Presidential politics take a backseat to holiday cheer this week as Christmas passes Election 2000 to become our new #1. Each year holiday searches start earlier and earlier, and this year Christmas arrives at #1 two weeks earlier than last year.
While Christmas ascends to the top spot, classic Christmas character The Grinch (#25) arrives on the Lycos 50 with a bang. The new movie version of the timeless Dr. Seuss tale made $55.1 million over the weekend, the largest non-sequel opening weekend in movie history. That also means The Grinch is almost a third of the way to our $176 million prediction.
As for that happier Christmas icon, Santa Claus falls just short of this week's Lycos 50 at #52.
Of course, only Santa truly knows who's been naughty and who's been nice in this week's complex Florida legal wrangling. Lycos users were still interested in the never-ending battle over the presidency, but not at the level they were in the days immediately following the election. Total election searches dropped 71.6 percent from last week.
Searches for news organizations and the candidates were down as well. CNN searches dropped about 70 percent, though they remain at a level about three times normal. Al Gore (#15) and George W. Bush (#16) each dropped, and they were about as close on the Lycos 50 as they were in the general election. Gore led Bush in searches last week 50.05 percent to 49.95 percent.
Only one political search term actually went up in our rankings this week - the seemingly unstoppable Rush Limbaugh (#11).
Other key points from this week's Lycos 50:
BEATLEMANIA 2000: Have you heard this group of crazy young moptops called The Beatles? Yes, that's the Fab Four making their first ever appearance on the Lycos 50 at #33, higher than any current musical group except for 'N Sync (#26).
The Beatle resurgence has a number of sources. First, the band released a new greatest hits CD, Beatles One, which includes all 27 of the group's number one hits. Beatles One debuted at #1 on the British album charts this week, though it is too soon to know how high it will debut here. In conjunction with the new album, the Beatles launched their first official website, and ABC broadcast a documentary on Friday about the influence of the Beatles on pop culture.
In a four-way comparison, John is by far the most popular Beatle online with 67.6 percent of individual Beatle searches. Paul gets 15.5 percent, George gets 12.6 percent, and Ringo comes in last with 4.2 percent of searches, none of which are for the movie Caveman.
WWF MERCILESS: WWF No Mercy (#50) is a new Nintendo 64 wrestling game that hit stores on November 14. It got enough searches separate from the WWF (#14) to qualify for the Lycos 50 on its own. Combined with wrestling pinup Chyna (#46), that gives three spots on the Lycos 50 to WWF-related search terms.
SHORT SUBJECTS: If it's holiday season, Martha Stewart (#49) searches must be on the rise? Nascar (#40) finished up its 2000 season on Monday? Video game series Final Fantasy is boosted by last week's release of Final Fantasy IX and plans for a movie next summer... With their new album Black and Blue released today, the Backstreet Boys once again fall out of the Lycos 50 (they finish #53). If Lycos users are any indication, matching 'N Sync's sales numbers is very unlikely.
HOUSEKEEPING: Prior to this week, we counted both NFL and football, which was a combination of college football, fantasy football, football rules, and various other football searches. Beginning this week, we will make a separate count of various football terms such as college football, fantasy football, and the XFL. We will do the same for the NBA, WNBA, and college basketball, although college basketball will include searches for both men's and women's college basketball.
NEW THIS WEEK: The Grinch, the NBA, The Beatles, Nascar, college football, Martha Stewart, WWF No Mercy.
DROPOUTS: Electoral College, Veteran's Day, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, Backstreet Boys, Australian horse race The Melbourne Cup, plus football and basketball (for editorial reasons mentioned above).
BIGGEST RISE: Playboy cover girl Carmen Electra, up 13 places to #28.
BIGGEST DROP: Political website Drudge Report, down 18 places to #24.
ONE YEAR AGO: The Texas A&M bonfire tragedy debuted at #35, and the Leonid meteor shower made it to #10 with huge online interest. This year's Leonid meteor shower got virtually no attention from Lycos users.
