Despite the boffo May 16 release of her new album Oops!... I Did It Again, Britney Spears failed to crack the Lycos 50's #1 spot again this week.The crooning teen dynamo could only manage second place just below arch-nemesis Pokemon, which has kept Ms. Spears from the top spot for months. (We hope she's not getting a complex over it.) At least Britney can say she trampled Japanese cartoon fave Dragonball, which stands at #3.
A musician making an even bigger move is the pasty rapper Eminem, who jumps from #12 to #5 this week. He's been getting plenty of support from MTV, and his new album, The Marshall Mathers LP, is due out this week.
Other key points from this week's list:
FRENCH TWIST: Victoria's Secret is always a popular topic online, but the catalog house's special fashion webcast from Cannes sent search results through the roof. Victoria's Secret is at #10 this week, just below Mother's Day (#9).
SPEAKING OF MOM: Mother's Day is quite a surprise, sticking in the top 10 in the first full week after the Sunday holiday. Get this: Mother's Day cards accounted for 46% of all Mother's Day queries, including variations like printable Mother's Day cards, Mother's Day e-cards, and funny Mother's Day cards. That makes us think that the Internet has become the medium of last resort for frantically tardy gift-givers.
PAM'S BACK: Just above Mother's Day is Pamela Anderson (#8) -- and after all, what says "mom" quite like a barbed-wire tattoo? Anderson returns to #8 after two rare weeks out of the top 10.
CHRYSLER'S CRUISER: Last week we noted the rise of the PT Cruiser, Chrysler's new retro-mobile. This week the car crashes through traffic barriers and right onto #40 on the Lycos 50. That's pretty impressive for a big hunk o' metal. As far as we can tell it's the first time an individual car model has made the Lycos 50.
ELIAN HANGING ON: The kid's got legs, you've got to give him that. This is the sixth straight week that Elian Gonzalez has been on our list, a full month after the raid in Miami which reunited him with his father. He makes a big drop from #19 to #45 this week, but something always seems to keep him in the public eye. This week the hubbub is over a "communist" scarf he's been wearing around the house.
NEW THIS WEEK: Victoria's Secret, PT Cruiser, former lady wrassler Sable, Nascar crash victim Adam Petty.
DROPOUTS: Adolf Hitler, the "I Love You" virus, mega-lottery The Big Game, and (finally) The IRS
BIGGEST RISE: Skateboarding, up 18 places to #24.
BIGGEST DROP: Elian Gonzalez, down 26 places to #45.
MOVIE MOP-UP: Gladiator continues its amazingly strong showing this week, clocking in at #21. The movie's star, Russell Crowe, jumps 11 spots to #37.
Meanwhile the movie that conquered Gladiator at the box office, Dinosaur, couldn't make the top 50 -- which is a little embarrassing since many "dinosaur" searches are doubtless for the ancient creature and not the movie itself. The next most-popular movies titles are the unreleased X-Men (#36) and Mission Impossible 2. The latter got about one-half the searches of Gladiator, putting it well out of the top 50.
