This year has been THE year of sporting success for England…Bradley Wiggins won the Tour De France, Andy Murray got his first Grand Slam, Rory McIlroy claimed US Open and PGA Championships and of course, not forgetting the London 2012 Olympics!

(Image from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/sports-personality/19997397 )

As you’d expect, because of the large number of triumphs from sporting personalities throughout 2012, this year’s BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year has a lot of contenders. The top 12 nominees were announced on 26 November and the award ceremony is being held on 16 December at London’s ExCel centre. It is deemed to be the ‘biggest show in the event’s 59-year history.’

The 12 sporting heroes nominated this year are:

• Nicola Adams
• Ben Ainslie
• Jessica Ennis
• Mo Farah
• Katherine Grainger
• Sir Chris Hoy
• Rory McIlroy
• Andy Murray
• Ellie Simmonds
• Sarah Storey
• David Weir
• Bradley Wiggins

The bookies have made their predictions on who they think will be awarded the title whilst Ellie Simmonds and Sir Chris Hoy have spoken out about who THEY think deserves to win. But who is in the lead on social?

Of the 12 sportsmen and women nominated, we focused on the social buzz around the top five on social media, over the past seven days. From the comparative buzz volume chart above, you can see it was a close call as to who took the medal on social.

Bradley Wiggins sneaked into the lead after an outstanding year, with 3,072 mentions closely followed by Andy Murray, who has also seen career highlights unfold over the course of 2012. He received 2,967 comments in the past seven days. The face of the Olympics, Jessica Ennis came in third with 2,044 mentions whilst double gold Olympian Mo Farah (1,542) and cyclist Sir Chris Hoy (726) respectively came in fourth and fifth place.

As the event creeps up on us, will public opinion change? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure… they all deserve their places in the top 12.