If there was one word we could use to sum up this year's women in entertainment, it would be: hot. Not to be lazy or trite, we don't mean it in the girl-looks-good-in-a-bikini sense; rather that the starlets of the past 12 months churned out some of the most memorable moments in pop culture history, moments that we're guaranteed to be nostalgic for a decade from now. From the Canadian singer who produced that enduringly infectious, meme-inspiring pop song to the all-American soccer star whose ball-handling skills (pause) led her team to Olympic gold, these beauties each gave us something spectacular to remember 2012 by.
Need we say more? No. That's why we're letting the images of their accomplishments speak for themselves. Here are the 50 hottest women of 2012, in GIFs.