After 51 weeks of frustration, Britney Spears has finally hit #1 on the Lycos 50.
(She has been frustrated, hasn't she?)
The record-breaking teenybop crooner seems to have a knack for keeping herself in the public eye. Her new album, Oops, I Did It Again, may have been called "fantastic pop cheese" by Rolling Stone but it seems to be keeping Britney's name in lights. She's spent a year hovering around the #2-5 spots on the Lycos 50, and we congratulate her on finally hitting #1.
Last week's new #1, Napster, drops to #2 this week as the legal brouhaha cooled down a bit. The real drop came on searches for Napster clones: Gnutella drops from #7 to #23, and FreeNet (formerly #44) drops completely off the charts.
Other key points from this week's Lycos 50:
RUBBER TROUBLE: What's up with Firestone tires (#30)? Bad news, that's what. The company's ATX and Wilderness tires are suspected of playing a role in dozens of auto crashes over the past decade.
Firestone says no recall is planned now, but Sears has halted sales of the tires and a concerned public is clearly hunting for info online.
Coincidentally, Firestone competitor Goodyear is worried about its own lawsuit threats after reports that a burst Goodyear tire might have caused July's Air France Concorde crash. The Concorde disaster remains a hot topic online, ranking #32 this week.
MALIBU WEDDING: Hollywood marriages rarely seem to last, yet hopefuls keep hitting the aisles.
July 29th's Jennifer Aniston-Brad Pitt wedding was a smash hit with Web users, who pushed the nuptials to #6 on this week's list. (We added all the week's Pitt/Aniston queries together to get this ranking.) Interesting fact: twice as many users asked for "Brad Pitt wedding" than for "Jennifer Aniston wedding."
SHORT SUBJECTS: The Republican Convention (#39) is the first term related to the general election to make the Lycos 50... Two weeks after losing the top spot, Pokemon remains at #4... Reality show Survivor dropped one spot despite a whirlwind of rumors that CBS had accidentally revealed the final winner... 3% of all Survivor searches were for "Survivor sucks"... Despite nasty reviews, babes-in-bars movie Coyote Ugly jumps to #32 the week of its release. And star Piper Perabo is a big hit... speaking of movies, the X-Men juggernaut continues for the 15th straight week. This week the sci-fi flick is #16... Dennis Miller's Monday Night Football debut was nothing special to Web users: Miller got as many searches last week as crochet and fading actress Mimi Rogers.
NEW THIS WEEK: The Pitt-Aniston wedding, Firestone tires, Coyote Ugly, the GOP Convention, video game The Sims, Barbie, and Britney Spears boyfriend Justin Timberlake.
DROPOUTS: Rapper Nelly, golf clubs, chat star Oprah Winfrey, the IRS, FreeNet, Star Wars, author Stephen King.
BIGGEST RISE: Christina Aguilera, up 16 spots to #27.
BIGGEST DROP: The Concorde disaster, down 24 spots to #32.
AND FINALLY: Back to the salt mines, J.K. Rowling: this week several hundred users searched for "Harry Potter 5."
