Egypt and Charlie Sheen top Twitter obsessions in 2011

THE EGYPTIAN revolution, Charlie Sheen and a self-improvement mantra have topped a list of the most popular hashtags - or topics - on Twitter in 2011.

In first place is #egypt, a hashtag that dominated Twitter at the beginning of the year because of the unrest which culminated in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak on February 12. The Egyptian revolution appears again at number eight - '#Jan25' refers to the date of a huge anti-Mubarak protest.

The second most popular hashtag of the year is #TigerBlood, which became a top trend at the height of actor Charlie Sheen's very public dispute with the producers of his sitcom Two and a Half Men in March.

After joining Twitter, Sheen put on one million followers in 24 hours, which is believed to be a record. His Twitter ad for an assistant - "I'm looking to hire a #winning INTERN with #TigerBlood" - then went viral.

In third place is #ThreeWordsToLiveBy, the kind of self-help hashtag that periodically becomes popular on Twitter. It is thought this one was started by Maria Shriver, the estranged wife of actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Twitter has published a number of other hot topics of 2011, including the top foods (first place: 'McLobster'), top actresses (Elizabeth Taylor) and top tech subjects (Mac App Store).

There was no place for Justin Bieber in the music list - despite his famously obsessive 'Beliebers', who are known to take to Twitter in their thousands to rage against any perceived slight against the singer. They will be shocked to learn that the honour of most talked-about musician goes to 'Rebecca Black and Friday', which refers to the very annoying and much-parodied YouTube video about a 14-year-old girl and what she likes to do on certain days of the week.

Top hashtags of 2011:

1. #egypt
2. #tigerblood
3. #threewordstoliveby
4. #idontunderstandwhy
5. #japan
6. #improudtosay
7. #superbowl
8. #jan25 ·