Robin Williams, World Cup and Ebola top Google search in 2014

 By 
Stan Schroeder
 on 
Robin Williams, World Cup and Ebola top Google search in 2014
Brazil's Fernandinho reacts after Germany's Toni Kroosduring scored a third goal during their World Cup semifinal soccer match in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Credit: Natacha Pisarenko

Google released the list of the most-searched terms in 2014, and it's a bittersweet mix of tragedy and fun, of terrible events and wonderful attempts to make the world better.

Topping this year's list is beloved comedian Robin Williams, who died of suicide in August after a long battle with depression and addiction.

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The largest Ebola outbreak to date, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines' flight 370 and the terror of ISIS round up the tragic events in this year's list.

On the brighter side of things, people around the world were gripped by this summer's World Cup, the amazingly addictive mobile game Flappy Bird, Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst, Disney's animated feature hit Frozen and the Olympic games in Sochi.

And the effort to help raise awareness of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by dumping cold water on one's head -- a phenomenon which became known as the Ice Bucket Challenge -- went viral during the summer, grabbing fifth place in Google's list.

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Credit: Google

Google also explores particular topics on a special page highlighting some of the most interesting moments of the year.

It is a long but interesting read, exploring quick-rising trends such as "add reminder," a search phrase that was prominent in January 2014 as folks prepared for the following year using their mobile devices, and "when is easter," which helped many of us remember the date of Easter.

At one point, many people wanted to "buy Pharrell hat," and before developer Dong Nguyen pulled the game from the market, a lot of frustrated mobile gamers wanted to find out about "Flappy Bird cheats."

On TV, it seems people were most captivated by fantasy (Game of Thrones) and zombies (The Walking Dead). And while hosts Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien, David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel put up a fierce battle to become the king of the online world, it only took one Oscar selfie to propel Ellen Degeneres to the first place.

Check out all of Google's 2014 search trends here.

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