Hot topics of conversation on Twitter in 2013

Twitter has revealed the hot topics of conversation on Twitter in 2013. Credit: Reuters

A royal baby, a raunchy dance, a new Pope, a boy band and the crowning of Andy Murray as Wimbledon Champion were just some of the hot topics of conversation on Twitter in 2013.

The birth of the Prince of Cambridge in July sparked a frenzy of excitement on social networking sites which spread rapidly across the world.

A spike in conversation came in the minutes following the initial announcement, with more than 25,300 tweets per minute.

At the time, Twitter said the highest volumes of conversation came from the UK, the United States, Canada, France and Italy.

The day after his birth, more than 18,000 people a minute tweeted about the royal prince as he made his first public appearance with his parents on the steps of the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington.

But although it got people talking, the announcement of the royal baby's birth failed to generate the same flurry of activity on social media as Andy Murray's historic Wimbledon victory earlier in the month which amassed 120,000 tweets per minute, or the election of Pope Francis in March which sparked a massive 132,000 tweets per minute.

Andy Murray's Wimbledon win sparked Twitter activity. Credit: Press Association

Elsewhere in the sporting world, football dominated the biggest spikes in UK Twitter traffic, with seven of the top 10 topics in terms of tweets per second being about the beautiful game.

The moment that Manchester United were knocked out of the Champions League after being beaten by Real Madrid took the number one spot.

Also achieving some of the most tweets per second was Mumford and Sons' closing set at Glastonbury in June, with millions marking the moment the band were joined on stage by The Vaccines and Vampire Weekend to sing Beatles classic With A Little Help From My Friends.

Mumford and Sons close Glastonbury in 2013. Credit: Press Association

While the election of a new pontiff may be a centuries-old process it captured the imagination of the modern age - prompting seven million mentions on Twitter.

Cardinal of Buenos Aires Jorge Mario Bergoglio's election dominated online discussion to such a degree that it became the subject of eight of the top 10 trending topics at one point, according to Twitter.

Seven million people took to Twitter to discuss the election of the new Pontiff. Credit: Vandeville Eric/ABACA/Press Association Images

Twerking - the risque dance move made famous by US star Miley Cyrus at the MTV Video Music Awards in August - became a sensation both offline and on Twitter.One of the most talked about moments of the night - and in the showbiz year - both Cyrus, her twerking and her foam finger prop took the site by storm as people expressed mainly shock and disapproval.

Miley Cyrus twerks during her performance with Robin Thicke at the VMA Awards. Credit: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

With almost 25 million unique followers between them, it comes as no surprise the 1D movie premiere took over the Twitter conversation.As Harry, Zayn, Louis, Niall and Liam took to the red carpet in London's Leicester Square for One Direction: This Is Us in August, fans around the world tweeted about the band and the film.There were more than 3.6 million related tweets on the day, and in 24 hours there were more than 1.9 million tweets using the hashtag #1DMoviePremiere.Three of the five most retweeted messages of the year also came from members of the boyband.

One Direction. Credit: Tammie Arroyo/AFF/EMPICS Entertainment

The UK News topics that trended on Twitter most frequently in 2013 were:

1 Iain Banks

2 UK Storm

3 NHS

4 Seamus Heaney

5 Ken Barlow

6 Royal Baby

7 James Arthur

8 Thatcher

9 Richard III

10 City of Culture 2017