Last Friday we saluted newcomer Amy Smart, who is winning big favor with Web users on the basis of her shirt-free appearance in the movie Road Trip.
In the interests of gender equality, today let's focus on an equally shirtless Russell Crowe. The Oscar-nominated hunk has been on the Lycos 50 for three weeks now on the strength of his bare-chested appearance in the movie Gladiator.
While it's true that going topless will always get you noticed online -- just ask Brandi Chastain -- it's rare for a male of the species to get that kind of attention.
But in Crowe's case the skin seems to be making the difference. As we noted last week, Mission: Impossible 2 was the week's hottest movie yet heartthrob Tom Cruise got only a smattering of Web searches. For every four Lycos visitors who searched for Cruise, 10 searched for Crowe.
And Crowe is far hotter than he was as an Oscar nominee. In our pre-Oscar search tally he came in a distant third to Kevin Spacey and Denzel Washington. (At least he beat Richard Farnsworth. And it's a pretty sure bet that Farnsworth won't be appearing topless anytime soon.)
Crowe was fabulous in The Insider, critics agree, but he kept his buttondown collars in place for that role. Result? Good reviews, light web searches.
So does that mean you have to go topless to be popular online? Nah. Lots of people with shirts make the top 50, from Britney Spears to William Shakespeare. And yes, it could be that Crowe's fine dramatic performance is what's inspiring all those Web searchers.
But after all, this IS a world where tattoos are the #6 most popular search item online. Skin is in, baby. Skin is in.
