YAHOO!7  today released its annual search trend data for 2011, revealing Pippa Middleton, planking and Scarlett Johansson were some of the top searches of the year.

The top 10 search items were:

1.    Queensland disasters: 2011 was kicked off with the floods that devastated Brisbane and much of Queensland, only to be followed by Cyclone Yasi striking the north of the beleaguered state.

2.    The royal wedding: The wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William was of heavy interest, but both the couple and the event were outshone by Kate’s sister, Pippa Middleton, who showed herself to be of rather more interest to the viewing public.

3.    Christchurch earthquakes: Continuing the natural disasters of 2011, our neighbour New Zealand suffered horrendous damage to the city of Christchurch, a city already weakened by a quake late in the previous year, and in total 181 people lost their lives.

 4.    Scarlett Johansson: Always a popular search, Scarlett Johansson bursts into the top searches this year with her divorce from actor Ryan Reynolds and cements her position with the hacking scandal that saw leaked nude photos of the actor hit the internet.

5.    Japanese tsunami: Australia was horrified when in March, Japan was struck first by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, its worst in recorded history, and shortly thereafter a powerfully destructive tsunami. The aftermath saw millions without water and electricity and worse still damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which remains a concern to this very day.

6.    Christina Hendricks: This full figured star of Mad Men was nominated for an Emmy in 2011, and while she did not win the award her famous curves and blazing red hair continues to prove extremely popular with both men and women.

7.    Football: Loyalties were declared in 2011 with the codes of football popular along state lines; in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia we saw the AFL solidly trending, whilst the north saw the NRL the favourite in New South Wales and Queensland. Overall, of course, the Rugby World Cup was trending nationwide as we followed the Wallabies in their quest for Cup glory.

8.    Amy Winehouse: The saga of this British singer-songwriter came to a tragic end in 2011 when, barely more than a month after being booed off stage during her European tour for being too inebriated to perform, she passed away from alcohol poisoning.

9.    Planking: One of the odder internet fads to arise – and ultimately fall – in 2011 was the craze known as ‘Planking’. An activity that amounted to little more than lying across objects or structures and then having a photo taken, it swept across the world to condemnation from some parents and school groups, a concern that was only heightened following the reported death of a Queensland man who was alleged to be planking at the time. Spin offs have arisen, with increasingly ludicrous names such as ‘teapotting’, ‘owling’ and ‘Batmanning’, but none have managed to capture interest as planking did at its height.

10.  London riots: An event that seemed to explode across the United Kingdom, what began as a peaceful protest in response to a fatal shooting soon devolved into violence, rioting and looting that appeared to be motivated by restlessness and greed than out of protest. Whilst the event seems to have passed into memory, whether there are any long term repercussions for the United Kingdom and London in particular remains to be seen.