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The Top Political Tweets and Hashtags of 2016

Hillary and Bill Clinton at her concession speech in New York on Nov. 9.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

Twitter announced on Tuesday the year’s biggest trending topics and most widely shared tweets in news and politics, and while the election loomed large, several of the most popular discussions were focused on matters of identity and safety.

Race relations were at the top of people’s minds, with #BlackLivesMatter the third-most popular subject. Alton Sterling, a black man fatally shot by the police in Baton Rouge, La., was also in the top 10.

#InternationalWomensDay gathered discussion about gender in March, while #LoveIsLove — a declaration associated with equal rights for gay people that Barack Obama used as Americans held pride parades — was popular in June.

Twitter users publicly mourned mass-casualty attacks with #PrayForOrlando and #PrayForNice, while discussion of Brexit, a coup attempt in Turkey and the Panama Papers also made the top 10.

But #Election2016 was the leading discussion of the year and the subject of most of the most widely shared political tweets of the year.

The most popular political tweet was a quote from Hillary Clinton’s concession speech on Nov. 9.

Ms. Clinton’s tweet was the third-most popular tweet of the year in any subject, falling behind one by a Spanish video gamer and one from Harry Styles quoting Taylor Swift. And you thought the American election was the most interesting thing that happened this year.

The second-biggest political tweet might require some explanation. During the campaign, Donald J. Trump posted a criticism of President Obama’s endorsement of Mrs. Clinton. In response, she (or, more likely, her staff) latched on to a common Twitter retort. If you’re still confused, we explained the meme more fully here.

Other tweets on the list were more straightforward, such as Mr. Trump’s Election Day declaration, a kind word from a vice president to his pal and an actor responding in despair to the election results.

This one came from an everyday user who struck a nerve with a Google search for the name of the current president.

Although Mr. Obama sent the tweet below four years ago to celebrate his re-election, it got more than 236,000 retweets in 2016, Twitter said. That was slightly more retweets than Mr. Trump got this year on an early-morning tweet after winning the election.

Last on the list was a tweet that found resonance among Mr. Trump’s opponents.

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