Touchdowns, Taxes, and Tragedy

Football, the IRS, and entertainment are among the top searches for Internet users, according to findings from Lycos and Yahoo! “Super Bowl Commercials,” “Internal Revenue Service,” and the ever-present “KaZaA” dominated both The Lycos 50 for the week ending February 1, 2003 and the Yahoo! Buzz Index of the 20 leaders for the week ending February 2, 2003, with some new entries emerging on both lists.

Reflecting the collective grief of the nation, the term “Space Shuttle” appeared in the number 2 spot on Lycos. The term hadn’t made the Yahoo! list yet, probably because the tragedy occurred on a weekend and at the end of the search compilation week, but it is expected to make a strong debut on the list ending February 10, 2003.

In addition to “Space Shuttle,” the lists included a handful of new entries and re-entries:

• Joe Millionaire contestant “Sarah Kozer” showed up in the twelfth position on Lycos and not at all on Yahoo! The term “Joe Millionaire” ranked at number 11 on Yahoo! and 27 on Lycos, while another dating reality show, “The Bachelorette” was a Lycos re-entry at number 39.
• Web site “Smoking Gun” debuted at number 23 on Lycos.
• “Chinese New Year” was celebrated at the 24^th position on the Lycos list.
• Other new entries to Lycos were “The Matrix Reloaded” and “State of the Union.” Re-entries included “NASCAR,” “Shania Twain” and “Barbie.”

Homonyms emerged on the Lycos 50 — the consistently popular term, “Tattoos” ranked number 5, and Russian pop duet, “t.A.T.u.” moved up from number 21 to number 14. The singers debuted on the Yahoo! list, also at number 14.

The biggest discrepancies between the two lists were:

• “Super Bowl Commercials” were number 1 on the Yahoo! list but number 9 on Lycos.
• Rapper “50 Cent” grabbed the number 5 spot on the Yahoo! Buzz Index and number 20 on the Lycos list.
• Gamers searched for “PlayStation 2,” making the term number 6 on Yahoo! and 40 on Lycos.
• “Jennifer Lopez” — number 7 on Yahoo! compared to number 21 on Lycos.
• “Eminem” — number 8 on Yahoo! compared to number 18 on Lycos.
• Surprisingly, Yahoo! leaders, “Nelly” (number 9), “American Idol 2” (number 12), and “Ja Rule” (number 13) didn’t show up at all on the Lycos 50.

Check out how the search terms have changed over time:

Searches Mostly Entertainment-Related
Virus Becomes Most Popular
Debut of a Salesman
Dragonball Rolls Into First Place
World Cup Kicks Star Wars Out of Space