Yahoo’s Year In Review 2010 Of Top Searches: My, How Much You’ve Grown

Sound the vuvuzelas! In what surely will take top honors for the list(s) to end all lists this year, Yahoo! has unveiled its annual Year in Review for 2010, featuring at least 25 categories of Top 10 most searched for topics.

This year’s special searches cover everything from the usual celebrities and gossip headlines, to sports standouts to natural disasters (at times, those topics overlap) and survival stories to searches for recipes to unemployment and coupons, users seemed to seek out any glimmer of hope to help get through the depression of the great recession.

With so much ground to cover this year, Yahoo! has included top searches for 16 countries other than the US for the first time ever, although several of those searches shared several similar themes, including the Winter Olympics in Vancouver Canada and the World Cup Soccer (Football) fascination, each of which captured a global audience.

Since the BP Oil Spill disaster lasted for nearly 1/4 of the year (86 days), it should not come as any surprise that the story stayed top of mind long enough to make it the top search of the year. What is surprising, however, is that the Chilean Miners trapped for 69 days, didn’t crack the overall Top 10, although they did come in #2 (behind the oil rig’s crew) in top Survivor Story searches.

Justin (O “Baby”) Bieber held court among several ladies from celebrity pop culture, making him the only male in the Top 10, an unlikely heir to the King of Pop‘s throne, perhaps. While Lady Gaga didn’t lead the list of ladies, the reigning Queen of pop searches, Britney Spears, made a triumphant return back to the search spotlight. Meanwhile, even a lackluster season of American Idol couldn’t keep it from hitting the charts, but it’s more likely due to all the news that the show couldn’t keep most of its celebrity judges.

The iPhone stands alone in the overall list, although the list of most searched Gadgets still shows it’s (almost) all in the Apple family. On the mobile device front, sports searches also reigned supreme, alongside those pop culture superstars and searchers lusted after lyrics by several of those same music makers.

Top Overall Searches On Yahoo! in 2010

1. BP Oil Spill
2. World Cup
3. Miley Cyrus
4. Kim Kardashian
5. Lady Gaga
6. iPhone
7. Megan Fox
8. Justin Bieber
9. American Idol
10. Britney Spears

Among the good sports list, several standout athletes were hotly searched after, with Winter Olympian Lindsay Vonn crossing over from the most search Olympians list to the overall list of most searched for sports star, perhaps her sexy Sports Illustrated swimsuit spread tipped the scale in her favor. Olympic ice skater Evan Lysachek also burned up the dance floor on Dancing With the Stars  (the #2 most searched for TV show). Meanwhile, Tiger Woods’ personal struggles were beat only by boxer Manny Pacquaio, although Woods’ ex-wife Elin Nordegren led Yahoo’s Cheat Sheet list, where 12 or more of Woods’ alleged mistresses were lumped together as the #2 most adulterous searches, as other other scorned women rose to search result fame or were tattooed with the letter ‘A’.

The coupon craze may have buoyed the economy a bit, with 6 of 10 of the most popular searches being for retailers, while others were focused on eating on cheap – the #2 slot was reserved for “grocery coupons”, which likely helped those craving some old fashioned homecooking searching for recipes, although it may not have helped answer some of the most burning questions, like how to boil an egg.

Searches still had an insatiable appetite, however, for those guilty pleasures and top obsessions, “Glee”-fully searching for bedbugs near the Jersey Shore, while others were performing more socially conscious searches for natural disaster aid, as well as hot button financial and political topics. And others were simply trying to research what breed of dog (Chihuahua #1) or car (Chevy Camaro #1) they should buy.

Top Mobile Searches On Yahoo!

1. NFL
2. Lady Gaga
3. Rihanna
4. Sandra Bullock
5. NBA
6. World Cup
7. Justin Bieber
8. American Idol
9. Winter Olympics
10. Oil Spill

Top Gadget Searches On Yahoo!

1. iPad
2. iPhone 4
3. Nintendo Wii
4. Garmin GPS
5. Motorola Droid
6. Xbox 360
7. Kindle
8. iPod Touch
9. Nook
10. TiVo

Top Sports Star Searches On Yahoo!

1. Manny Pacquiao
2. Tiger Woods
3. Anna Kournikova
4. Brett Favre
5. Lebron James
6. Danica Patrick
7. Lindsey Vonn
8. Maria Sharpova
9. Cristiano Ronaldo
10. Serena Williams

Top 2010 Winter Olympian Searches On Yahoo!

1. Lindsey Vonn
2. Julia Mancuso
3. Apolo Ohno
4. Torah Bright
5. Shaun White
6. Nodar Kumaritaishvili (Luger, deceased by tragic accident)
7. Joannie Rochette
8. Johnny Weir
9. Evan Lysacek
10. Bode Miller

Top TV Show Searches In 2010

1. American Idol
2. Dancing with the Stars
3. Young and the Restless
4. Glee
5. Lost
6. Big Brother
7. Jersey Shore
8. True Blood
9. Days of Our Lives
10. The Oprah Winfrey Show

Top Movie Searches In 2010

1. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
2. Wolfman
3. The Last Airbender
4. Iron Man 2
5. Alice in Wonderland
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
7. Inception
8. Star Wars
9. Transformers 3
10. Toy Story 3

Top Searched For Recipes

1. Chicken Recipes
2. Crockpot Recipes
3. Summer Salads Recipes
4. Healthy Recipes
5. Chili Recipes
6. Halloween Recipes
7. Lasagna Recipes
8. Cake Recipes
9. Cheesecake Recipes
10. Cookie Recipes

Top Coupon Searches On Yahoo In 2010

1. Bed Bath and Beyond
2. Grocery Coupons
3. Dick’s Sporting Goods
4. Pizza Hut
5. JCPenney
6. Olive Garden
7. Kohl’s
8. Best Buy
9. Domino’s Pizza
10. Old Navy

Most Searched For Politicians

1. Barack Obama
2. Sarah Palin
3. Christine O’Donnell
4. Hillary Clinton
5. Nikki Haley
6. Arnold Schwarzenegger
7. Meg Whitman
8. Nancy Pelosi
9. Linda McMahon
10. Scott Brown

Top Searches On International Yahoo! Search Properties

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