Yahoo has released its list of the top Internet searches of 2008 — at least, based on data from the minority of users still relying on Yahoo’s search engine.
Nonetheless, the results are somewhat interesting. The first category marks overall searches across all subject areas. And the winners are:
1. Britney Spears 2. WWE 3. Barack Obama 4. Miley Cyrus 5. RuneScape 6. Jessica Alba 7. Naruto 8. Lindsay Lohan 9. Angelina Jolie 10. American Idol
Britney, it’s worth noting, held the same #1 spot in ’07. In fact, Yahoo says she’s been the most popular search term for seven out of the past eight years (albeit for drastically different reasons now than at the beginning).
Here are some of the other measurements for specific categories, as measured by Yahoo:
Top 10 Economic Searches
1. IRS Stimulus Checks 2. Oil Prices 3. Gold Prices 4. Gas Prices 5. Dow Jones 6. Sallie Mae 7. Stock Market 8. AIG 9. Foreclosures 10. Debt Consolidation
Top 10 Politician Searches
1. Barack Obama 2. Sarah Palin 3. John McCain 4. Hillary Clinton 5. George Bush 6. Ron Paul 7. John Edwards 8. Mike Huckabee 9. Arnold Schwarzenegger 10. Mitt Romney
Top 10 News Stories
1. Hurricanes 2. Caylee and Casey Anthony 3. Election 2008 4. Pakistan 5. Pregnant Man 6. China 7. Iraq 8. Shelley Malil 9. Patrick Swayze 10. Afghanistan
Top 10 Olympian Searches
1. Michael Phelps 2. Leryn Franco 3. Serena Williams 4. Kobe Bryant 5. Shawn Johnson 6. Jennie Finch 7. Misty May Treanor 8. Ronaldinho 9. Alicia Sacramone 10. Nastia Liukin
Top 10 Rising Celebrity Searches
1. Miley Cyrus 2. Vanessa Anne Hudgens 3. Chris Brown 4. Jonas Brothers 5. Rihanna 6. Taylor Swift 7. Jamie Lynn Spears 8. Hayden Panettiere 9. Zac Efron 10. Selena Gomez
Top 10 Searched Influential Women
1. Angelina Jolie 2. Sarah Palin 3. Oprah 4. Hillary Clinton 5. Gina Carano 6. Tina Fey 7. Michelle Obama 8. Katie Couric 9. Barbara Walters 10. Dara Torres
Top 10 Send-Offs
1. Heath Ledger 2. Bernie Mac 3. Paul Newman 4. Randy Pausch 5. George Carlin 6. Estelle Getty 7. Tim Russert 8. Brad Renfro 9. Isaac Hayes 10. Boyd Coddington
Ask.com has also released a list of its top search terms for the year. Our favorite category there is the “Top Question Searches,” which features such gems as:
“Why is the sky blue?”
“What is the meaning of life?”
And, the best of all — coming in at #1 on the list:
“How do I get pregnant?”
As they say, if you have to ask…
