Lycos users have spoken, and in 2002 Japanese animation sensation Dragonball becomes the first topic to ever repeat atop the Web's Most Wanted.

Yes, we know there are still plenty of people who have never heard of it, but Dragonball is still immensely popular on the Internet thanks to teens and college-age Japanese animation buffs. It was strong enough to remain the top term in 2002 even though searches dropped off by 10 percent compared to the year before. Dragonball spent 25 weeks at #1 in 2001, but only 13 weeks at #1 in 2002.

By the end of the year, Dragonball was beginning to have its position as the top Japanese animation empire challenged by 2002's biggest breakout success: Yu-Gi-Oh! (#32). Yu-Gi-Oh! is a successor to Pokemon (#41): a cartoon aimed at younger kids, accompanied by a card game with addictive properties similar to crack cocaine. Trust my wife, it is the bane of every second grade teacher's existence. Yu-Gi-Oh! first showed up on our radar in April, and has been on the Lycos 50 ever since.

On the flip side, Pokemon plummeted 57 percent in 2002 and in April fell off the Lycos 50 for the first time ever. In 2001, Pokemon had 145 times as many searches as Yu-Gi-Oh! -- 12 months later, Yu-Gi-Oh! gets three times as many searches as Pokemon.

SWAP SWAPPERS: Just below Dragonball is another Internet sensation, KaZaA (#2). Queries for the file-swapping program grew 450 percent as it moved up from #64 in 2001.

Since the dawn of Napster in 2000, a pattern has emerged where one program ascends, gets sued by the government and crippled, and then falls in popularity while another company's program takes its place as the community standard. Morpheus had been on top since Napster's demise, but KaZaA passed it in April and hit #1 on the Lycos 50 in September.

Morpheus got tons of searches through June and finishes as the Web's #5 topic for 2002, but it started fading in late July and by the end of the year had dropped out of the Lycos 50. Also pushed aside by KaZaA were Gnutella (dropped from #28 to #370) and Audiogalaxy (#74, but mostly before July).

2001's BIGGEST STORY: Searches for most September 11-related topics fell significantly in 2002, but searches for September 11 (#33) itself stayed strong all year. Also still getting searches, though fewer of them, were the World Trade Center (down 40 percent, but still #30) and last year's top man, Osama bin Laden (down 72 percent, but still #60). The biggest drop belonged to supposed attack predictor and legendary prophet Nostradamus, who fell from #9 in 2001 to #309 in 2002.

MUSIC TRENDS: For the first time since we started the Lycos 50, 2002 saw big changes in pop music style. Boy bands fell off a cliff: 'N Sync, the top music group of the past two years, fell from #36 to #163 this year, while Backstreet Boys fell even further, from #58 to #250.

If you think that's bad, Limp Bizkit nose-dived from #68 to #403 - a 78 percent drop. Most other rap-metal bands didn't fare as badly as the boy bands, but interest in the genre clearly fell in 2002 (with the exception of #68 Linkin Park).

These declining acts were replaced by new female performers who challenged the sex-first, talent-later esthetic of recent pop music. International star Shakira (up from #293 to #31) has the looks, but she also co-wrote all the songs on her first English-language release. Canadian teenager Avril Lavigne (#86), who we declared One to Watch in May, defied the midriff-baring rules of pop fashion and led a movement of young female singer-songwriters.

HUH?: Chu Mei-Feng (#20) is explained here.

IN VOGUE #1: Comic book movies and other superhero items were huge in 2002, led by Spider-Man (#25). The trend even spread to TV, where Smallville was the Internet's fastest-rising non-reality show. 2003 will be even bigger with plenty of early searches for Daredevil, Hulk, and X-Men 2.

IN VOGUE #2: Football was always the biggest sport online but it got even bigger in 2002. Both NFL (#6) and college football (#98) saw searches rise about 60 percent. Queries related to the Super Bowl (#50) were up an astonishing 250 percent, mostly due to additional searches for Super Bowl commercials -- which rank #153 all by themselves.

IN VOGUE #3: Maybe it was the publicity around higher payouts, or perhaps it was the desire to make a quick score in this quasi-recession. But nearly all searches related to lotteries went up this year, including two terms that make the Top 100: Powerball (#62) and California Lottery (#97).

IN VOGUE MAGAZINE: They don't discuss her much in People or on Entertainment Tonight, but Brooke Burke is the hottest female pinup on the Internet right now. Search activity for Burke doubled in 2002, and the star of cable's E! Network (as well as numerous calendars and bedroom walls) jumped from #90 to #35 on this year's list.

SHIFTING REALITIES: Though still popular, both Survivor (#46) and Big Brother (#96) declined in online popularity in 2002. Reality TV fans shifted their attention to The Bachelor (#241) and American Idol (#203), both of which would likely make the Top 100 if we counted only the second half of the year. Surprisingly, despite all the fuss made in the press, The Osbournes never came close to the Lycos 50 and doesn't even finish as one of the year's top 500 topics.

OTHER BIG BREAKOUTS OF 2002: TV cartoon Spongebob Squarepants, R&B group B2K, actor Shane West, kids toy/cartoon Zoids, pop psychologist Dr. Phil, faux-medical remedies coral calcium and Enzyte.

HOT IN 2001, NOT HOT IN 2002: Nostradamus, XFL, singers Shaggy and Dido, computer game Black and White, Dale Earnhardt, Temptation Island, plus the boy bands and file-swappers listed above.

ONES TO WATCH 2003: Hot sequels The Matrix: Reloaded and Terminator 3... The comic book films, plus stars Jennifer Garner (Elektra in Daredevil) and Eric Bana (Bruce Banner in Hulk)... R & B singer Beyonce Knowles... High school basketball phenom LeBron James... Computer games Sims Online and Doom III... Hot kids toy Beyblade.

ONES TO WATCH 2002: We did pretty well with last year's predictions, which included Shakira, Spider-Man, and Star Wars: Episode II (#27). Vin Diesel and Kirsten Dunst each had big years, and skaters Michelle Kwan and Sarah Hughes both made the Lycos 50 during the Olympics. Our only misfire was the band Papa Roach, whose sophomore album bombed thanks to the declining interest in rap-metal.

KEEP WATCHING: That's not all for the Web's Most Wanted awards. Check the box on the top right for our other lists including top TV and movies, top men and women, and top fads (Enzyte, anyone?), updated through December 17. Plus, the Lycos 50 will still be updated each week through December.