Microsoft and AOL Release Top Searches of 2006

Microsoft released the top searches in 2006 on MSN Search and Live.com. Unlike Yahoo, whose list included mostly pop singers, the top search query on MSN/Live.com was "Ronaldinho". "Harry Potter" is at number 5, while Rebelde, a Mexican TV series, is at number 9. The top 10 gainers from last year starts with 3 football players: Bebo, Kaká and Zidane.

AOL, that uses Google for web search, also released the top searches. From what I've seen, AOL is the most honest, as it's the only search engine that has a top like this:

1. weather
2. dictionary
3. dogs
4. American Idol
5. maps
6. cars
7. gamers
8. tattoo
9. horoscopes
10. lyrics

I'm pretty sure the top doesn't include certain sensitive queries like "Google", "Yahoo" or "MySpace", as it should. But it's a step ahead.

If we don't like AOL's top, we can always mine the 36 million search queries released by the company in August and find a more accurate top.