Halloween dethrones Pokemon to claim the top spot on this week's Lycos 50. Reaching #1 is no small accomplishment: Halloween is the first item to top Pokemon since Hurricane Floyd in September. Pokemon has been #1 for 8 of the 10 weeks the Lycos 50 has been in place.
A bigger surprise than Halloween was the Encyclopedia Britannica. The encyclopedia's decision to put its entire contents online for free sent users scrambling to our search box, putting Britannica at a remarkable #5 on the Lycos 50. (Note to the publishers: more people misspell "Britannica" than get it right.) If we were surprised, so was Britannica: the sudden wave of hits crashed their servers almost immediately.
Other key points from this week's Lycos 50:
Tonya Harding's semi-triumphant return to ice skating was also a hit with the public. User queries put her at #34 on the Lycos 50, just above Star Wars and The Simpsons.
Christmas takes a huge jump to debut at #16 this week. Among the most popular Christmas requests: crafts, ornaments, trees, and music. (Note: Christmas could have debuted last week, probably around #35, but an editorial error kept it off the list.)
The Blair Witch Project returns to our list at #20, thanks to the film's October 22 release on video and DVD. (Proximity to Halloween surely didn't hurt, either.) Blair Witch went as high as #2 on the Lycos 50 this summer before dropping out in mid-September.
The World Series pushes baseball ahead of the NFL for the first time this fall. Baseball is up 11 slots to #8.
The hot items of two weeks ago, Oprah Winfrey and Carbohydrate addiction, disappeared from the Lycos 50 this week. A related topic, the low-carbo Dr. Atkins diet, falls six spots to #41. And the buzz over Melissa Joan Hart's magazine photos is officially over.
NEW THIS WEEK: Britannica, Christmas, The Blair Witch Project, Tonya Harding, Anna Kournikova, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Cindy Margolis.
DROPOUTS: Columbus, Titanic, The Matrix, Alyssa Milano, Melissa Joan Hart, Oprah, carbohydrates.
BIGGEST RISE: Witchcraft moves up 20 places from #43 to #23. (Editorial note: we include wicca searches under the general heading of witchcraft.)
BIGGEST DROP: Nascar falls 14 spots to #30; the Bible slips 11 spots to #40.
FOLLOW-UP: Last week's most-discussed term, marijuana, moves up another two slots this week to #24.
FINAL FACTOID: musicians make up 20% of the Lycos 50 this week -- 10 of 50, including singer/actresses Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jennifer Lopez.
