Norwegians, New Zealanders search for Scarlett Johansson

(AFP PHOTO / Robyn Beck)

Following the news on Wednesday, September 14 that naked pictures of actress Scarlett Johansson had been stolen from her phone and leaked on the internet, searches for the actress's name increased dramatically. The majority of these searches originated in Norway and New Zealand.

Over the seven days prior to September 19 the phrase "Scarlett Johansson" experienced an increase of growth of 4,050 percent according to Google Insights. The data also shows that majority of these searches originated from internet users in Norway, New Zealand, the United States and South Korea.

Unsurprisingly, the most popular variations of the search term "Scarlett Johansson" included "Scarlett Johansson photos" and "Scarlett Johansson leaked." 

However, aside from Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who is credited with discovering Vitamin C and was the subject of a Google Doodle, the single search term with the biggest increase in growth over the past seven days was Andy Whitfield.

Andy Whitfield, the star of the Spartacus TV series, died aged just 39 years old on Sunday, September 18, after a long battle with cancer. Andy Whitfield leaves behind his wife and two young children.

Other search terms with a large increase in growth over the past seven days include "Google Gravity" - a fun twist on the Google search engine Chrome first released in 2010; Turkish video sharing site Dizi izle, and Thai news site Sanook.

The search terms with the most significant growth worldwide in the last seven days, as  measured by Google Insights and recorded September 19, were:  

01.   albert szent-gyorgyi (Breakout*)
02.   andy whitfield (Breakout*)
03.   scarlett Johansson (+4,050%)
04.   hotmail.es (+250%)
05.   google gravity (+200%)
06.   videos engraçados (+60%)
07.   dizi izle (+50%)
08.   minecraft wiki (+50%)
09.   kral oyun (+40%)
10.   sanook (+40%)

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