LOS ANGELES — The world’s attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, Web surfers searched in huge numbers to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver.

Whitney Houston was the ‘‘top trending’’ search of the year, according to Google’s year-end ‘‘zeitgeist’’ report. Google’s 12th annual roundup is ‘‘an in-depth look at the spirit of the times as seen through the billions of searches on Google over the past year,’’ the company said Wednesday.