Houston tops 2012 Google Zeitgeist list

Whitney Houston's death was the most Googled thing of 2012.

New Whitney Houston book recalls singer's musical magic

The late pop diva's untimely death on February 11 created the biggest overall spike in US internet traffic as fans rushed to read about the 'I Will Always Love You' singer, according to online giant Google's annual Zeitgeist List.

The list ranks "the searches that had the highest amount of traffic over a sustained period of time in 2012 as compared to 2011".

Hurricane Sandy and Election 2012 rounded out the top three longest trending searches, while movie 'The Hunger Games' - starring Jennifer Lawrence - came in fourth place.

Kardashian tops Yahoo! 2012 searches

Asian singing sensation PSY's hit song 'Gangnam Style' managed to sneak its way onto the list at number eight. The top 10 also features Jeremy Lin, Olympics 2012, Amanda Todd, Michael Clarke Duncan and Kony 2012.

Related: 'Gangnam Style' becomes YouTube's most viewed

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez's recent tiff spawned the most curiosity in terms of celebrity couples, followed by Heidi Klum and Seal's separation, with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' break-up and Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart's cheating debacle ranking third and fourth respectively.

Meanwhile, reality show 'Here Comes Honey Boo Boo' had the biggest sustained boost in search traffic of all TV shows, but 'American Idol' remained the most-Googled show overall.

Bieber and Selena back together at AMAs bash