Whitney Houston, who died in February, edged past “Gangnam Style,” “Hurricane Sandy” and “iPad 3” to top the list of global trending searches in 2012, according to Google’s annual review of popular queries.
Houston, famous for the songs “Greatest Love of All” and “I Will Always Love You,” was at the top of the list. Searches for “Gangnam Style,” a music video by Korean singer PSY — with a record 930 million YouTube views — came in second. No. 3 was “Hurricane Sandy.” They were followed by “iPad 3” and the “Diablo 3” video game.
In the US, the presidential election was the third-highest search after Whitney Houston and Hurricane Sandy, with “Gangnam Style” slipping to No. 8.