Most searched articles of the year revealed - The News International

LONDON: A study of 2012's most read Wikipedia articles reveals striking differences in what proved popular across the different language versions of the online encyclopaedia.

 

Facebook topped the English edition while an entry for adult video actresses did best in Japan. Hua Shan - a Chinese mountain featuring "the world's deadliest hiking trail" - topped the Dutch list. By contrast, cul-de-sacs were the German site's most clicked entry. The data was published by a Swedish software engineer Johan Gunnarsson as part of the Wikitrends project. His home land's most viewed article was a page dedicated to Sweden itself.

 

While articles about Iran, its capital city Tehran and the country's New Year celebrations topped the Persian list, entries about sex, female circumcision and homosexuality also made its top 10.

 

An overview of Egypt topped the Arabic language version and was followed by a history of Muhammad Ali Pasha - the Ottoman army commander who became the country's ruler in 1805. He is viewed by many as the founder of the "modern" nation.

 

Sport featured prominently in the Indonesian edition with football, volleyball and basketball all coming within the top seven articles. Italy appeared more obsessed with US television. Grey's Anatomy came out on top, and Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries followed shortly after.

 

The Russian version was led by an article about the country followed by one about YouTube. But entries for "porn site" and "unemployment" may provide greater insight into local users' lives.

 

Unusual results included the @ symbol making it into second place in the Spanish language edition, a type of Japanese holly topping the French list, and The European Regional Development Fund coming in third in Poland.

 

Canadian pop star Justin Bieber managed to make both the Danish and Norwegian top 10s, but was trumped by British boy band One Direction who appeared in the English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish and Danish lists. Elsewhere, Facebook's photo sharing service Instagram - which did not make any of Wikipedia's top 10s - has published its own round-up of 2012. The firm has focused on locations rather than themes.