Facebook reveals most popular UK news stories of the year

What do Charlie Sheen, an inebriated elk and a steaming turd have in common? They all feature on Facebook's list of the UK's most-shared news stories of 2011.

Taking stats from media outlets like the BBC, The Sun, The Guardian and the Daily Mail, Facebook looked at article clicks, likes and shares on the social network to compile the list.

In at number one is the BBC's 'The world at seven billion', which invited users to put in their date of birth to find out where they rank in the number of people born; little wonder, when everyone and their dog took to their status updates to share the scintillating information that they were the 4,818,144,234th person alive on earth.

Quiet year then

The Sun's coverage of a woman whose boyfriend tattooed a poo on her back was the second most shared story in the UK, while The Guardian's investigation into police crackdowns on the Occupy movement came in third.

The Swedish elk that got three sheets to the wind on fermenting apples and found itself stuck in a tree, Amy Winehouse's untimely death, Charlie Sheen's very public meltdown and X-Factor brat Frankie Coccozza all feature in the top 20 count down.

Newspapers and news websites have been quick to latch on to the Facebook Platform, introduced at f8 in September, with many reporting sharp increases in traffic from Facebook.

Here's the top twenty run down in full:

BBC: The World at Seven Billion

The Sun: Tatt-poo for cheating

The Guardian: The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy

BBC: Amy Winehouse: Tributes paid to dead singer

BBC: Austrian driver allowed 'pastafarian' headgear photo

The Guardian: Charlie Sheen v Muammar Gaddafi: whose line is it anyway?

The Guardian: The meaning of 9/11's most controversial photo

Daily Mail: Amy Winehouse, 27, found dead at her London flat after suspected 'drug overdose'

BBC: Drunk Swedish elk found in apple tree near Gothenburg

BBC: 'Brinicle' ice finger of death filmed in Antarctic

Daily Mail: Robber who broke into hair salon is beaten by its black-belt owner and kept as a sex slave for three days... fed only Viagra

The Sun: Frankie Cocozza kicked off X Factor

BBC: Japan earthquake: Footage of moment tsunami hit

BBC: Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda leader, dead - Barack Obama

The Guardian: Osama bin Laden corpse photo is fake

BBC: Japan earthquake: Tsunami hits north-east

BBC: Speed-of-light results under scrutiny at Cern

BBC: Arrest over video of 'racist rant' on Croydon to Wimbledon tram

Daily Mail: Loyal to the end: Heart-breaking photo shows Navy SEAL's devoted dog guarding his coffin

BBC: LIVE: Osama Bin Laden dead