Bing Busts Out An Early Look At Most Popular Search Trends In 2010

It’s not even December yet, and already at least one of the search engines is ready to get a jump on the annual round up of the things we searched for most in 2010. Today, Bing sent over a brief list for us to preview their most popular overall searches, tallied from the last 11 months of search data.

Certainly 2009 was a big year for celebrity news, as Michael Jackson’s death was the top story (see my coverage of last year’s biggest search trends: This Is It: The Most Popular Searches Of 2009), but even posthumously, he didn’t drop that far out of the top people searches. Celebrity news continues to be one of Bing’s biggest search winners;  don’t forget – the engine launched an Entertainment search vertical back in June 2010 – this year’s overall list of popular searches on Bing clearly overlaps the most popular people searches. But some celebs are more searched after than others.

This year’s #1 searched for topic on Bing.com was Kim Kardashian, who won top searched by a landslide – with 20% more searches than #2 Sandra Bullock, despite the fact that Bullock won her Best Actress Oscar earlier this year, people were more interested in the dress she wore and the implosion of her marriage to Jesse James. Yet, odds are there’s 20% more people still searching for answers on why Kardashian is a famous personality to begin with.

Kate Gosselin’s moves (or lack thereof) on the dance floor in ABC’s Dancing With The Stars kept her – and her hairstyle – top of mind, along with the return of her TLC reality show, Kate + 8 minus Jon = top search win on Bing.

Speaking of hairstyles, interesting that it also made the list, the question is – is that related to Kate Gosselin or Justin Bieber? Note: there doesn’t appear to be a correlation in searches to Tom Brady’s bieber-esque hairstyle, so we can just put that poor comparison to rest…mmmkay?

At least there’s some interest in more pressing news topics, as President Barack Obama rounds out the top 5 – the economy might be one of the more popular topics, with people trying to save money at Walmart and get a “free” lunch at least… Hopefully, Bing has more information to share on that particular search.

Most popular overall searches on Bing in 2010:

1. Kim Kardashian
2. Sandra Bullock
3. Tiger Woods
4. Lady Gaga
5. Barack Obama
6. Hairstyles
7. Kate Gosselin
8. Walmart
9. Justin Bieber
10. free

Most popular people searched for on Bing in 2010:

1. Kim Kardashian
2. Sandra Bullock
3. Tiger Woods
4. Lady Gaga
5. Barack Obama
6. Kate Gosselin
7. Justin Bieber
8. Jesse James
9. Lindsay Lohan
10. Jennifer Aniston
11. Michael Jackson

Stay tuned for additional top searches on Bing.com and the other major search engines as they get ready to roll out their annual Year in Review search trends.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Elisabeth Osmeloski

Elisabeth Osmeloski was Director of Audience Development for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. She was responsible for increasing readership through owned, earned and paid media channels. In addition, she assists in programming sessions at Third Door Media's Search Marketing Expo conference series and manages speaking engagements for editorial staff. Follow her on Twitter @elisabethos.