2012 Top 50 Report

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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