Twitter has listed its top trends over the past year in the U.S., U.K. and Japan to show what words caught the attention of users based on an abrupt rise in interest as opposed to consistently popular terms.

Trends are topics that Twitter sees as important spikes in conversations on the platform, and this year’s Trends had its own centers of attention.

Conversation Starters

Hashtags arrange conversations based on topics. Twitter 2012 followed #nowplaying as it shared favorite music and #blessed counted all good things in life. Other terms presented interactions among individuals within the community.

1. #nowplaying
2. #oomf – “one of my followers”
3. #blessed
4. #quote
5. #lrt – “last Retweet”
6. #salute
7. #news
8. #followfriday
9. #throwbackthursday
10. #shoutout

Politics

Voters talked about 2012 elections candidates and political advertisements, campaigns and assemblies, whereas some hashtags drew more conversations, and real-time events had record engagement levels.

1. #tcot – “top conservatives on Twitter”
2. #teaparty
3. #gop – “Grand Old Party” or The Republican Party
4. #romney
5. mitt romney
6. #dnc2012 – “Democratic National Committee”
7. charlotte
8. #gop2012
9. #rnc – “Republican National Committee”
10. #obama2012

Sports

Sports fans aired intense excitement for their team, discussed player’s performance, and got entangled with the Olympic games on Twitter.

1. #nfl
2. #nascar
3. #mlb
4. olympics
5. #sfgiants
6. jeremy lin
7. super bowl
8. dwight howard
9. kobe
10. #yankees

TV

Audiences endlessly tweeted on contestants in reality shows, while some obsessed over the plot of a hit TV series. Other home viewers relished shows from the past.

1. family guy
2. #bb14 – “Big Brother 14”
3. american dad
4. hey arnold
5. american idol
6. pretty little liars
7. 106 & park
8. SNL – “Saturday Night Live”
9. fresh prince
10. boy meets world

Movies

Buffs took to Twitter discussions on the hottest movie releases, most talked-about blockbusters, and favorites. During the past year, fans were more into action films and dark stories but romance still found space.

1. think like a man
2. the hunger games
3. the avengers
4. Red Tails
5. 21 Jump Street
6. Dark Knight Rises
7. Dark Shadows
8. The Devil Inside
9. Safe House
10. The Vow

Music

This year, hip-hop stars took centerstage, large music festivals brought forth nonstop live tweeting, and fans conversed about performances.

1. rick ross
2. #hiphop
3. trey songz
4. nicki minaj
5. #musicmonday
6. kendrick lamar
7. chris brown
8. coachella
9. big sean
10. r&b

Food

This year, trends spiked on eateries and who can forget the perennial favorite coffee and the world’s largest coffeehouse.

1. ihop
2. starbucks
3. waffle house
4. mcdonalds
5. bbq
6. #coffee
7. taco bell
8. denny’s
9. burger king
10. olive garden

Tech

Techies and consumers saw new products this year that had notable spikes in Twitter, such as the latest Apple iPad, iPhone and Amazon Kindle.

1. at&t
2. iphone
3. instagram
4. skype
5. kindle
6. ipad
7. pinterest
8. draw something
9. amazon
10. apple

Countries

Syria was the most talked about country in 2012, followed by China and Japan.

1. #syria
2. china
3. japan
4. iran
5. India
6. afghanistan
7. australia
8. israel
9. italy
10. Canada

Image: Creative Tools via Flickr (CC)

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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