Google doesn’t release its top searches, only those that dramatically increased in number. More people than ever searched Google this year for MySpace, the online community. That was followed by Ares, the file-sharing software and Baidu, the Chinese search engine.
Sixty million American adults use a search engine on a typical day, said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a nonprofit organisation studying the social effects of the Internet.
Dean Tsouvalas, who writes the "Lycos Daily 50" column analysing the top queries on the search engine Lycos, sees the year-end results as a slice of American life.
Hurricane Katrina was the most-searched-for news event on Lycos since 9/11. "It not only gives us a pop culture barometer of what people are thinking about, but it’s also a snapshot in time," Tsouvalas said.
To searches in Yahoo are Britney Spears, 50 Cent, Cartoon Network, Mariah Carey, Green Day. Similarly in Lycos top searches are Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson, and Britney Spears, the report said.