New list, new champ. Hurricane Floyd turned out to be a Pokemon-class storm, swamping the Japanese cartoon monsters who previously dominated the Lycos 50. Floyd easily topped all Lycos user searches to debut at #1 this week, the first time we've seen that in our list's brief history.
As noted last week, Dragonball Z continues its strong climb, clambering over the venerable Pamela Anderson to claim the #4 spot. Last week's super-hottie, the NFL, also rose though football queries fell as a whole.
To see this week's complete new Lycos 50, simply glance to your left. Colorful points worth noting:
NEW THIS WEEK: Hurricane Floyd, Foo Fighters, DVD, WCW, Mexico, Tupac Shakur.
RETURNING AFTER A BRIEF ABSENCE: Y2K, IRS
DROPOUTS: Summer's big buzzmeister, The Blair Witch Project, finally faded from view -- at least until it returns on video. Other dropouts: Jennifer Love Hewitt, East Timor, golf, the U.S. Open (tennis), soccer, horses, Christina Aguilera.
BIGGEST RISE: Hurricane Floyd, natch. Next in line comes rock band Foo Fighters, debuting at a gaudy #14.
BIGGEST DROP: The U.S. Open, previously #22, dropped off the list -- not surprising given the time-sensitive nature of sports. Of those remaining on the list, wrestling dropped 17 to #47, and former lady wrassler Sable slipped 11 spots to #25. Jennifer Love Hewitt, usually a dependable surfer fave, dropped out of the top 50 entirely.
NOTABLE ABSENCE: The new Miss America, Heather Renee French, barely registered with searchers despite a brouhaha over the pageant's new contestant eligibility rules.
DEATH, WHERE IS THY (expletive deleted) STING? Rapper Tupac Shakur slips onto the list at #50 on the third anniversary of his death.
REVENGE OF THE FADING STARS: Ricky Martin hangs on at #48 -- up one notch from last week -- and Jenny McCarthy actually moves up 8 spots to #39 despite a career in freefall. Like Pamela Anderson Lee, Ms. McCarthy seems to benefit from her status as a former Playboy model.
BATTLE ROYALE: Pro wrassling's WWF (#8) faces new competition this week from upstart World Championship Wrestling (WCW) which debuts at #43. Combine the WWF and WCW with general wrestling queries (#47) and they would fall just below Britney Spears in search popularity.
TOUCHED BY POETRY: The mystifying rage for poetry continues. One fresh insight: nearly a quarter of poetry searches are for love poems, including a significant amount for 'poemas de amor.' Awww! Can the Web be playing the role of Cyrano for today's love-struck surfers?
