Yahoo's Top Searches for 2010

It's barely December but 2010 is already being dissected and analyzed. In the search game, Yahoo got a head start with the 2010 Year in Review. The comprehensive report covers the top searches in several categories and paints a surprisingly thorough picture of the year ending.

"The Transocean oil rig explosion and the resulting spill dominated online activity, making the BP Oil Spill this year’s top search. Many of us were transfixed by that underwater spillcam that showed the best — and not so best — efforts to cap the gushing crude," Yahoo listed some of the top themes.

"The FIFA World Cup ground productivity to a slow crawl, as people went online to cram in not only the rules of the game, but also controversies (that bouncy jabulani ball), and South African traditions (the ever-buzzing vuvuzela)," it continued.

The BP oil spill dominated searches on Yahoo this year, unsurprising since the ecological disaster went on for almost a quarter of the year. The sports event of the year, the World Cup, came in at number two.

Below this though, the chart is dominated by celebrities of various degrees like Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.

The top is quite telling of the audience Yahoo sees at its search engine. While Yahoo.com is the global page, it is used predominantly by Americans and it shows in the searches. What's more, the dominance of celebrity-related searches indicates that Yahoo's users are generally more interested in entertainment news.

This is just the top of the iceberg, the Yahoo Year in Review report also covers things like top searched questions - "How to tie a tie" is at number one - and many other sections as well as trends.

There is a whole site dedicated to this and more material and analysis will be added during this month. What's more, this year, Yahoo has expanded the program to 16 countries.