Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscar selfie most retweeted tweet this year

A screenshot of Ellen DeGeneres's Oscar group selfie photo (@TheEllenShow / Twitter)

The internet was reportedly "broken" several times this year. From the European Space Agency's historic Rosetta mission to a clash between tabloids' favourite Kim Kardashian in her birthday suit for Paper magazine and Psy's Gangnam Style YouTube video for the top spot, there has been a lot to talk about.

But let's rewind to March and the internet sensation, walking away as the mother of all tweets this year was Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres' multi-celebrity selfie tweet.

Twitter has crowned the alledgeldy preplanned selfie at the 86th Academy Awards as the 'Golden Tweet' this year. Within 40 minutes of being uploaded, the photo broke previous records for the most retweeted tweet (Actress Lea Michele's tweet after the death of Glee co-star Cory Monteith in 2013 and President Barack Obama's victory tweet in 2012). The TV host (@TheEllenShow) and comedian's selfie with Hollywood stars, including Kevin Spacey, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Brad Pitt, has been retweeted three million times.

It's no surprise the selfie eclipsed all other phenomenons on Twitter. The term has been mentioned more than 92 million times on Twitter, 12 times more than in 2013. In second place is footballer Lukas Podolski's (@Podolski10) selfie taken when Germany won the Fifa World Cup.

Football took Twitter world by storm with tweets during the World Cup finals in Brazil being the highest to date for any event. Twitter analysts recorded 672 million tweets sent out during the matches that began in June.

Brazilian football player Neymar Jr (@neymarjr), whose performance during the World Cup was lauded, gained the most followers this year, with a boost of 1.5 million new Twitter users reading his tweets.

However, pop star Katy Perry (@katyperry) has become the most-followed star with 61.2 million followers. Canadian singer Justin Bieber (57.5 followers) and Barack Obama (50.8 followers) come next in the list.

In the Emirates, making the cut are TV news channels, Al Arabia Breaking News with more than 6 million followers and Al Arabia with 4.63 million followers.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai (@HHShkMohd) is the most followed individual on the list with 3.4 million followers.

For UAE residents, the buzz on Twitter has been around Eid Al Fitr and social topics, with residents also pitching in with opinions during the World Cup.