Twitter: One Direction top 2013 trends - while Paul Walker and Corey Monteith also feature

Three of the five most retweeted message of the year came from the band

Boy band One Direction have their Twittersphere in the palm of their hands (Getty Images)

Social network Twitter has released the top trends of 2013 and – surprise, surprise – it is not just the albums charts that One Direction have dominated this year.

Click here for the top ten most talked about people of 2013

Three of the five most retweeted messages of the year were posted by members of the boy band, with teenage heartthrob Harry Styles the most popular.

The singer has racked up a massive 18.1 million followers since One Direction finished third on The X Factor in 2010.

Niall Horan celebrated his 20th birthday on 13 September to the tune of 275,000 retweets while his bandmate Zayn Malik notched up 344,000 after posting a picture of Harry Styles sleeping.

Another from Zayn Malik, thanking fans for their kind messages following his engagement to Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards, peaked at 336,000 retweets.

When the five members’ personal profiles and the official @onedirection account are merged, the band have over 29 million followers.

Men's magazine GQ experienced the power of One Direction's Twitter following this summer, when their One Direction special editions received some terrifying reactions.

"The GQ pictures make me want to stab myself in the uterus!" one fan wrote, while another voiced her rage at the Daft Punk-inspired tagline underneath Harry Styles' cover, "He's up all night to get lucky".

The impassioned tweet, typed in capslock for added anger read: "You are not a god damn manwhore, you are a cupcake. Jesus."

The most popular message of the year, however, came from Glee star Lea Michele (@msleamichele), who received 408,000 retweets after thanking fans for their support following the death of her co-star and partner Corey Monteith in July.

"Corey will be forever in my heart", she wrote.

Similarly, when Fast & Furious star Paul Walker (@RealPaulWalker) was killed in a Los Angeles car crash on 30 November, a message shared from his official account peaked at 400,000 retweets.

The most-followed UK musician was “Someone Like You” singer Adele, with more than 18 million Twitter fans.

When she tweeted to say she passed her driving test in March, her followers spread the news far and wide, resulting in comedian Alan Carr and TV presenter Fearne Cotton sending their congratulations.

Other big news in the arts and entertainment world included the deaths of author Iain Banks, musician Lou Reed, poet Seamus Heaney and Sopranos leading man James Gandolfini in June.

US actress and singer Ariana Grande captured the most music-orientated attention in 2013 with her #votearianagrande hashtag ahead of the MTV European Music Awards in November.

Justin Bieber was second in the ‘music’ trending list, with Austin Mahone, #EMAzing and Jake Miller completing the top five.

One Direction’s #thankyouonedirectionfor attracted a barrage of tweets, putting them in sixth place, while Selena Gomez’s #askselena Q&A was in seventh.

In the world of television, political show BBC This Week (#bbctw) was the top trend, followed by MTV (#MTVHottest) and Question Time (#BBCQT).

Glastonbury, Crimewatch, The Apprentice and Britain’s Got Talent were also popular.

New Twitter voices for 2013 include the newly-reunited comedy troupe Monty Python (@MontyPython), Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz (@CameronDiaz), Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth (@LiamHemsworth) and Rolling Stones frontman Ronnie Wood (@ronniewood).

Top Twitter music trends of 2013

1. Ariana Grande: #votearianagrande

2. Justin Bieber

3. Austin Mahone: #voteaustinmahone

4. EMAs: #EMAzing

5. Jake Miller: #JakeMillerFollowSpree

6. One Direction: #thankyouonedirectionfor

7. Glastonbury: #bbcglasto

8. Selena Gomez: #askselena

9. Nicki Minaj: #NickiBETAwards

10. Eminem: #RapGod