Debut of a Salesman
'Bill Porter' heads up the most popular search terms and bounces 'Dragonball' from the number one position.
Premiering at number one on the Terra Lycos list of the 50 most popular search terms for the week ending July 20, 2002 is “Bill Porter” – a salesman with cerebral palsy, recently made famous in a made-for-TV movie.
Porter’s surprise rise to the top knocked out the former number one, “Dragonball “– a search term that was last toppled from first place by “World Cup.”
Lycos found that one-quarter of the searches for Porter were for his Web site, BillPorter.com, an e-tail store that sells dietary supplements, gourmet food, herbal personal care products, pain relievers and remedies.
Rounding out the top 10 popular search terms are familiar favorites – but in a slightly different order from the week before:
- “Tattoos” dropped from second to third place.
- Formerly third place “Britney Spears” is now in fourth.
- Fourth place file-swapper “KaZaA” moves to fifth.
- “Las Vegas” climbs a couple of notches from eighth to sixth.
- “Big Brother” makes a small leap upward from ninth to seventh.
- “Tour de France” backpedals from the seventh position to the eighth.
- “Anna Kournikova,” dropped from fifth place to the ninth position.
- Moving from the sixth position to the tenth place spot is “Pamela Anderson.”
Along with “Bill Porter,” there are a number of other search terms that were new to the list last week, although some are marking a re-entry.
- “Daniel Pearl” (number 36) last made the list on May 18, 2002. The conviction of his murderers caused searches for the journalist to pick up again.
- The release of the new Dave Matthews Band CD put the group in the 38th position.
- Falling “Mortgage Rates” lands the term at the 40th spot on the list.
- “Diets” comes in at number 45 as “Anorexia” falls off the list.
- “Audiogalaxy,” once in the upper echelon of the list, fell off when the free file-swapping service began charging a user fee. The term returns to the top 50, at number 46.
- Actor “Shane West” is back on the list at number 47, as his latest movie is released on DVD and video.
- Number 48, “World Trade Center,” climbs back onto the list amidst discussions about rebuilding plans for the site. One of the top 100 items of 2001, the term has not made an appearance since May 25, 2002.
| Lycos 50 for the week ending July 20, 2002 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Current Position |
Search Term |
Last Week’s Position |
| 1 | Bill Porter | New |
| 2 | Dragonball | #1 |
| 3 | Tattoos | #2 |
| 4 | Britney Spears | #3 |
| 5 | KaZaA | #4 |
| 6 | Las Vegas | #8 |
| 7 | Big Brother | #9 |
| 8 | Tour de France | #7 |
| 9 | Anna Kournikova | #5 |
| 10 | Pamela Anderson | #6 |
| 11 | Avril Lavigne | #29 |
| 12 | Brooke Burke | #14 |
| 13 | Baseball | #13 |
| 14 | Harry Potter | #16 |
| 15 | Eminem | #19 |
| 16 | The Bible | #18 |
| 17 | Final Fantasy | #10 |
| 18 | NASCAR | #12 |
| 19 | WWE | #17 |
| 20 | Shakira | #26 |
| 21 | Yu-Gi-Oh! | #21 |
| 22 | Golf | #20 |
| 23 | Grand Theft Auto 3 | #22 |
| 24 | U.S. Postal Service | #15 |
| 25 | Nelly | #24 |
| 26 | Spider-Man | #25 |
| 27 | Jennifer Lopez | #23 |
| 28 | Marijuana | #27 |
| 29 | Star Wars | #35 |
| 30 | Morpheus | #11 |
| 31 | Playstation 2 | #28 |
| 32 | IRS | #31 |
| 33 | Warcraft III | #32 |
| 34 | Fantasy Football | #41 |
| 35 | Pokemon | #33 |
| 36 | Daniel Pearl | New |
| 37 | Atkins Diet | #37 |
| 38 | Dave Matthews Band | New |
| 39 | Lord of the Rings | #40 |
| 40 | Mortgage Rates | New |
| 41 | NFL | #34 |
| 42 | Carmen Electra | #45 |
| 43 | Sailor Moon | #36 |
| 44 | The Sims | #39 |
| 45 | Diets | New |
| 46 | Audiogalaxy | New |
| 47 | Shane West | New |
| 48 | World Trade Center | New |
| 49 | Ashanti | #38 |
| 50 | Golf Clubs | #42 |
| Source: Terra Lycos | ||
