NEW YORK - Curious about Britney Spears...and wrestling...and Iran? So are millions of Internet users, said Yahoo Search. Spears topped Yahoo's list of top 10 searches in 2007.
The pop star's troubled year propelled her past professional wrestling mecca WWE, Paris Hilton, the Japanese cartoon Naruto and Beyonce. Lindsay Lohan, the online adventure game Rune Scape, Fantasy Football, Fergie and Jessica Alba also made the list, respectively.
The top searched news stories, however, pointed to more serious American preoccupations.
Saddam Hussein was the most popular news topic for Yahoo Search users in 2007.
"Saddam Hussein loomed larger in death than in life," said Heather Cabot, Yahoo Web Life Expert. The former Iraqi dictator was the ninth-searched term in 2006.
Americans wanted to read about the Middle East: Iran (second), Iraq (third) and Afghanistan (ninth) all made the list.
President George W. Bush came in fourth, while Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama (sixth) and Hillary Clinton (seventh) jockeyed for Internet users' attention.
National disasters - the San Diego fires (eighth) and the Virginia Tech shooting (10th) - and oil and gas prices (fifth) rounded out the top ten.
In compiling the top searches, Yahoo filtered out company names, general topics (such as "movies" or "downloads"), X-rated content and technological terms.
