News Tops Celebs in 2010 Web Searches

For the first time since Yahoo began releasing its annual “most-searched” list, news drew more queries than did celebrities, Reuters reports. The BP oil spill and the World Cup were the most searched items. Why? The spill “became an issue about so many things, such as the environment, energy, workplace disasters and the role of big government. It became a lightning rod for peoples' anxieties,” said a Yahoo rep.

Meanwhile, the first World Cup in Africa “was a cultural learning experience,” she noted. All the rest of the top 10 searches were celebrities, including Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, and Lady Gaga--except for sixth place, which went to the iPhone. Yahoo also identified the year’s obsessions: someone or something that “that spurred constant online monitoring and obsessive tangential searches.” The iPhone took the top spot, followed by Lindsay Lohan.
(More BP oil spill stories.)