2011 was an epic year.

Here are the stories you judged the most vital

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/18/2011-stories-made-year/print

From the Norwegian massacre to the Japanese tsunami, and from Osama bin Laden to Gaddafi, 2011 was a big year for news. Here we illustrate which of these stories attracted most interest in terms of visits to our website

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Robin McKie The Observer, Sunday 18 December 2011

The news that Apple would not be launching an iPhone 5 was the most popular search-engine referral to the Guardian-Observer website in 2011 Photograph: David Paul Morris/Getty Images

The figures in brackets show the number of search engine referrals to the Guardian-Observer website that keywords relating to a news topic triggered for a particular month.

January
WIKILEAKS INQUIRY (58,968), 4 JANUARY The US Department of Justice announces plans to hold a congressional inquiry into WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, following the organisation's release of thousands of classified US diplomatic cables.

February
CYCLONE STRIKES (81,708), 2 FEBRUARY Tropical cyclone Yasi strikes Queensland, Australia, generating 9m waves and winds of up to 185 mph. A total of 400,000 people are evacuated from floodwaters and 2.2bn worth of damage is inflicted.

MUBARAK RESIGNS (66,813), 11 FEBRUARY The demonstrations in Tahrir Square, Cairo, against the rule of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's ruler since the 1980s, reach a peak in early February. Mubarak resigns, leaving the country in the hands of a military council. EARTHQUAKE (63,525), 22 FEBRUARY An earthquake of 6.3 magnitude strikes New Zealand's South Island, 10km from Christchurch. The city is badly damaged: 181 people die and 15bn damage is done.

March
TSUNAMI (493,098), 11 MARCH A magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggers a tsunami that devastates the north-east coast of Japan. More than 1,600 people die and an estimated 190bn damage is caused. Waves also damage the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, triggering explosions in three reactors. Tens of thousands flee. LIBYA NO-FLY ZONE (176,079), 18 MARCH The UN security council authorises a no-fly zone across Libya to prevent government planes from bombing civilians. Rebel control of the country slowly strengthens. APPLE UNVEILS iPAD 2 (61,813), 2 MARCH ELIZABETH TAYLOR DIES (43,668), 23 MARCH SHEEN SACKED (42,576), 7 MARCH Charlie Sheen, the highest paid actor on US television, is sacked from the TV series Two and a Half Men after an expletive-filled attack on the show's producer.

April
ROYAL WEDDING (234,372), 29 APRIL US MONEY WOES (97,647), 8 APRIL The US narrowly avoids government shutdown after Congress signs an agreement to remove $38bn of federal programme budgets. Failure to reach a deal would have resulted in the closure of all but the most essential government services. SPACE FLIGHT ANNIVERSARY (74,262), 12 APRIL

The 50th anniversary of the flight of Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, on 12 April 1961, is marked by celebrations across the world, including a party on board the International Space Station.

May
BIN LADEN KILLED (144,810), 1 MAY Al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden is shot dead by a team of US Navy and CIA agents at a compound near Pakistan's capital Islamabad. Bin Laden is later buried at sea. JUDGMENT DAY? (84,483), 21 MAY American Christian radio host Harold Camping announces that Judgment Day will take place on 21 May. On 23 May, he moves the date to 21 October. In October, he admits he has no idea when the end will come. STRAUSS-KAHN ARRESTED (52,284), 14 MAY Head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a housekeeper in a Manhattan hotel. Charges are later dropped but StraussKahn is forced to resign his post.

June
OLYMPIC HEARTACHE (22,383), 17 JUNE Two-thirds of applicants for tickets for London's 2012 Olympic games are left empty-handed in the face of a huge demand for seats.

July
AMY WINEHOUSE DIES (218,829), 23 JULY REBEKAH BROOKS RESIGNS (95,151), 15 JULY Rebekah Brooks resigns as chief executive of News International, following widespread criticism of her role in the controversy over phone hacking by News of the World journalists. On 10 July, NoW is closed down by News International. NORWAY MASS KILLINGS (65,205), 22 JULY

Rightwing gunman Anders Behring Breivik murders 69 people at a summer camp in Tyrifjorden, Buskerud. Time-bombs set off by Breivik in Oslo kill a further eight.

August
ENGLISH RIOTS (486,822), 4 AUGUST A peaceful protest march over the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by police on 4 August leads to a riot in Tottenham. Rioting spreads across the country. HURRICANE IRENE (168,468), 22 AUGUST Hurricane Irene leaves a swath of flood and wind damage as its heads north through the Caribbean, the US east coast and Canada. The death toll reaches 56. TRIPOLI FALLS (39,045), 24 AUGUST Muammar Gaddafi and his forces lose the battle for control of Tripoli.

September
TROY DAVIS EXECUTED (225,669), 21 SEPTEMBER OCCUPY PROTEST (44,799), 17 SEPTEMBER More than 100 demonstrators set up a camp of cardboard boxes and tents in Manhattan's financial district as part of the Occupy Wall Street protest against economic inequality and corporate greed.

October
GADDAFI KILLED (213,762), 20 OCTOBER STEVE JOBS DIES (166,416), 5 OCTOBER OCCUPY LONDON (20,466), 15 OCTOBER Hundreds pitch tents at three central London sites in demonstrations about social inequality in Britain.

November

JACKSON DOCTOR GUILTY (22,071), 29 NOVEMBER Dr Conrad Murray is sentenced to four years in prison for the involuntarily manslaughter of Michael Jackson.

December
PARTICLE BREAKTHROUGH (19,092), 13 DECEMBER Physicists announce tentative evidence for the existence of the Higgs boson, a sub-atomic particle thought to underpin the microscopic workings of nature.