Google’s Year-End Zeitgeist was released this week, and I was amused at seeing the “Celebrities” section, so I decided to see how the leading sex symbols of the day compared against each other in terms of searches. The top three this year were Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Jessica Simpson, who received a greater volume of searches throughout the year than Lindsay Lohan, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston or any other female entertainers.
The chart below chronicles the lives of its subjects – Paris Hilton’s T-mobile account info leak in February, the Carl’s Jr. “Spicy Paris” ad in May, and her engagement and subsequent breakup with Paris Latsis. For Britney Spears, this year was all about marriage, pregnancy, and the baby. Jessica Simpson scored a big hit with “These Boots are Made for Walking” video this summer, and spurred a rush on cowboy boots. Searches on Jessica increased during the fall as news emerged that her marriage to Nick Lachey was on the rocks. From this chart it seems that for celebrities, it’s a mixture of personal events and professional endeavors that spurs searches, with personal events tending to capture a greater share of the public’s attention.
For the sake of comparison, I added in “ipod” – until the holiday shopping season, celebrity searches outpaced iPod searches.