All things Christmas continue to climb up the Lycos 50 this week with the holiday now two weeks away. Christmas holds at #1, and Santa Claus (#7) rises into the top ten.Toys (#18) and Christmas trees (#19) also climb, and holiday helper Martha Stewart reappears at #46.
The only Christmas-related term to fall is The Grinch, which slips to #13. Not that the mean one minds; his movie has now taken in almost 200 million dollars, passing our prediction of $176 million.
A DAY THAT LIVES IN INFAMY: The anniversary of Pearl Harbor (#16) was December 7, and the term receives about twice as many searches as it did at this time last year. Perhaps one reason is interest in next summer's blockbuster Pearl Harbor movie, starring Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, and Cuba Gooding Jr (and directed by the man behind Armageddon). The trailer is already showing in theaters, and we received a number of searches for the film.
SCOOTER RECALL: Interest in scooters (#29) has been going up lately thanks to Christmas, but skyrocketed this week after a mid-week announcement that some scooters were being recalled due to safety problems. 22 percent of scooter queries specified the scooter recall.
HOT CAR: Last year it was Millenium Princess Barbie; this year's hot Barbie (#30) toy is the Barbie Beetle. The Beetle accounted for about 13 percent of all Barbie searches.
SHORT SUBJECTS: College football (#20) makes a big jump based on searches for bowl games? Digital cameras (#27) seem to be a very hot gift this Christmas? After two weeks of increases, the Napster-like computer service Gnutella (#38) hops onto the Lycos 50? John Lennon searches went up 300 percent due to the twentieth anniversary of his death in 1980? After one week, 'N Sync (22) goes back ahead of the Backstreet Boys (#26), despite searches for the upcoming Backstreet tour.
NEW THIS WEEK: Pearl Harbor, college football, digital cameras, Gnutella.
BACK AFTER ONE WEEK: Gundam Wing, NBA, Martha Stewart, Limp Bizkit, Sailor Moon.
DROPOUTS: Magician David Blaine, the Canadian election, Al Gore, Powerball, Muslim holiday Ramadan, Anna Kournikova, Titanic, Rush Limbaugh, Miss World.
BIGGEST RISE: Scooters, up 19 places to #29.
BIGGEST DROP: Science fair projects, down 21 places to #39.
ONE YEAR AGO: Online fad Elf Bowling made its first appearance on the Lycos 50 at #16. This week the sequel Elf Bowling II just missed the list at #55.
TONIGHT: clubs with #36 Christina Aguilera tonight at 9pm EST.
TOMORROW: It's back to the 2000 Web's Most Wanted with the top TV shows.
