11.

Getting cats and dogs together for one picture can be difficult, but if you can pull it off, it may be one of the best shots of the year. (WARNING: Don’t try this at home.)

10.

When MBoudet’s grandmother called the city of Miami to report a drainage problem in front of her house, the city worker told her “Put it on the Internet otherwise nobody will do anything”. The image went viral immediately, resulting in more than 700,000 views and a fixed drain! This image is proof of the awesome power of the Internet.

9.

The most viewed GIF of this year with 1.5 million views and 3TB of data transferred, goes to the Cafeteria Ninja.

8.

After Hurricane Irene hit Puerto Rico in August, the streets were so flooded that a shark managed to be swimming around. This image, after being tweeted more than 12 thousand times, wins the award for the most tweeted image of the year.UPDATE: Don’t trust everything you see on the Internet… it turns out this image isfake. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it was one of the most viral images of the year and still deserving of the #8 spot.

7.

The year started off hard with the protests in Egypt. This image, taken by Nevine Zaki, shows Christians protecting Muslims while they pray during protests in Egypt, and was viewed more than 750,000 times.

6.

This image left us with a feeling that it only takes one act of kindness to change a person’s life forever, and with almost 1 million views, we don’t think we’re alone. Caution: Grab some tissues before reading.

5.

The award for the best album of the year goes to this one, which is filled with more than 100 incredible old photos that will really blow your mind in the weirdest way.(direct link)

4.

We love a good rage comic, but this one brings them to a whole different level. It’s not only one of the greatest rage comics ever written, it’s also one of the most inspiring stories we’ve ever heard. It tells the life story of an 86 year old man, and will probably make you look at your life in a completely different way.

3.

With the occupy movement starting this year, there have been more protest and controversial images than ever before. This image, taken at UC Davis in California, wins the award for most controversial of the year. Not only did it generate almost 1 million views, it also spun off into a meme of it’s own called “Pepper Spray Cop” (forexample). Because of the huge impact this image had on the internet, it deserves the #3 spot.

2.

When the disaster at the Fukushima power plant in Japan happened this year, this image was created to help spread the word about all the incredible things people were doing to help out. It was viewed more than 1 million times and currently sits at the top spot in our gallery and on Reddit pics.A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. -Unknown

1.

The #1 image of the year goes to Barack Obama. Right when Obama’s birth certificate story was as big as it could get, he was getting ready to drop the headline of the decade. It turned out to be the image of the year too. At more than 3 million views (2 million more than the second highest viewed image of this top 11) and almost 7 thousand tweets, it’s the most popular and viral of the year.