Current Google Insights trends: Thomas Edison, 'Glee,' Super Bowl commercials

(AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

Inventor Thomas Edison, musical comedy-drama Glee and Super Bowl commercials were among this week's most popular Google Insights trends.

This week's top Google Insights trend, Japanese term "?????," refers to the celebrity Minako Komukai, the Japanese actress who found infamy in 2010 when erotic pictures of her were published on the web. Following this incident Minako Komukai turned to erotic dancing and now features regularly on Japanese TV. Her most recent TV performance, in which she performs a dance in her underwear, was posted on YouTube and most likely explains why the actress is at the top of this week's chart.

American inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931), the second most popular search term this week, was honored by Google with a commemorative Google doodle marking the scientist's 164th birthday last week. Internet users clicking on the doodle were automatically directed to results for the search term "Thomas Edison," helping account for the popularity of the phrase.

Google also marked Jules Verne's 183rd birthday on February 8 with a doodle, helping make the science fiction writer the third most popular term for the same reasons.

The biggest event of the American football season, the Super Bowl, which took place on February 6, is also of prime importance to advertisers hoping to reach audiences across the United States. This year commercials included appearances by Eminem and Volkswagen's tongue-in-cheek portrayal of a pint-sized Darth Vader trying to use the force. The full range of commercials is available to watch on YouTube, and the search term "Super Bowl commercials" was the week's fourth most-searched-for term.

Other popular search terms this week included rock and blues musician Gary Moore of Thin Lizzy fame, who died on February 6, popular musical TV show Glee, news aggregating site The Huffington Post, which was recently acquired by internet company AOL, and American iPhone network provider Verizon Wireless.

The Spanish term "Hotmail iniciar sesion," which translates in English as "Hotmail log in," was also popular following the email provider's recent upgrade which allows users to create multiple interlinked accounts. The email provider has recently been experiencing a series of problems thought to be associated with the transfer of existing users to this new service.

The search terms with the most significant growth worldwide in the last seven days as measured by Google Insights, recorded on February 14 at 8:30 AM GMT, are:

01.  ????? (breakout*)
02.  Thomas Edison (+3,900%)
03.  jules verne (+3,350%)
04.  super bowl commercials (+800%)
05.  gary moore (+130%)
06.  edible arrangements (+120%)
07.  glee (+90%)
08.  huffington post (+90%)
09.  verizon wireless (+50%)
10.  hotmail iniciar session (+40%)

*Breakout defines a search term that has experienced a change in growth greater than 5,000 percent.