We're in that period when year-in-review lists come out constantly . . . and the people at "Time" magazine went WAY overboard this year.  They just released 55 top 10 lists for 2012.  That's too much for ANYONE to consume.

So here are some of the highlights.

--Best Comeback.  They gave it to Barack Obama, ahead of people and things like Peyton Manning, the Olympics, and boy bands.

--Best Scandal.  The General Petraeus affair came in first, beating out Lance Armstrong, the Chick-fil-A gay marriage thing, and the Secret Service prostitutes.

--Best Meme.  If you don't know, a 'meme' is a viral thing that appears everywhere in pop culture. Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" . . . and all the parodies it spawned . . . came in first.  It beat "Fifty Shades of Grey" and Jeremy 'Linsanity.'

--Best App.  Kind of a strange pick.  They went with OnLive Desktop, which is a tablet app that lets you access Microsoft Office.  Instagram only came in sixth, but it's been around for a while.

--Best Gadget.  The iPhone 5 came in first, beating out Nintendo's new Wii U.

--Biggest Campaign Gaffe.  They gave it to Mitt Romney's 47% comment.  It only covered the presidential campaign, and neither of the rape comments from Senate candidates made the list.

--Biggest U.S. News Story.   President Obama's reelection was the biggest story.

Hurricane Sandy was second, Obamacare being upheld was third, the Trayvon Martin story was fourth, and the "Dark Knight Rises" and Wisconsin Sikh temple shootings were fifth.

--Biggest Overreported Story.  Bath salts . . . the drug, NOT the salts you actually put in a bathtub . . . and the way they turn people into CANNIBALS.

The Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes divorce came in second, Linsanity was third, the Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart relationship came in fourth, and campaign gaffes came in fifth.

(Time)