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Celebrities, iPods and natural disasters topped online interest in the year-end summary of requests on search engine Google.

Almost half of October's 5.1 billion internet searches worldwide were made through Google, research company Nielsen//NetRatings reported, with requests providing an insight into the interests, concerns and desires of internet users.

The US website did not reveal the most popular search topics of the year in its annual Zeitgeist research. It did not say why but one possibility is that it includes porn or Google's commercial competitors such as Microsoft.

It disclosed which sites had the most increase in searches during the year and also those that topped requests in Google's "news" category.

Singer Janet Jackson topped that section over rumours about a secret daughter, ahead of disasters including hurricane Katrina and last year's tsunami. Her brother Michael was in sixth place. A skew towards pop culture is evident in the results, with Hollywood actors, singers and boy-wizard Harry Potter all making the top 10.

The site that gained the biggest increase in searches was Myspace, a community website that allows people to link their friends and contacts. A similar site, orkut, was also in the top five. Ares, a file trading network similar to Napster and Bit Torrent, was second, ahead of Chinese search engine Baidu. Its design resembles that of Google.

The fourth-placed site was Wikipedia, a controversial online encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to and edit. Its open nature has stirred debate about its accuracy.

Also growing in popularity were Apple's music store iTunes, Sky News, computer game World of Warcraft, pop-punk band Green Day and painter Leonardo da Vinci - thanks to his appearance in the best-selling book The Da Vinci Code.

A section of the Google search engine - Froogle - which allows people to compare prices of goods sold online demonstrates the continuing popularity of the iPod music player. Half the top 10 searches related to the device, with digital cameras and computer game consoles also ranking highly.

Web-ranking service Alexa lists Google as the third most popular site on the internet. Ten local Google variants are in the top 100, with the Australian site the 86th most popular site.

WHAT PUSHED OUR BUTTONS IN 2005
FASTEST MOVERS
The searches that had the most increased interest
1. Myspace (online community)
2. Ares (file-sharing network)
3. Baidu (Chinese search engine)
4. Wikipedia (online encyclopedia)
5. orkut (online community)
6. iTunes (music program and store)
7. Sky News (British-based 24-hour TV news station)
8. World of Warcraft (online role- playing game )
9. Green Day (US pop-punk band)
10. Leonardo da Vinci (Renaissance painter and inventor)

TOP NEWS SEARCHES
1. Janet Jackson — rumours of secret daughter
2. Hurricane Katrina — US storm
3. Tsunami — Asian disaster
4. Xbox 360 — video game console
5. Brad Pitt — relationship with Angelina Jolie
6. Michael Jackson — molestation trial
7. American Idol — US talent show
8. Britney Spears — pregnancy and birth
9. Angelina Jolie — relationship with Brad Pitt
10. Harry Potter — release of new book and film

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