Is it too late to be talking about 2014?

We're already into February so the answer is probably yes, but I hope you'll forgive me. Especially if I include selected stats for 2015 as a peace offering. Do we have a deal?

I'll take your silence as a yes.

Match.com knows pretty much all there is to know about online dating – seeing as it's one of the biggest online dating sites around – so when Match speaks, I listen. The site closed out 2014 with a short infographic on some of the highlights of the year (including its 6 most popular members!).

It was (unsurprisingly) a busy year. 4.8 million pictures were added to the site, and 280 million photos were liked by users. Over 5 million (5.48, to be exact) dates were made, all around the country. Users in Albany logged in more than users in any other city, but Miami singles sent the most messages. Must have something to do with all the beaches and bikinis. The users who searched most outside of their city reside in Anchorage – which may, also, have to do with (Alaska's lack of) beaches and bikinis.

On the pop culture and technology fronts, hashtags continued to take over the Internet. The most used in one profile was a whopping 44! Selfies also continued to be a dominant force in the online sphere. 5,613 Match.com profiles contained the word “selfie” in 2014. Strangely, the only thing that came close to it was Disney's smash-hit kids' flick: 5,501 people said Frozen was their favorite movie of the year.

That's it for 2014, but Match.com has tirelessly turned out new stats for 2015 – even though we're only one month in. Following the holidays, singles feel an extra boost of motivation to join online dating sites. The busiest day of the year for Match.com tends to be January 4^th, with the best of the blitz occurring at 7:52pm CST. Certain cities feel an especially strong call to post-holiday online dating:

• Columbia, South Carolina
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• Jackson, Mississippi

Interestingly, all in the South. What's happening down there that makes everyone rush to romance after New Year's?

And just who, specifically, is joining up this year? According to Match, the average age of single men who join the site during the busy season is 35. Match also saw an uptick in certain groups signing up in 2015:

• Single Parents: up 45%
• Singles Who Work In Education: up 46%
• Single Bowlers: up 47%
• Curvy Single Women: up 50%
• Singles Quitting Smoking: up 45%
• Singles In The Fashion Industry: up 47%

So if you're into mid-thirties Southern fathers who teach for a living and bowl in their spare time, 2015 could be your year.

Here is the summary of the eighth annual Dating Sites Reviews Choice Awards. These awards honour the best dating services of 2014 in eleven different categories. These will be the sites worth joining in 2015.

Our top award is the Single's Choice Award and is decided by a public poll that all visitors can vote in. This poll ran from October 2014 until January 2015. The poll asks 2 questions, with the first asking you to recommend your choice for the top dating site from a selection of the seven leading dating services on the internet. The top three dating services who receives the most votes will be the recipient of a Gold, Silver, and Bronze award. The second question is similar in nature but it asks you to choose your selection from seven of the most popular free dating sites. With the separate free category there is only a gold award.

Single's Choice Award

Recipient Match.com

Our Gold Single's Choice Award for 2014 goes to Match.com. This is the eight year in a row for this dating service to receive this award. Congratulations!

For full award information see the article: 2014 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

Recipient eHarmony

Our Silver Single's Choice Award of 2014 goes to eHarmony. eHarmony came close to winning gold this year (just needed 5% more votes) and this site is still considered number one for finding long-term relationships.

For full award information see the article: 2014 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

Recipient Zoosk

The 2014 Bronze Single's Choice Award recipient is Zoosk. Zoosk last received this award back in 2012. They have kept adding features which has kept their service fresh and current and in the forefront of single's minds when they think about joining a dating service.

For full award information see the article: 2014 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

Recipient Plenty of Fish

The 2014 Single's Choice Award for a Free Site recipient is POF. POF has won this award for six straight years in a row and remain the choice for the top free dating service.

For full award information see the article: 2014 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award - Free Site

Recipient of Gold
Match.com

Recipient of Silver
eHarmony

Recipient of Bronze
Zoosk

We launched the 2014 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award poll in September of 2014 and we closed the poll to voting during the first week of January, 2015. After running for about 4 months we had 359 voters participate. The first question of the poll is about which dating service you believe deserves to win our top 2014 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award. The top spot for this award receives Gold, followed by Silver and then Bronze. For this question we listed the top 7 dating services you can cast one vote for.

The recipient of the Gold 2014 Single's Choice Award is Match.com. Match.com grew in popularity this year and received almost 5% more votes than last year. For 2014 Match received 24.3% of the vote which works out to 87 voters. The silver award winner received 5% less votes.

The recipient of the Silver 2014 Single's Choice Award is eHarmony. It was a huge year for eHarmony. After Dr. Neil Clarke Warren came back as CEO, eHarmony was able to grow their membership base by an astonishing 54%. This year eHarmony received 71 votes by our visitors which is 19.83% of the total votes cast.

The recipient of the Bronze 2014 Single's Choice Award is Zoosk. For 2014 Zoosk received 54 votes. This is 15.08% of all the votes. It was a tight race for Bronze as we saw the dating service Are You Interested receive 49 votes which is just 5 less than Zoosk.

Here are this year's standings for the Single's Choice award for all dating sites in the poll.

1. Match.com
2. eHarmony
3. Zoosk
4. Are You Interested
5. Christian Mingle
6. How About We
7. Badoo

We would like to thank everyone who cast a vote this year for our Single’s Choice Award. The results of this award help guide our visitors to choose the best dating service for them as each of the winning services receives an award badge for the year which designates them as a winner. All award winners are also added to the 2014 Award category.

Luckily, we live in the age of technology – so if you forgot to make plans for Valentine’s Day (and unfortunately it lands on a Saturday this year) – you might want to look to the app store for help.

If you are looking for a last-minute gift or card, here are some apps to try:

Red Stamp Cards - Need a thoughtful Valentine's Day card in a hurry? Snap a photo and you can quickly create a unique card for your Valentine with this free app. Cards can be tweeted, texted, emailed or posted to Instagram and Facebook.

BloomThat - If you forgot to order flowers and the local grocery store’s selection looks a little tired, this app can help you out of a last-minute problem. (And they can deliver their hand-crafted bouquets via bicycle in under 90 minutes, as opposed to florists where there is an 8-hour delivery window.) For iPhone users only.

Recipient
PlentyOfFish.com

The 2014 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award poll was closed for voting in January (it ran for almost 4 months). The 2 question poll received 359 votes. The second question is about which dating service you think deserves the 2014 Single's Choice Award for a Free Dating Site. For the first time the candidates included a service available only as a dating app, which is Tinder. A dating service is eligible for this award if it has already been reviewed by Dating Sites Reviews and, all of its main core features are free. This includes creating a profile, searching for members and communicating with those members by sending messages. If any of these features require the member to pay to use or are severally hampered (unless the member pays) then we don’t consider the service to be free.

The recipient of the Single's Choice Award for a Free Dating Site in 2014 is Plenty Of Fish (POF). This is the sixth straight year in a row that Plenty of Fish (POF) has won this award but, this year was the closest race yet. Tinder was within 4% of the total vote in taking the top spot. In 2014 POF received 99 votes which is 27.5% of all votes.

Here are the final results of the poll:

1. Plenty Of Fish (POF)
2. Tinder
3. OkCupid
4. DateHookUp.com
5. Meetup
6. Mingle 2
7. Craigslist

The top 3 dating services received almost 75 percent of all votes. It only took 22 votes to make the difference between first place and third.

Read our review of PlentyOfFish.com for more information about this online dating service or visit Plenty of Fish directly.

Recipient
Match.com

The recipient of the Editor's Top Pick - Over All Award for 2014 is Match.com. This is the eighth straight year that Match has won this award and been our Editor’s number one choice for a dating service.

There are a number of reasons why Match continues to succeed and see double digit membership growth year over year. Match’s concentration on continuing to improve their mobile products is one reason (and why they are the recipient of our new Dating App award). One of the other reasons is that their service is really easy to use. From uploading photos (on average 3.6 photos for women and 2.8 photos for men) to sending out messages Match.com has found the right balance between features offered and ease of use.

Match is also not afraid of trying new ideas. In 2014 they introduced Major League Baseball team fan pages on their site which not only gives you the latest news on your favorite team but it helps you to connect with other fans. Another idea that is popular is the MatchMade Scholarship. This is a program with a budget of $50,000 which was setup for children whose parents met on Match. Which is a lot of children by the way, since 1995 Match.com matches has resulted in over 1 million babies.

Read our review of Match.com for more information about this online dating service or visit Match directly.

This Year's Runner Up for this award is: Plenty of Fish