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One Direction and the World Cup dominated Twitter in the UK in what was overall 'the year of the selfie'.

Tweeters' love of camera phone self-portraits showed no sign of abating, with the term 'selfie' mentioned 92 million times by the social network's 284 million active global users - an increase of 500 per cent on 2013, Twitter said.

A seemingly innocuous celebration of 1D's four years together by singer Harry Styles was the most retweeted tweet by a UK account in 2014, while the band between them have five of the most followed British accounts.

Selfie fever: The term 'Selfie' was mentioned 92 million times by Twitter's 284 million active global users. Pictured, the widely-accepted queen of the medium Kim Kardashian

One Direction: The band between them have five of the most followed British accounts, and a tweet by Harry Styles was the most retweeted tweet by a UK account in 2014

And despite England's dismal performances and early flight home, the Brazil World Cup broke records to become the most tweeted about subject globally. 

Its matches were six of the top 10 most mentioned events in the UK.

Lewis Wiltshire, director of media partnerships at Twitter UK, said the year had started with Ellen DeGeneres taking a widely shared selfie on stage at the Oscars, which was followed by Prince William and Prince Harry posing at an event at Buckingham Palace.

He added: 'It shows no sign of easing off, the selfie craze continues and of course after Ellen DeGeneres's selfie we also saw the World Cup selfies where Lukas Podolski, Bastian Schweinsteiger and other German players were taking selfies on the pitch and posting them to Twitter immediately after the final whistle.'

Germany's 7-1 demolition of Brazil in the World Cup semi-final on July 8 was the single most tweeted about event by UK users, Twitter said.

The epic selfie that broke Twitter: Ellen DeGeneres's snap with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Julia Robertd, Meryl Streep and many others was retweeted by millions

This chart shows the top hashtags on Twitter during 2014 covering award ceremonies, sporting events, news, fun, politics and television. X Factor was the most talked about show on the social network this year, while the Scottish referendum topped political discussions 

It was followed by Wayne Rooney's equaliser for England in the 1-1 draw against Luis Suarez's Uruguay, Daniel Sturridge's equaliser in the eventual defeat against Italy, new year celebrations and Germany's defeat of Argentina to win the World Cup.

Other World Cup events in the top 10 were Croatia scoring against Brazil and the Netherlands' 5-1 whipping of holders Spain.

Mr Wiltshire added: 'There were over 670 million tweets about the World Cup this year overall. 

'In fact we saw more tweets about the World Cup this year before it had even started than we did about the 2010 World Cup in its entirety.'

The Beautiful Game: The Brazil World Cup featured heavily in the results, especially eventual winner Germany's 7-1 demolition of Brazil in the World Cup semi-final on July 8

Karen Danczuk, 31, who is married to Rochdale Labour MP Simon Danczuk, 47. Her controversial 'cleavage selfies' have earned her a huge online following. Right, Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins who shared a selfie of herself with no make-up for Cancer Research UK

Reality TV show X Factor (judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Mel B and Louis Walsh pictured) was the most discussed television show of the year, ahead of Big Brother and BBC Question Time

The top 10 most tweeted about subject list was rounded out by more football - Manchester United and Real Madrid, new year celebrations and, of course, One Direction for their February best British video Brit Award win, which was voted for by Twitter users.

The band also dominated the list of the UK's most followed accounts this year. 

Mr Styles's @Harry-Styles account topped the list with 22.8 million followers. 

He is followed by @OneDirection in second (21.5 million), Liam Payne's @Real-Liam-Payne (18.6 million) is in fourth, Louis Tomlinson's @Louis-Tomlinson (18 million) is at five, and Zayne Malik's @ZayneMalik (13.5 million) is at seven.

Harry Potter actress Emma Watson's @EmWatson  has 15.4m followers, while Harry Styles boasts 22.8m. Singer Adele's (right) @OfficialAdele has 21.3 m followers

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran's (11.2 million followers puts him at number 10 UK's most followed accounts

Niall Horan's 20.5 million follows @NiallOfficial would have put him fourth but for the fact that he is Irish and is not counted in the UK.

The top 10 is filled out by Adele's @OfficialAdele (21.3 million) in third place, Harry Potter actress Emma Watson's @EmWatson (15.4 million) in sixth, Coldplay's @Coldplay (13.5 million) in eighth, BBC News' @BBCBreaking (12.4 million) in the ninth spot, and singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran's @EdSheeran (11.2 million) at 10.

However, none of them come close to the global top 10 most-followed accounts, led by pop star Katy Perry (61 million), Justin Bieber (57 million), Barack Obama (51 million) and Taylor Swift (48 million).

Mr Styles did manage to send the most shared message this year, though.

More than 359,000 people retweeted his salute to fans on July 23, which read: '4 years. Thank you to everyone who is involved in this. I feel so lucky to be part of it. Everyone who has worked with us thank you..'

In terms of news events, the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was the most talked about by UK users, followed by the Scottish independence vote, the inquest of Mark Duggan, who was shot by police, and the deaths of comics Robin Williams and Joan Rivers.