He's back from the dead: Elvis Presley is #45 on this week's Lycos 50.
The 23rd anniversary of Presley's death (or should we say alleged death?) on August 16 attracted fan interest across the Web, making Elvis the 8th most popular musician in America last week. Fun fact: 30% of searchers identified him as simply "Elvis." You've got to tip your cap to the old boy's staying power.
Other key points from this week's Lycos 50:
DEMS DRUBBED BY GOP: Two weeks ago the Republican National Convention made it to #39 on our list, just below skateboarding and above the Backstreet Boys. Would the Democrats repeat the performance?
In a word: no. Last week's Democratic Convention drew only 42% as many searches as the GOP convention did two weeks ago. (An early sign of how things will go this November?) However, we saw a sudden increase in general searches for both parties and their platforms. As a result the Republican Party debuts this week at #41, with the Democrats six spaces behind at #47.
GORE UPSTAGED BY DAUGHTER: Who got the biggest bump from last week's convention? Karenna Gore, the blonde vice-presidential daughter who nominated her father Wednesday night. Searches for Al Gore rose 25% this week -- but searches for Karenna were up 1200%. She ended up getting nearly 35% as many searches as her father on the week, and she actually got more searches than actor Keanu Reeves and just a few less than country music goddesses the Dixie Chicks. That's fast company.
THEY'VE COOLED ON KENNY: South Park has dropped from our top 50 rankings for the first time in a year. The naughty 'toon was ranked a gaudy #12 on our very first list last August 29th; most of the past year has been spent in the #30-40 range.
OLYMPICS SPECIFICS: The Sydney Olympics (#10) are hot stuff, as you'd imagine with the proceedings just three short weeks away. But many user searches seem to be for items unrelated to the competitions themselves. Among the most popular specific Olympic queries: Olympic rings (5.3% of all Olympic queries), Ancient Olympics (3.5%), Olympic torch (2.8%) and Olympic mascots (2.2%).
A TOUCH OF TRAGIC IRONY: Last week the Civil War submarine The Hunley was #23 on our list after it was raised off the coast of South Carolina. This week the Hunley is gone, replaced by the present-day tragedy of the Russian submarine the Kursk (#7).
SHORT SUBJECTS: Scooters (#22) continue to sizzle, and this week we're seeing a new popular query: scooter tricks... Actress Alyssa Milano dropped like a rock this week, losing 25% of her queries -- we don't know why... In the battle of vice-presidential candidates, Joseph Lieberman leads Dick Cheney this week by a 9-7 ratio... The Firestone Tire recall dips slightly this week, from #2 to #3. That number includes a threefold increase in searches for Ford, which we figure are a result of the tires' close association with the car maker... Duelling "reality" shows Big Brother and Survivor remain at #5 and #6 this week... Yes, that is yet another anime show on the Lycos 50: Digimon debuts this week at #33. It's a kinda-sorta knockoff of the immortal Pokemon (#4).
NEW THIS WEEK: The Kursk, the IRS, Digimon, Cindy Margolis, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, Elvis Presley, Howard Stern.
DROPOUTS: South Park, Darva Conger, asthma, scholarships, Coyote Ugly, Alyssa Milano, Joseph Lieberman, Civil War submarine the Hunley.
BIGGEST RISE: Jennifer Lopez, up 21 places to #14 thanks to her appearance in The Cell.
BIGGEST DROP: Jennifer Aniston, down 26 places to #44.
FINAL FACTOID: Ratio of searches for Harry Potter to searches for classic children's author Beatrix Potter: 69 to 1.
