Article updated: 12/12/2012 10:18 AM

Top 2012 searches include Whitney, PSY, Sandy

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Whitney Houston was the "top trending" search of the year, according to Google Inc. People around the globe searched en masse for news about the superstar singer's sad, accidental drowning in February.

Associated Press

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The world's attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, Web surfers searched in huge numbers to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver. Whitney Houston was the "top trending" search of the year, according to Google Inc.'s year-end "zeitgeist" report. Google's 12th annual roundup is "an in-depth look at the spirit of the times as seen through the billions of searches on Google over the past year," the company said in a blog post Wednesday.