Here are the 10 topics people talked about the most on Facebook in 2016

Alex Heath

Updated Thu, 8 Dec 2016, 8:05 am

Facebook / Christophe Wu

Candace Payne’s ‘Chewbacca Mom’ video on Facebook quickly became a cultural phenomenon this year.

A lot happened on Facebook in 2016.

Politics unsurprisingly dominated much of the discussion among Facebook users, but so did the passing of celebrities like Muhammad Ali.

Facebook looked at the posts from its 1.8 billion users from January 1 to November 27 and anonymously aggregated them to find the top 10 most talked about topics.

Here they are in order:

1. The US presidential election

President-elect Donald Trump dominated news coverage on all fronts during the Republican primary and the general election where he beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in a massive upset, winning the White House in November.

Clinton won the popular vote, however.

2. Brazilian politics

Among Brazil’s many travails, its former president, Dilma Rousseff, was suspended from office in May. Brazil’s Senate ordered her to stand trial in a historic decision brought on by a deep recession and a corruption scandal.

3. Pokémon Go

It was the newest craze — for a little while.

People swarmed busy streets, parks, and national landmarks to play Pokémon Go. Organized meetups to hunt Pokémon in places like Central Park drew thousands of people.

4. Black Lives Matter

Sometimes dubbed a modern-day civil-rights movement, groups affiliated with the Black Lives Matter organization rallied supporters in response to police shootings involving unarmed black civilians.

The movement found an influential advocate in President Barack Obama who in July said, “We have seen too many tragedies like this.”

5. Rodrigo Duterte and the Philippine presidential election

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s unfiltered bombast has rattled leaders around the world since he was inaugurated in June. He ran on a platform that openly encouraged the killing of criminals.

He has also talked favorably about implementing martial law, and called Russian President Vladimir Putin his “idol.”

6. The Olympics

There were plenty of highs and lows in the Rio Olympics last summer. Among the highs, American women outperformed in a big way. Team USA topped the Rio medal charts with 121 medals overall — 51 more than the next-highest country.

Of those, 53% were won by the American women, despite female athletes only making up 45% of the overall competitors.

Among the lows, US swimmer Ryan Lochte got himself into trouble with local police after he claimed he was robbed at gunpoint.

7. Brexit

Voters in the United Kingdom overwhelmingly supported Britain’s exit from the European Union. The vote in June sent markets into a tailspin worldwide.

8. Super Bowl 50

The Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-10, to capture Super Bowl 50 in February. In March, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning announced his retirement after 18 seasons in the NFL.