Michael Jackson's surprising death made him the most searched term online in 2009.

Michael Jackson is the only search term to appear on all three (Google, Bing and Yahoo) search engine's top 10 lists, and at the top of the three lists. On Yahoo, it ended singer Britney Spears' four-year reign as the most searched term.

Twitter is the only other term to show up on more than one top 10 list: It ranks second on Bing's list and fourth on Google's list.

According to Google's Zeitgeist findings, Michael Jackson was the fastest rising worldwide search term of 2009. In the U.S., Michael Jackson placed second behind Twitter.

In a blog post, Google VP of search and user experience Marissa Mayer said, as millions of fans said goodbye to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson led the list of our top 10 fastest rising queries across the globe.

And a new star was born, too--quirky pop singer Lady Gaga became a search sensation the world over. In addition to appearing on many regional fastest-rising search term lists, from the Czech Republic to Switzerland and Kenya to the United Kingdom, Lady Gaga also landed in the #9 spot on the global fastest rising list.

The self-proclaimed King of Pop follows former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (2008) and Apple Inc.'s iPhone (2007) in Google's top spot.

Here are the top 10 lists:

Bing Top Search Terms

1) Michael Jackson 2) Twitter 3) Swine Flu 4) Stock Market 5) Farrah Fawcett 6) Patrick Swayze 7) Cash for Clunkers 8) Jon and Kate Gosselin 9) Billy Mays 10) Jaycee Dugard

Google Top Search Terms

1) Michael Jackson 2) Facebook 3) Tuenti 4) Twitter 5) Sanalika 6) New Moon 7) Lady Gaga 8) Windows 7 9) Dantri.com.vn 10) Torpedo Gratis

Yahoo Top Search Terms

1) Michael Jackson 2) Twilight 3) WWE 4) Megan Fox 5) Britney Spears 6) Naruto 7) American Idol 8) Kim Kardashian 9) NASCAR 10) Runescape

Kenya United kingdom Sarah Palin Apple inc.