There’s really no better way to look forward to the coming year than to look back at all the stupid shit that Americans and the world looked up last year. Of course, the best (and easiest) way to figure what Americans were interested in is to look back at the most popular Google phrases of the past year.

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So here we go. Get ready to be underwhelmed.

1. Rebecca Black

2. Google +

3. Ryan Dunn

4. Casey Anthony

5. Battlefield 3

6. iPhone 5

7. Adele

8. (some weird Asian phrase that I don’t recognize and since we don’t have a HUGE presence in Asia, I won’t harp on)

9. Steve Jobs

10. iPad 2

Kudos to Apple for occupying three of the top ten spots. Kudos for Rebecca Black for doing whatever the hell she did to get her dumb song Googled by more people across the world than any other thing ever. So, 2011 will be remembered as the year people really wanted to know about awful music, lots of consumer electronics, a high-profile murder trial, and some dude from Jackass.

So pretty much, from Google’s perspective, 2011 was just like ever other year of the past decade. Nice to know some thing never change. Namely, inane searches of pop culture ephemera that no one will ever want or need to revisit in 2012.

Of course, I’m probably being a little rough dictating that people should only be looking up postmodernist theory and the downfall of the Ottoman Empire on Google, but Rebecca Black? Seriously? I would even have taken Kim Kardashian over her. And I don’t want to take Kim Kardashian over anyone.

Predictions for next year: Rebecca Black’s younger sister burping the alphabet, iPhones 7-19, Zombie Steve Jobs, Mayan End of Days, Kim Kardashian + plastic + melt. Just a hunch.