Spears tops Yahoo! search charts

Britney Spears has topped a list of the most looked-for terms on the search engine Yahoo!

The singer, who has not released a record for some time but recently split from husband Kevin Federline, has now lead the list for five years out of the last six.

Cathi Early, a spokesman for the website, said she was mystified by the news. "Why she keeps ranking top is beyond me," she commented. "I don't think people are just sitting in front of their computers looking for Britney."

Other celebrity charters were Shakira at three, Jessica Simpson at four and Paris Hilton, placed fifth, while television wrestling series WWE was the second most-searched term.

A list of the most searched-for news story was topped by crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, who was tragically killed earlier this year. Early said: "It was human interest stories that really captured people's attention."

For the first time the search engine also put together a list of the most searched blogs. The top two positions went to celebrity gossip sites Perez Hilton and The Superficial.