Oil Spill, World Cup, Miley top Yahoo search list in 2010

Yahoo has unveiled its 'Year in Review' report, which tallies up all the top searches of the year. The world's second largest search engine, which has been releasing the review annually since 2001, believes that the top searches of the year provide a snapshot of a culture in motion.

Although Yahoo's efforts to round-up the year's search trends are not exclusive as the internet search engine behemoth Google also annually releases a year-end Zeitgeist, which examines the billions of queries that people around the world have typed into Google search, Yahoo has unveiled a total of eleven lists dealing in-depth with a variety of topics.

Besides the traditional 'Top 10 Searches', the ten other lists released by Yahoo include 'Survivor Stories', 'Good Sports', 'Natural Disasters', 'Financial Uprisings','10 Obsessions of 2010', 'Cheat Sheet', 'Ignominious Exits', 'Most Irresistible Lyrics', 'Burning Questions', and 'Inspiring Acts'.

A man-made disaster, a global sport, pop culture's leading ladies (and one young gent), and gadgets starting with an 'i', the internet giant said introducing the 'Top 10 Searches' list for 2010.

As per Yahoo's year review, 2010 has been somewhat historical. As the BP oil spill came up on the top of the list, the company noted that this was the first time ever that a news story took the top spot.

In 2010, some 631 million people checked in. Among the billions of queries they pursued, the story of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill led the year's top 10 -- the first time that a news story has taken the No. 1 slot, the company said.

The second spot was claimed by the men's soccer world cup that was held in South Africa.

People took an online crash course in the sport, learning about the rules of the game, the major players (and outrageous referees), the octopus oracle, and native horns that just wouldn't quit, Yahoo said, adding humorously that the summer break brought productivity to a standstill and landed the World Cup in second place.

Pop culture's leading ladies - Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian and Lady Gaga took the third, fourth and the fifth spot respectively. Following them was the lone gadget on the list, Apple's iPhone on the sixth spot.

Dizzying tech advances belied a bad economy. The iPhone's fourth coming captivated naysaying geeks and covetous consumers alike, and beat out the iPad in searches...High-tech drama stimulated an already frenzied Mac cult (which was also tracking the Apple iPad), and pushed the iPhone into the No. 6 slot, Yahoo commented on iPhone.

The last four spots also were filled by what Yahoo termed guilty pleasures. While Hollywood hottie Megan Fox took the seventh spot, Web-spun music artist Justin Beiber made his first top 10 appearance on the eight position. The list was finished off with the popular television show American Idol and Britney Spears taking the ninth and the tenth spots respectively.

While it is interesting to note that out of ten spots, seven were claimed by the entertainment industry, the other lists also manage to have a surprise element or two in them. For instance, Beiber's song 'Baby', which goes I was like, baby, baby, baby, oh / Like baby, baby, baby, no / Like baby, baby, baby, oh / I thought you'd always be mine, mine for the majority of the track, emerging as the most searched song lyrics has raised quite a few eyebrows. While unwelcome parasitic guests Bedbugs followed Facebook on the obsessions list, 'How to Kiss' lost to 'How to tie a tie' and 'How to Lose Weight' in the Burning Questions arena.

MORE ON OTHER LISTS...

Survivors: Oil Spill Crew Overtake Chilean Miners

Overtaking the globally watched trap and rescue of Chilean miners, the dangerous livelihood of the Deepwater Horizon Crew, which came to light due to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, grabbed the top spot on the top searched Survivor Stories of 2010. Iraq war heroes (3^rd), Fort Hood witnesses (6^th) and Times Square heroes (8^th) were among the others on the list.

Good Sports: Soccer Wins Over World with World Cup

No rewards for guessing what topped the Good Sports list. It was, of course, the FIFA World Cup. Winter Olympics took the second spot to be followed by Super Bowl, NFL Draft, U.S. Open, NBA Playoffs, World Series, Masters 2010, Wimbledon and March Madness, in that order.

Disasters of the Year

The year 2010 will be remembered one of extremes in nature, Yahoo said while introducing the Natural Disaster list. The devastating Haiti earthquake topped this list, to be followed by Iceland Volcano, Chile Earthquake, Pakistan Floods, Guatemala Sinkhole in the top five spots.

Unemployment, Recalls, Health Care Bill plagued America

Unemployment, Wall Street Companies, Recalls, Foreclosures, Health Care Bill seems to have plagued America the worst in 2010. These search terms topped the Financial Uprisings list, while the second half of the list was populated by terms such as Tea Party Movement, Elizabeth Warren, New Credit Card Laws, Dow Jones Flash Crash, and Austerity Strikes.

Obsessions

America obsessed over two Apple gadgets, two television shows, parasitic insects, the man behind 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo', and of course a social networking site in 2010.

Yahoo's 10 Obsessions of 2010 puts iPhone as the top obsession while Apple's iPad stands third. The queen of offscreen drama Lindsay Lohan took the second spot between the two gadgets from Apple. Television shows, 'Glee' and 'Jersey Shore' took the fourth and the fifth spot. Facebook, surprisingly, ranked sixth above Bedbugs, Tea Party, Silly Bandz, and Stieg Larsson's The Girl.

Elin, Sandra, Eva on Cheat Sheet

Yahoo's Cheat Sheet includes all the women who had to face the truth that their husbands were cheaters or those women who caused men cheat on their wives this year. Topping the list is the golden girl Elin Nodregen, whose name and face emerged into prominence across international media once her husband and the Golf legend Tiger Woods' sexcapades were exposed. The second spot also goes to women involved in the Woods' sex scandal, except these were the dozen-plus women who caused Tiger to roam. Yes, Elin was followed by Rachel Uchitel, et al on the Yahoo list. Hollywood starlet Sandra Bullock (3^rd) and 'Desperate Housewives' actress Eva Langoria (9^th) were among the others on the list.

Conan, Sachez beat Mark Hurd on Top Exits list

Television host and comedian Conan O' Brien topped the Ignominious Exits list. Cuban-American former TV news anchor Rick Sanchez and NPR commentator Juan Williams followed in the second and third spot. His scandal-tainted ouster from Hewlett-Packard (HP) got Mark Hurd the eight spot on the list.

Must learn Lyrics? - I was like, baby, baby, baby, oh / Like baby, baby, baby, no / Like baby, baby, baby

Justin Beiber reigned the Most Irresistible Lyrics list with the lyrics for his song 'Baby' emerging as the most searched for. Eminem's 'Love the way you lie' and Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' followed in the second and the third spot respectively. Among other songs that made it on the list were Kesha's 'Tik Tok' (6^th), Train's 'Hey Soul Sister' (9^th) and 'Fireflies' by Owl City (10^th).

Ties trump Kisses

The famous 'How to Kiss' question took a back seat this year as 'How to tie a tie' and 'How to Lose Weight' were deemed the top two burning questions of the year. 'How to Kiss' came in third followed by questions such as How to Write a Resume (4^th), What is the World's Only Immortal Animal? (5^th), What is Love (8^th) and How to Boil an Egg (10^th).

America drew inspiration from Little Girl's Lemonade

A classic childhood scheme topped the Inspiring Acts list for 2010. Eight-year-old Abby Enck, who has a 6-year-old brother Cameron suffering from with cerebral palsy, wanted to raise money through a lemonade sale to buy pediatric patients like her brother a few new 24-count boxes of crayons.

On the Inspiring Acts list, Yahoo said, The people we've called out as our Most Inspiring Acts were among the many this year who saw an injustice or a void or someone down-and-out who needed a little help. They include a kindergartener struggling to understand homelessness, a mother instilling bravery in sick children, a blogger cheering up strangers, and a heart-transplant recipient spreading the message of the greatest gift of all. They're very different people, from all across America, who decided to step forward and do one simple good deed.

Abby's Lemonade was followed by Sara Bayles' Daily Ocean project and blog set up to protect the oceans. Ben Sater's Kidswing (3^rd), Operation Beautiful (4th), Phoebe's Food Bank (7^th), Secret Angel L (9^th) and An Angel in Queens (10^th) were listed among the top Inspiring Acts of 2010.

Infographic to simplify findings

If all this information is too much for you to digest, fret not. In an attempt to simplify the in-depth analysis of the year's hot searches, the company also got JESS3 to create a nice infographic to summarize the findings.

Yahoo promises more

Throughout December, Yahoo! Year in Review will touch on more stories (and lists) of head-turning moments, pet peeves, surprising truths, and familiar comforts. You'll be amazed at what all of you did this year, the company said on its blog post titled 'Stops, Starts, and Stalls: A Look Back at 2010'.