Tag Archives: end of year 2013

Google, Twitter and Facebook mark the highlights of 2013

Google’s year-end Zeitgeist, or “spirit of the times,” continues to impress with its far-reaching grasp on what we searched for and talked about over the course of the year that was 2013. The search giant calls it their “most global Zeitgeist to date” as it includes over 1,000 top 10 lists spanning 72 countries. Their “Here’s to 2013” retrospective video highlights the people, places, and moments that captured the world’s attention throughout the year. Of all the lists the one you’re most likely to want to see first is the top 10 global searches of 2013. Falling in line with years past, the list includes celebrity/world leader deaths, hot technology, and a viral video to boot.:

  1. Nelson Mandela
  2. Paul Walker
  3. iPhone 5s
  4. Cory Monteith
  5. Harlem Shake
  6. Boston Marathon
  7. Royal Baby
  8. Samsung Galaxy s4
  9. PlayStation 4
  10. North Korea

Head over to the Zeitgeist homepage to explore the myriad trending lists. There, for the first time, you’ll also find an interactive Trends Globe that allows you to play around with a 3D global map showcasing the top search trends of the year by day in cities around the world. Like I said, impressive stuff here.

Jump after the break to see how Twitter and Facebook are celebrating the big two-oh-one-three. Continue reading Google, Twitter and Facebook mark the highlights of 2013

This year in viral videos, as told by YouTube’s top 10 of 2013

It’s been another wild year for things that went viral on the Internet. YouTube‘s compiled a list of the top 10 most trending videos of 2013 and can you guess which video claimed the #1 spot? I’ll give you a hit: Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! That’s right–it’s Ylvis’ “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” which has amassed over 306 million views as of writing this post. The Harlem Shake, Steve Kardynal’s hysterical Chatroulette version of “Wrecking Ball,” The Lonely Island’s “YOLO,” and that Carrie movie telekinesis marketing ploy also made the most watched list:

1. Ylvis – “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” by tvnorge
2. “Harlem Shake (original army edition)” by kennethaakonsen
3. “How Animals Eat Their Food” | MisterEpicMann by MisterEpicMann
4. “Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball (Chatroulette Version)” by SteveKardynal
5. “baby&me / the new evian film” by EvianBabies
6. Volvo Trucks – “The Epic Split feat. Van Damme” by VolvoTrucks
7. “YOLO (feat. Adam Levine & Kendrick Lamar)” by thelonelyisland
8. “Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise” by CarrieNYC
9. “THE NFL : A Bad Lip Reading” by BadLipReading
10. “Mozart vs Skrillex. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 2” by ERB

The video hanging above mashes together the year’s most popular viral hits; “YouTube Rewind: What Does 2013 Say?” stars YouTube personalities like Mystery Guitar Man, GloZell, DeStorm, Jenna Marbles, Epic Meal Time, Annoying Orange, iJustine, Grace Helbig, and FreddieW. Rock out with your tail out!

This year in music, as told by DJ Earworm’s mega-mashup “United State of Pop 2013″

Experience 2013’s most popular songs (as determined by Billboard’s weekly Hot 100 charts, of course) with DJ Earworm‘s latest installment in his “United State of Pop” mashup franchise. As always Earworm goes the extra mile and complements his annual mashup with a visual component, magically stitching together the artist’s music videos. The new track is called “Living the Fantasy” so it shouldn’t come as a total surprise that Lorde’s “Royals” dominates here; Miley’s “We Can’t Stop” and Rihanna’s “Stay” also get recycled often. Songs by Bruno Mars, Imagine Dragons, Justin Timberlake, and One Republic are among the 25 total used here; jump after the break for the full tracklist.

After watching the mashup, download the track for free at SoundCloud. Continue reading This year in music, as told by DJ Earworm’s mega-mashup “United State of Pop 2013″

This year in movies, as told by 300 of them in seven minutes

Genevieve Ip returns with her annual look back at the year in movies. This time around she’s crammed 300 films into a seven-minute retrospective. The clip is separated into five parts based on various themes that connect the various films used: words, origins, evil, death & love, and time. Hop over to Ip’s Tumblr to read her take on said themes.

“One of my biggest goals in cutting this video was to show that movies are more alike than they are dissimilar, that they can all come together and tell a grander narrative about humanity and life,” she told the LA Times. “I’ll create a backbone of themes and try to find dialogue and music to support them. Sometimes though, I’m struck by a particular line and it takes on a life of its own and creates its own thematic section.”

According to a recent tweet, this is Ip’s final “Filmography” mashup. “I’m ready to come up with a new format for my passion projects,” she admits. So sit back, relax, and enjoy “Filmography 2013” and relive her past creations here.

iTunes shares 2013’s top-selling albums, movies, TV shows, apps & more

Apple’s iTunes, App, and iBooks Stores have truly become the destination on the Internet to discover and download the latest and greatest in music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books. And every year the house that Jobs built tallies the best-selling media, so let’s take a look.

In music, Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience is crowned the top-selling album of 2013. Also landing in the top 15 are Imagine Dragons’ Night Visions, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ The Heist, and Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. The top-selling song? M&R’s “Thrift Shop,” followed by Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive.” In addition to these top-selling lists, Apple has hand-picked Editor Choice awards; namely, JT is named Artist of the Year, M&R’s The Heist is Album of the Year, Lorde’s “Royals” is Song of the Year, and Kendrick Lamar (Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City) is Breakthrough Artist.

The top three best-selling movies are SkyfallWreck-It Ralph, and Argo. Apple named Gravity Best Movie and Despicable Me 2 Best Animated Movie. On TVBreaking BadDownton Abbey, and The Walking Dead lead the top-selling series of 2013. Vince Gilligan’s masterpiece is TV Show of the Year, Scandal is Best Breakthrough, and Orphan Black is Best Discovery.

The best-selling paid app is Minecraft – Pocket Edition; also making that list is Heads Up!, Temple Run: Oz, and Angry Birds Star Wars. The best-selling freebie? Candy Crush Saga, of course, followed by Temple Run 2VineGoogle Maps, and Snapchat.

The most popular books (fiction) are Dan Brown’s Inferno, E L James’ Fifty Shades of Grey, and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Apple quite liked Tenth of December by George Saunders.

Click here to browse Apple’s Best of 2013 charts across all the various forms of media.