Search Engine Zeitgeist

Many of the top internet search engines compile their stats annually to see if "the aggregation of billions of search queries" reveals anything interesting.

Google, for instance, issues an annual Zeitgeist in several categories, such as World Affairs, Nature, Movies, Celebrities, and Phenomena. It's top searches for Google News were

1. Janet Jackson
2. Hurricane Katrina
3. tsunami
4. xbox 360
5. Brad Pitt
6. Michael Jackson
7. American Idol
8. Britney Spears
9. Angelina Jolie
10. Harry Potter

Yahoo! Search compiles a similar group of lists at 2005 Top Searches; its top news searches were

1. Tsunami
2. Iraq
3. Michael Jackson trial
4. Natalee Holloway
5. Afghanistan
6. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
7. Hurricane Katrina
8. Cindy Sheehan
9. President Bush
10. Tom Cruise

Ask Jeeves offers similar analysis, and AOL.com does, too. Since MSN Search made major changes to its search engine this year, its 2005 results are released yet.