The U.S. won’t elect a president until next year but the debate over the crowded field of candidates jostling for the Oval Office emerged as the hottest topic on Facebook this year.

The race for the Democratic and Republican party nominations eclipsed an outpouring of emotions over deadly attacks, strife, social issues and disasters.

The rankings released Wednesday open a window into the cultural mindset by analyzing how frequently specific high-profile events, politicians, entertainers, athletes, movies and TV shows were mentioned in the posts of Facebook’s 1.5 billion users.

“This year, the most talked about global topics reflected the serious challenges people are facing all over the world — and how our global community is connecting and coming together in ways we have never seen before,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook Inc.’s chief operating officer.

Google, the owner of the Internet’s dominant search engine, will provide another snapshot of what people were thinking and talking about when it releases its annual breakdown of the year’s most frequent requests for more information.

Here’s a glimpse at how the world looked on Facebook this year:

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TOP TOPICS

The polarizing candidacy of billionaire former reality-TV star Donald Trump helped drive early interest in who will win next year’s race to succeed President Barack Obama. Facebook says last week’s shootings in San Bernardino didn’t trigger enough discussion to break into the top five.

1. U.S. presidential election

2. Nov. 13 attacks in Paris

3. Syrian civil war and refugee crisis

4. Nepal earthquakes

5. Greek debt crisis

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TOP POLITICIANS

Fascination over who might replace him next year wasn’t enough to overshadow the current U.S. president as he wrapped up in his penultimate year in office.

1. U.S. President Barack Obama

2. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump

3. Brazil President Dilma Rousseff

4. Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton

5. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders

(AP)