Gulf disaster tops Yahoo search chart
The BP rig disaster managed to topple Michael Jackson from the top spot on this year’s Yahoo list of most popular internet search requests.
The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico drew the most interest among the tens of millions of people that used Yahoo’s search engine during 2010.
Michael Jackson was the most requested subject in 2009, the year that the entertainer’s death stunned the world. Britney Spears, another star-crossed singer, held the number one position from 2005 to 2008.
After falling to number five last year, Spears dropped to number 10 this year.
Although Yahoo’s search engine is the second most used on the web, it is not the best barometer of people’s online interests because Google fields billions more search requests than Yahoo, Microsoft’s Bing and AOL combined.
Bing and AOL released their top searches earlier this week, with reality TV star Kim Kardashian topping Bing’s list and golfer Tiger Woods leading the pack of celebrities at AOL.
Kardashian came in fourth on Yahoo’s list and seventh in AOL’s celebrity rankings; Woods was third on Bing and did not appear among Yahoo’s Top 10.
Google does not plan to break down its top searches until later in December so it can get a better view of what piqued surfers’ curiosity this year.
As usual, pop culture dominated the rest of Yahoo’s Top 10. Other celebrities on the list included teen singer and actress Miley Cyrus (number three), singer Lady Gaga (number five), actress Megan Fox (number seven), teen heartthrob Justin Bieber (number eight) and US TV’s top-rated show 'American Idol' (number nine).
The World Cup, which drew huge crowds and television audiences in June, grabbed the second spot on the list while Apple’s hot-selling gadget, the iPhone, came in sixth.
