Sarah Palin may have been on the losing end of the Republican ticket, yet she topped the web search chart, confirms Google’s list of the most popular searches in 2008, which the internet search giant released on Wednesday.

At the number two positions of ‘fastest-rising’ searches around the globe was Beijing Olympics 2008. Facebook login and Tuenti, a Spanish social networking website followed the Beijing Olympics 2008.

At the number four came Heath Ledger, the Australian actor who died in January, followed by Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for the White House and now US president-elect.

Next came the searches for Nasza Klasa, a Polish social networking website, and Wer Kennt Wen, a German one, which were followed by Euro 2008 and the Jonas Brothers.

Google, for the first time released the search data for more than 30 countries, offering a global view of what people were looking for on the Internet this year.