As 2007 winds to a close, pop culture commentators look every which way to capture the spirit of the year – and what better way than by looking at what people put in that little white search box on the Web? AOL recently peeled off the wraps on its own statistics to reveal what Americans were obsessed with this year.
In the field of gadgets, Apple took top honors with the iPhone and iPod placing first and second, respectively. The rankings of the Ninteno Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 reflected sales, with the Wii slipping in at third on the list, and the PS3 appearing nowhere on the top 10. Other hot tech searches (besides generic terms like “computers” and “cell phones”) included TracFone, XM Radio, PSP and Xbox.
In a rather depressing turn, the murder-suicide of wrestler Chris Benoit was the most searched-for news item of the year, followed by news about Phentermine (a weight loss drug), the pet food recall, global warming, and the Virginia Tech shootings.
The rather uninspired “weather” took top overall honors, while Harry Potter was the top movie term, Coldplay was the top band, Hillary Clinton was the top politician, American Idol was the top TV show, and WWE wrestling was the top sport.
