WASHINGTON — The end of the year is near and Yahoo! is out with its most-searched topics list of 2011.

Not surprisingly, it reveals a few things we probably already know: Americans love new technology, are very interested in celebrities, and they go online to get information on things they’d rather not talk about with others.

At the top of this year’s overall most-searched topics list was the iPhone, says Heather Cabott, of Yahoo!

“People looking for which wireless carriers they could use on the phone, which was huge, to the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs.”

As for the rest of the most-searched topics, “Number two Casey Anthony, number three Kim Kardashian, four Katy Perry, and number five Jennifer Lopez,” Cabott says.

News stories were also heavily sought this year. Casey Anthony was the most searched news item, Japan’s earthquake and tsunami was number two and Osama bin Laden came in at number three.

When it came to health, Cabott says, “The top searched health symptom is pregnancy, number nine on the list is herpes, menopause comes in at number ten.

“Number two is diabetes, gall bladder, gout, thyroid comes in at number five, lupus, and then number seven is Shingles.”

When it came to questions, “The most frequent question is how to tie a tie. People are going to job interviews and they want to make sure that they’ve tied the tie correctly.”

Notable events that didn’t make the list were the royal wedding and Charlie Sheen, Cabott says.

Looking ahead to 2012, the Yahoo! spokeswoman says she expects people to want information on the presidential election, the Olympics and the iPhone 5.

WTOP’s Debra Feinstein contributed to this report.

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(Copyright 2011 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)