General Election 'most searched-for news topic'

It beat the second most popular story searched for by users of AOL UK – the "cat bin woman" who ended up in court after putting a pet in a wheelie bin.

Despite only being announced recently, the news Prince William and Kate Middleton are to marry came in third and is already being predicted as the top news story of 2011 by those who use the website.

In world news, the saga of the Chilean miners trapped underground before being dramatically rescued topped the list.

X Factor judge Cheryl Cole and estranged husband Ashley were top of the list of celebrity couples web users searched for. Ten times as many people wanted information on the Girls Aloud singer than on the footballer, however.

The ITV show was the most popular search term in the television and film category, followed by Big Brother, which was recorded for the final time in summer.

Interest in the X Factor continued with JLS being the top of the bands category, followed by N-Dubz and The Saturdays.

Lady Gaga was the most popular artist that fans wanted to find out about, with teen sensation Justin Bieber in second place.

In the scandal category, actor Mel Gibson topped the list, followed by the controversy over Wayne Rooney's alleged visits to a prostitute.

Popular questions put to the site included "What is a hung parliament?" and "How do I become a vegetarian?".

Spokeswoman Sarah Gavin said: "As we look back on 2010 most of us will have a pretty good idea of what has characterised the year, but there's nothing quite like taking a look inside the minds of the British public to reveal exactly what has occupied our thoughts.

"It's no surprise that Cheryl Cole features highly as she continues to settle into her place in the nation's hearts, but the likes of shamed former husband Ashley and wayward Wayne Rooney should learn a lesson from their quite different rankings in the results."

AOL UK analysed billions of searches carried out from January 2010 until a few days ago.

The last thing that more than 70 per cent of British adults will do before they go to bed is check social network sites, figures show.

Instead of curling up with a good book before nodding off, 72 per cent of adults check status updates on Facebook, a study conducted on behalf of Travelodge found.

The questionnaire of 6,000 adults, also found that 18 per cent of adults send a daily night-time tweet to their followers.