We have to wait for the Google's and the other major search engines reports to compare it with the Yahoo! results, but, as during the last year, I am convinced that they do not fit each other. But, anyway, it is a good source of inspiration for marketers, advertisers and publishers.

"Today Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) announced the most popular searches, themes, and trends as part of its 2008 Year in Review (yearinreview.yahoo.com), as told through the billions of searches conducted by millions of Yahoo! users around the globe every month." (From Press Release)

Here there are the Top 10 Overall Searches:

1. Britney Spears: Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American recording artist and entertainer. Spears is ranked as the eighth best-selling female recording artist in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America with 31 million certified albums and one of the world's best-selling music artists having sold an estimated 83 million records worldwide. Spears also holds the title to multiple Guinness World Records.

2. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment): World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is a publicly traded, privately controlled integrated media (focusing in television, Internet, and live events) and sports entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales.

3. Barack Obama: Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is the President-elect of the United States and the first African American to be elected President of the United States. Obama was the junior United States Senator from Illinois from 2005 until he resigned on November 16, 2008, following his election to the Presidency. His term of office as the 44th U.S. president begins January 20, 2009.

4. Miley Cyrus: Miley Ray Cyrus (born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. Cyrus is better known for starring as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana in the television series Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel. In 2008, Cyrus was listed among artists and entertainers as one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.

5. RuneScape: RuneScape is a Java-based MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) operated by Jagex Ltd. Recognised by Guiness World Records as the world's most popular free MMORPG, RuneScape has approximately fifteen million active free accounts and is a graphical browser-based game with a large degree of 3D rendering.

6. Jessica Alba: Jessica Marie Alba (born April 28, 1981) is an American television and film actress. Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002).[2][3] Alba later appeared in various films including Honey (2003), Sin City (2005), Fantastic Four (2005), Into the Blue (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Good Luck Chuck both in 2007.

7. Naruto: Naruto (ナルト) is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto with an anime adaptation. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a loud, hyperactive, unpredictable, adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become a Hokage, the ninja in his village that is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all.

8. Lindsay Lohan: Lindsay Dee Lohan (born July 2, 1986) is an American actress, model and pop music singer. Lohan started in show business as a child fashion model for magazine advertisement and television commercials. At age 10, she began her acting career in a soap opera; at 11, she made her motion picture debut by playing identical twins in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap.

9. Angelina Jolie: Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an American film actor and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. She has been cited as one of the world's most beautiful women and her off-screen life is widely reported. Jolie has received three Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and an Academy Award.

10. American Idol: American Idol, with the full title American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season only, is an American reality tv show airing on Fox. It debuted on June 11, 2002, and it has since become one of the most popular shows on American television. Part of the Idol franchise, it is a spinoff from the reality program Pop Idol created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller, which was first aired in 2001 in the United Kingdom.

(Details from Wikipedia.)

As TechCrunch noted in the blog, most of the searched terms can be found in the last year's top, almost in the same order:

1. Britney Spears
2. WWE
3. Paris Hilton
4. Naruto
5. Beyonce
6. Lindsay Lohan
7. Rune Scape
8. Fantasy Football
9. Fergie
10. Jessica Alba

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