CAUTIONARY TALES

Actress Lindsay Lohan, who also spent a brief stint in jail for a drunken driving and cocaine-possession, came sixth in the search list, up from No. 10 last year.

"It makes you think that maybe these celebrities have become a morality play .. we look at celebrities because they are escapist fantasies but also a cautionary tale," said Chan.

The No. 2 search, unchanged from last year, was for WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment, with a lot of interest in the death of professional wrestler Chris Benoit who killed his wife and son then hanged himself and his steroid use.

"WWE is a cultural institution at this point and a lot of the former participants are big stars .. this is like the male soap opera on the Internet," said Chan.

Naruto, the Japanese manga series, came fourth in the list as anime, a type of Japanese cartoon.

Online gaming took two slots in the list for the first time with the free multi-player game RuneScape played in the fantasy realm of Gielinor at No. 7 and Fantasy Football at No. 8.

But it wasn't only falling celebrities who won attention.

Singer Beyonce Knowles came fifth in the list, up from No 7. last year, as she continued to build her business empire and singer Fergie came in at No. 9.

Jessica Alba arrived on the list at No. 10, helped by being named magazine FHM's "2007's Sexiest Woman in the World."

Off the list? Jessica Simpson dropped off, as did Pamela Anderson, Shakira and hip hop's Chris Brown. American Idol was no longer a top search which Chan attributed to the show concentrating more on celebrities than wannabe stars.