The top Aussie searches of the year

2009 has certainly been a year to remember - from the Victorian bushfires to the death of Michael Jackson and Masterchef mania.

Today we released the most popular search terms that Australians tapped into google.com.au this year, as well as the fastest rising search terms of 2009. When seen in aggregate, search queries reflect the people, places and events that captured our attention and imagination throughout the year.

And it was all about vampires. A Twilight-related search featured in the fastest rising searches of the year, the most searched for news stories, most popular celebrities and dominated the most searched for movies of the year for both Twilight and the new release, New Moon. The most Twilight obsessed state was NSW, followed closely by Queensland and Tasmania.

Michael Jackson's death sent people rushing to their computers for more information, as did the rumoured death of Jeff Goldblum and Miley Cyrus. We're still dwelling on the breakup of some of our most beloved bands, with the ABBA and Simon and Garfunkle breakup being among the most searched for of the year. And Hamish and Andy were the most searched for Aussie celebs, beating out Miranda Kerr.

Our reality TV obsession continues and was evident in the weddings we searched for most - the top three most searched for nuptials were that of reality TV stars Kendra Wilkinson, Khloe Kardashian and Jade Goody.

We went crazy for the lemon detox diet, which was maybe balanced by our love of all things 'foodie', driven by the wildly popular Masterchef series. Searches for particular recipes from the show soared following each episode, with the infamous 'Croquembouche' topping our recipe related Masterchef searches for the year.

A full list of results is included below. To see the most popular searches from across the world, visit google.com/zeitgeist2009.

The fastest rising searches of 2009
One HD
twitter.com
Masterchef
Melbourne Cup 2009
Grooveshark
New Moon Movie
Facebook search
Trading Post Auto
Smartkiddies
Currency converter calculator

Most popular searches of 2009
Facebook
YouTube
Hotmail
eBay
MySpace
Google
Yahoo
Gmail
Bebo
Seek

Most searched for news stories of 2009
Swine Flu
Stimulus package
Flu
Bushfires
Bushfire
New Moon
Fires
Robert Pattinson
Michael Jackson
Rihanna

Most searched for celebrities of 2009
Michael Jackson
Lady Gaga
Robert Pattinson
Megan Fox
Taylor Swift
Miley Cyrus
Susan Boyle
Hamish and Andy
Miranda Kerr
Kirsten Stewart

RIP - most searched deaths in 2009 (including rumoured/incorrectly reported deaths)
Michael Jackson
Jeff Goldblum
Patrick Swayze
DJ AM
Kanye West
Miley Cyrus
Farrah Fawcett
Emma Watson
Sookie Stackhouse
Rick Astley

Most searched breakups of 2009 (rumoured and confirmed)
Oasis breakup
Telstra breakup
Beatles breakup
PussyCat Dolls breakup
Wolfmother breakup
John Mayer breakup
Abba breakup
Hugh Hefner breakup
Breakup of Gondwana land
Simon and Garfunkel breakup

Most searched for diets of 2009
Lemon detox diet
Atkins diet
Detox diet
CSIRO diet
Low carb diet
Soup diet
South Beach diet
Cabbage soup diet
Tony Ferguson diet
Liver cleansing diet

Most searched for album of 2009
Eminem new album
Lady Gaga album
Muse new album
Taylor Swift album
White album
U2 new album
Michael Jackson album
The Script album
Lily Allen album
Beyonce new album

Most searched for movies of 2009
New Moon
Twilight
2012
Hannah Montana
Star Trek
Eclipe
Avatar
Halo
District 9
Bruno

Most searched for weddings of 2009
Kendra Wilkinson wedding
Khloe Kardashian wedding
Jade Goody wedding
Kristy Hinze wedding
Kyle Sandilands wedding
Fergie's wedding
Ellen Degeneres wedding
Roger Federer wedding
Rove wedding
Heidi Montag wedding

Most searched for births of 2009
Catriona Rowntree baby
Nicole Richie baby
Kim Clijsters baby
Britney Spears baby
Jennifer Garner baby
Roger Federer baby
Alyson Hannigan baby
Heidi Klum baby
Sarah Michelle Gellar baby
Ashlee Simpson baby

Most searched for Masterchef-related recipes
Croquembouche
Chocolate mousse cake
Chips
Risotto
Open Kofta
Lamb Shanks
Cupcakes
Chocolate fondant
Scone
Lemon tart

Most searched for country/city outside of Australia
New Zealand
Singapore
Vietnam
India
Italy
Antartica
Dubai
Egypt
France
Phuket

The hot tickets of 2009
AFL tickets
Pink tickets
Wicked tickets
ACDC tickets
Parklife tickets
Jersey Boys tickets
Australian Open tickets
Melbourne Cup tickets
Soundwave tickets
John Farnham tickets

Most searched for retail outlets
Harvey Norman
Big W
JB HiFi
Target
Ikea
Bunnings
Officeworks
Woolworths
KMart
Coles

Most searched for retail catalogues of the year
Target catalogue
Harvey Norman catalogue
Big W catalogue
Bunnings catalogue
Myer catalogue
Coles catalogue
IKEA catalogue
Spotlight catalogue
Aldi catalogue

Fastest rising searches in relation to love
Love quotes
Love poems
Love calculator
Love story lyrics
Love songs
Love tester
Love sayings
Love games
Love actually
What is love?

Most popular sports for 2009
AFL
NRL
Cricket
Melbourne Cup
BMX
Greyhounds
Tennis
Golf
Swimming
Soccer

Popularity contest
Rudd vs Turnbull vs Abbott
NRL vs AFL vs Rugby vs Soccer
Chanel vs Prada vs Gucci
Save vs Spend

Posted by Annie Baxter, Google corporate communications