RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC/AP) — Facebook released its annual “Year in Review” and the top stories of 2015 featured most of the year’s tragic and/or controversial events, which is a stark change from years’ past.
Facebook’s annual top 10 lists have had a lighter tone prior to 2015. For example, the 2014 list was sports heavy with the Super Bowl, World Cup, and Winter Olympics. It also featured the ALS fundraising “Ice Bucket Challenge.” The Harlem Shake, William and Kate’s royal baby, and the Tour de France topped the 2013 list. And, in 2012, the list featured two sporting events, the Super Bowl and the Olympics, as well as Facebook’s own public stock offering.
The U.S. won’t elect a president until next year, but the debate over the crowded field of candidates jostling for the Oval Office emerged as the hottest topic on Facebook this year.
The race for the Democratic and Republican party nominations eclipsed an outpouring of emotions over deadly attacks, strife, social issues and disasters.
The rankings, released Wednesday, open a window into the cultural mindset by analyzing how frequently specific high-profile events, politicians, entertainers, athletes, movies and TV shows were mentioned in the posts of Facebook’s 1.5 billion users.
“This year, the most talked about global topics reflected the serious challenges people are facing all over the world — and how our global community is connecting and coming together in ways we have never seen before,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook Inc.’s chief operating officer.
Google, the owner of the Internet’s dominant search engine, will provide another snapshot of what people were thinking and talking about when it releases its annual breakdown of the year’s most frequent requests for more information.
2015 Stories of the Year: The polarizing candidacy of billionaire former reality-TV star Donald Trump helped drive early interest in who will win next year’s race to succeed President Barack Obama. Facebook says last week’s shootings in San Bernardino didn’t trigger enough discussion to break into the top ten.
U.S. Presidential Election
November 13 Attacks in Paris
Syrian Civil War & Refugee Crisis
Nepal Earthquakes
Greek Debt Crisis
Marriage Equality
Fight Against ISIS
Charlie Hebdo Attack
Baltimore Protests
Charleston Shooting & Flag Debate
2014 Stories of the Year: Quite a contrast from 2015.
World Cup
Ebola Virus Outbreak
Elections in Brazil
Robin Williams
Ice Bucket Challenge
Conflict in Gaza
Malaysia Airlines
Super Bowl
Michael Brown / Ferguson
Sochi Olympics
Top U.S. Topics in 2015: Another list that is dominated by controversy, tragedy, and terrorism.
U.S. Presidential Election
Marriage Equality
Charleston Shooting & Flag Debate
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Baltimore Protests
Planned Parenthood
Super Bowl
November 13 Attacks in Paris
Fight Against ISIS
Nepal Earthquakes
Top Global Athletes in 2015: The long-awaited May duel between two of the past decade’s best boxers captivated sports fans. Reflecting Facebook’s worldwide reach, none of the most popular pastimes in the U.S. placed an athlete in the top five. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady came in sixth place on Facebook’s list, while Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry occupied the seventh spot to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James in the basketball arena.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Manny Pacquiao
Ronda Rousey
Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Tom Brady
Stephen Curry
LeBron James
Serena Williams
Carlos Tevez
Top Global Entertainers in 2015: British singer Ed Sheeran doesn’t have as many followers as Taylor Swift and other singers on Twitter but the voice behind the Grammy-nominated song “Thinking Out Loud” topped Facebook’s charts this year. All five of the top spots were held by singers.
Ed Sheeran
Taylor Swift
Kanye West
Nicky Jam
Wiz Khalifa
Drake
Pitbull
Caitlyn Jenner
The Weeknd
Shakira
Top Global Movies in 2015: The anticipation for the Walt Disney Co.’s revival of the “Star Wars” franchise loomed over theaters like the Death Star for most of the year, even though the film won’t be released until next week.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Fast & Furious 7
Jurassic World
Avengers: Age of Ultron
American Sniper
Straight Outta Compton
Fifty Shades of Grey
Mad Max: Fury Road
Magic Mike XXL
Pitch Perfect 2
Top Global Politicians in 2015: Fascination over who might replace him next year wasn’t enough to overshadow the current U.S. president as he wrapped up in his penultimate year in office.
Barack Obama
Donald Trump
Dilma Rousseff
Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Recep Taytip Erdoğan
Muhammadu Buhari
Narendra Modi
Benjamin Netanyahu
Top Global Video Games in 2015: Mass Multi-Player Online games (MMO), Role Playing Games (RPG) dominated this year’s list.
FIFA15
Mortal Kombat X
Fallout Shelter & Fallout 4
Batman: Arkham Knight
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Dying Light
Star Wars: Battlefront
Pac-Man 256
Halo 5: Guardians
Top Global Television Shows in 2015: No surprise here after the HBO series “Game of Thrones” enthralled audiences during its fifth season and won a record 12 times, including the prize for best drama, at the Emmy awards in September.
Game of Thrones
The Walking Dead
The Daily Show
Saturday Night Live
WWE Raw
The Simpsons
19 Kids and Counting
Grey’s Anatomy
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Orange is the New Black
Facebook released the following statement about “Year in Review” top 10 lists:
As 2015 comes to a close, we remember what was on our minds this year and the difference we made by coming together. We’re taking a look back on the moments in 2015 that moved us and inspired us to take action.
We analyzed the past year’s conversation on Facebook to reveal the most talked-about global topics.
The top 10 lists were measured by how frequently a topic was mentioned in Facebook posts made between January and December 2015. To put this list together, Facebook posts were analyzed in an aggregated, anonymized way, and then ranked to create a snapshot of the year on Facebook.
A report from Michael Liedtke of The Associated Press contributed to this report.
