who was known for her powerful, soulful vocals and vocal improvization skills in her three-decade career in music. She accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills on February 11, 2012, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and was covered internationally. 19 Gangnam Style
The viral horse dancing music video for Psy's K-pop song made history as the first YouTube video to hit 1 billion views. 20 Justin Bieber
image commentary 21 Adele
image commentary 22 Nicki Minaj
image commentary 23 World War II
image commentary 24 Breaking Bad
image commentary 25 India
image commentary 26 United Kingdom
image commentary 27 RMS Titanic
This year marked the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. 28 Adolf Hitler
image commentary 29 Lionel Messi
image commentary 30 Eminem
image commentary 31 The Hunger Games (film)
image commentary 32 Illuminati
image commentary 33 List of How I Met Your Mother episodes
image commentary 34 Rihanna
image commentary 35 Elizabeth II
Her Majesty celebrated her Diamond Jubilee this year. 36 List of The Big Bang Theory episodes
image commentary 37 Abraham Lincoln
image commentary 38 World War I
image commentary 39 Skyfall
image commentary 40 Mila Kunis
image commentary 41 2012 in film
image commentary 42 Once Upon a Time (TV series)
image commentary 43 UEFA Euro 2012
image commentary 44 New York City
image commentary 45 Glee (TV series)
image commentary 46 Lana Del Rey
image commentary 47 Stop Online Piracy Act
image A controversial proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Wikipedia was among an estimated 7,000 other websites that ceased standard operation as part of a coordinated service blackout as an attempt to spread awareness and objection to the bill. 48 Selena Gomez
image commentary 49 Steve Jobs
image Still dead. 50 Marilyn Monroe
image commentary
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