via googlezeitgeist.com

Google just released its 11th annual Zeitgeist site, covering the most searched terms in 2011. In a year that brought us the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, nuclear disaster in Japan, floods in Brazil, and the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the fastest growing search turns out to have been a manufactured pop star. Don't ever change, humans! No, you're good just like you are.

Google claims the second fastest rising search term this year was for Google +. See! Sometimes using your search engine as an ad for your plans to destroy Facebook really does pay off!

Along with the infographics and visualizations, Google also released this video. If you ignore the hideous Coldplay soundtrack--and that thing about Rebecca Black--it's actually quite moving.