Yahoo! 2012: The Top TV, Movie, Songs & Singer Searches

Screen related searches are the backbone of Yahoo!’s year in review lists, as actors, actresses, talk show personalities and reality TV celebrities seem to command a bigger presence year after year.

In the most popular TV searches on Yahoo! in the US, perennial favorite American Idol dominated top slots in several categories of Yahoo’s top search trends for 2012.

Interestingly, singer/actress and former American Idol judge J-LO, was the only music personality to appear in the top 10, no mention of fellow exiting co-star, Steven Tyler, though searches for “aerosmith tour” did spike on Yahoo in 2012. Will replacement judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj make the cut in 2013?

Top Searched Movies On Yahoo! In 2012

1. the hunger games
2. The dark knight rises
3. the avengers
4. the amazing spiderman
5. twilight breaking dawn 2
6. magic mike
7. prometheus
8. snow white and the huntsman
9. skyfall
10. the expendables 2

Now, compare that order to Top US grossing films released in 2012, according to IMDB as of December 1, 2012: 

1. The Avengers, $623M
2. The Dark Knight Rises, $448M
3. The Hunger Games, $408M
4. The Amazing Spiderman, $262M
5. Brave, $237M
6. Twilight Breaking Dawn 2, $235M
7. Skyfall, $227M
8. Ted, $219
9. Madagascar 3, Europe’s Most Wanted $216M
10. The Lorax, $214M

Poor Magic Mike, Prometheus, and the Expendables 2 got booted by three children’s animated films. Of course that makes some sense as the target audience is unlikely to search for movie news and images as rampantly.

Top Searches For Television Shows In 2012

As the search engine turns, 2012 will likely be known as the year television soap operas died, as the daytime genre isn’t likely to be revived by the bold and beautiful doctors of Port Charles, NY.

Because 2012 brought several cancellations of long-running soap operas, there was a noticeable increase in searches related to rumors and speculation about others going off-air.

However, General Hospital, which is now in its 49th year of production, is the lone, remaining series on ABC and the longest running of American daytime soaps of all time and leads the ratings for the four soaps left in the overall lineup. It’s notable that three of the four made the cut for top 10 TV show searches. (CBS’ Bold & the Beautiful did not make the top 10 list overall.)

1. american idol
2. dancing with the stars
3. the young & the restless
4. walking dead
5. here comes honey boo boo
6. good morning america
7. the voice
8. days of our lives
9. big brother
10. general hospital

Top Searched Daytime TV Talk Shows on Yahoo!

1. good morning america
2. the today show
3. dr. oz
4. the view
5. the price is right
6. live with kelly & michael
7. dr. phil
8. the ellen show
9. anderson live
10. the doctors

Top Searched For TV Dramas on Yahoo! In 2012

1. the walking dead
2. game of thrones
3. vampire diaries
4. sons of anarchy
5. once upon a time
6. grey’s anatomy
7. breaking bad
8. hatfields & mccoys
9. pretty little liars
10. true blood

Top Reality TV Show Searches On Yahoo! In 2012

1. american idol
2. dancing with the stars
3. here comes honey boo boo
4. the voice
5. big brother
6. the bachelorette
7. the bachelor
8. long island medium
9. sons of guns
10.  the glass house

Top Searches For TV Comedy Series In 2012

1. the big bang theory
2. how i met your mother
3. glee
4. south park
5. family guy
6. modern family
7. adult swim
8. two and a half men
9. the simpsons
10. drop dead diva

Top Searches For 2012 American Idol Contestants On Yahoo!

1. jessica sanchez
2. phillip phillips
3. erika van pelt
4. elise testone
5. hollie cavanagh
6. joshua ledet
7. skylar laine
8. colton dixon
9. jermaine jones
10. heejun han

Young and adorable Jessica Sanchez  outpaced the eventual season 11 winner Phillip Phillps in overall Yahoo searches. During the show’s live season, she was neck-and-neck with the doubly named musician as far as gaining Twitter followers.

While Phillips eventually won the prize and his single “Home” received prominent airtime as the theme song for the US Women’s Gymnastics team, the subsequent album release currently has him around 549K followers @Phillips, while the post-AI account of @JessicaESanchez is just shy of 1 million followers.

Meanwhile, the #9 most searched for AI contestant from Season 11 was Jermaine Jones, who made headlines when he was disqualified from the competition after making it to a semi-final round.

Top Searches For Songs & Lyrics On Yahoo! In 2012

1. call me maybe (carly rae jepsen)
2. gangnam gtyle (psy)
3. someone like you (adele)
4. somebody that i used to know (gotye)
5. sexy and i know it (lmfao)
6. we are young (fun.)
7. rolling in the deep (adele)
8. you belong with me (taylor swift)
9. what makes you beautiful (one direction)
10. gummy bear song (gummibär)

No surprises here with the Top 2 being viral sensations “Call Me Maybe” and “Gangnam Style,” Adele showing up twice is a well deserved honor, and most of the others are top pop hits.

Admittedly, I’d not heard of #10, so I had to search Yahoo! for the “gummy bear song (gummibär)” which apparently is a 5 year old song/video and popular German children’s cartoon; but of course for 2012, there had to be an updated “Gangnam Gummy Style” created:

Top Searched For Music Artists on Yahoo! in 2012

1. whitney houston
2. jennifer lopez
3. katy perry
4. justin bieber
5. britney spears
6. miley cyrus
7. beyonce
8. selena gomez
9. chris brown
10. taylor swift

Top Spiking Tours/Concerts on Yahoo! In 2012

1. van halen tour
2. aerosmith tour
3. rolling stones tour
4. iron maiden tour
5. new edition tour
6. maroon 5 tour
7. barbra streisand tour
8. adele tour
9. american idol tour
10. dave matthews tour