Mandela, Miley top Google searches

Schoolchildren hold candles and portraits of Nelson Mandela during a prayer ceremony at a school in the southern Indian city of Chennai. REUTERS/Babu

Nelson Mandela, the former South African leader and human rights activist who died earlier this month, was the world's top trending search on Google, according to annual data released by the tech giant.

The company says trending searches represent queries that "had the highest amount of traffic over a sustained period in 2013 as compared to 2012".

The Fast and The Furious actor Paul Walker -- who died last month in a car crash -- was second, followed by the iPhone 5s, which launched in the fall. The complete top 10:

1. Nelson Mandela

2. Paul Walker

3. iPhone 5s

4. Cory Monteith

5. Harlem Shake

6. Boston Marathon

7. Royal Baby

8. Samsung Galaxy S4

9. PlayStation 4

10. North Korea

In the US, Walker's death was the top trending search on Google, followed by the Boston Marathon bombing and Mandela's passing. The death of Glee star Cory Monteith and the iPhone 5 round out the top five.

Meanwhile, Miley Cyrus, the pop singer who introduced many to twerking, was the most searched person on Google in the US this year. Musicians dominate this category, snagging nine of the top 10 spots.

1. Miley Cyrus

2. Drake

3. Kim Kardashian

4. Justin Bieber

5. Beyonce

6. Rihanna

7. Taylor Swift

8. Selena Gomez

9. Katy Perry

10. Kanye West

Readers can head to Google's Zeitgeist 2013 hub for more details on the year's top searches.

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