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May. 17, 2007 at 12:36pm Eastern by Barry Schwartz

"Natalie Portman" Most Searched For Star Wars Term

For the 30 year anniversary of Star Wars, Lycos has compiled a list of the top search terms related to Star Wars, used by those at the Lycos site.

Leading the list overall is Natalie Portman. Portman also tops the "real people" list, while the top Star Wars character is Oola.

Top 25 Star Wars Search Terms:
1) Natalie Portman
2) Oola
3) Endor
4) Harrison Ford
5) Yoda
6) Hayden Christensen
7) Carrie Fisher
8) Darth Vader
9) Jawa
10) Princess Leia
11) “Star Wars” Kid
12) Ewan McGregor
13) John Williams “Star Wars” Music
14) Obi-Wan Kenobi
15) Jedi
16) “Revenge of the Sith”
17) Wookie
18) Jedi Mind Tricks
19) Light Saber
20) Wicket
21) George Lucas
22) Darth Maul
23) Han Solo
24) Mark Hamill
25) Ewok

Top 10 Star Wars Real People:
1) Natalie Portman
2) Harrison Ford
3) Hayden Christensen
4) Carrie Fisher
5) Ewan McGregor
6) John Williams Music
7) George Lucas
8) Mark Hamill
9) Anthony Daniels
10) Kenny Baker

Top 10 Star Wars Characters:
1) Oola
2) Yoda
3) Darth Vader
4) Jawa
5) Princess Leia
6) Obi-Wan Kenobi
7) Wicket
8) Han Solo
9) Luke Skywalker
10) Artoo Detoo

From the press release:

WALTHAM, Mass.– May 17, 2007 – Lycos, Inc. (www.lycos.com), a leading community destination for broadband entertainment content, today announced the following information from The Lycos 50™, a weekly list of the most popular people, places and things Lycos users search for every day. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Star Wars,” Lycos announces the most popular “Star Wars” related terms over the past 30 years, based on web user searches. The Lycos 50 “Star Wars” list is based on Lycos user searches from May 12, 2006 through May 12, 2007. For a complete list of The Lycos 50 top “Star Wars” search terms, and for in-depth commentary of The Lycos 50 Daily Report, go to http://50.lycos.com. Numerous “Star Wars” video highlights can also be found on Lycos MIX, located at http://mix.lycos.com.

Of the top “Star Wars” topics over the past 30 years, Actress Natalie Portman has the honor of being the most popular “Star Wars” related search term with web users, generating 679% more online interest than the next most popular “Star Wars” actor, Harrison Ford. However, Portman’s alter ego, Queen Padmé Amidala, did not register a blip on the radar with web users, as legendary “Star Wars” character, Oola, who met her fate at the hands of Jabba the Hutt in “Return of the Jedi,” is the most-searched character. Oola generated 479% more interest than Yoda, and 727% more interest than Darth Vader.

Looking back at the six “Star Wars” films from 1977 through 2005, “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” is the most-searched movie prequel, while the original “Star Wars” film is the most popular in the trilogy series with web users. The “Star Wars” kid is the most popular “Star Wars” fad. The Lycos 50 first reported on the “Star Wars” kid in May 2003, when a then 15-year-old teen from Quebec, known only as Ghyslain, became a pop culture icon after a goofy video featuring the teen dancing around with a light saber, surfaced on the internet. During the height of his popularity online, the “Star Wars” kid was more popular than actor Jim Carrey and the hot summer film of 2003, “Dumb and Dumberer.”

The Lycos 50 editorial team opted to omit the generic term “Star Wars” from the Top 25 “Star Wars” search list. If it were included, the term “Star Wars” would be the number one search term overall when looking at all search terms associated with the six films and subculture surrounding the films, generating 126% more online interest than Natalie Portman.

Additional Notes of Interest:

Nearly 80% of the top 25 “Star Wars” related search terms made their debuts with the original “Star Wars” trilogy films introduced in 1977 through 1983.

Search queries for “Star Wars” character Artoo Detoo are 100% more popular than search queries for the term R2-D2.

Darth Vader receives 2,000% more online interest than Darth Maul.

John Williams “Star Wars” music is 613% more popular than “Star Wars” creator George Lucas.

Search activity for humans Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker, a.k.a.C-3PO and R2-D2, are 100% more popular with web users than James Earl Jones, David Prowse and Peter Mayhew, the humans behind “Star Wars” characters Darth Vader and Chewbacca.

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