the buzz log
Michael Phelps, Poster Boy
There are many ways to gauge popularity. Here's a new one: posters. Taped to bedroom walls, tacked over college desks, and pinned to the walls of first apartments, these oversized sheets of glossy paper chart some of the most gaped-at and sought-after celebrities of our time.
Judging by yesterday's most popular "posters" searches, you can expect to see America's favorite swimmer scowling from dorm rooms this year. Michael Phelps dominates the top lookups for the rectangular prints. Intriguingly, Phelps' record-breaking performance in Beijing drew Mark Spitz along in his wake. The '70s-era medalist rose from obscurity to the #2 slot for the most popular posters with online shoppers. Mark the Shark, back in the pin-up game.
Read on for the other notables who sparked postermania yesterday...
Some notes...
–Olympic swimmers rule. Besides Phelps and Spitz, Amanda Beard, Dara Torres, and Ryan Lochte plunged into the poster top 10. The only land athlete to crack yesterday's top 20 was gymnast Shawn Johnson.
–Who the heck is Rev. Jay? This self-defined "spiritual humorist" preaches his own brand of religion.
–When it comes to long-term poster popularity, our hats are off to Bob Marley and Farrah Fawcett. These two are the reigning champs of wall decoration. Note that when it comes to the Charlie's Angel, searchers seek "farrah fawcett poster" in the singular. There is only one.
Filed under: Celebrities, Olympics
Baby Boomer Birthday Bump
The latest mid-century trend? Mid-century birthdays.
Ever since the first one popped out in 1946, Baby Boomers have been steering American culture. The group just become eligible for Social Security checks, but there's even a bigger Baby Boom hump coming:
- Of the generation born 1946-1963, Census figures show the last leg (45-49 year olds) is—at 7.6%—also its biggest subgroup.
- They also tie with the 40-44 year olds as the biggest subgroup among Americans of all ages.
In other words, expect a lot of invitations to the big 5-0 over the next few years. Celebrants have been planning for the massive undertaking by looking up "50th birthday," “50th birthday party ideas,” and “50th birthday gifts." All these terms are seeing their highest numbers yet in Search.
For those planning to maintain the lie about your age... why bother when so many celebrities are openly cruising towards 50? Madonna will be next one to approach her fifth decade on Aug. 16. Michael Jackson will doubtless be in some easily penetrable disguise come Aug. 29. Well, no one said you had to age with dignity. Wait, yes we have...
Filed under: Celebrities, Birthdays, Parties
July 2008 Buzz Roundup
July is supposed to be about barbecues, vacations, and leisure. Instead, high gas prices meant people were stuck at home (if they weren't foreclosed, that is), focusing on money savings, dark knights, and celebrity babies. Here are a few items that blew through Search this month.
Tossing Oil and Money into the Wind
So for an 80-year-old guy, oilman T. Boone Pickens's windy talk about energy resources moved quickly (+67,360%) up the Search charts. His Pickens Plan aims to wean America off foreign oil, and suckle on domestic crude and wind instead.Change may or may not be in the air, but energy costs and the overall economy plagued July searches. We logged spikes on everything from "energy savings" and "how high will gas prices climb" to "fdic insurance" and "credit card debt consolidation." Will Pickens be a dark knight or the joker? Stay tuned.
Baby Boom
History will mark these moments: tea-party independence, men on the moon, and the twins of actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The paparazzi-fueled saga dragged out the gestation period to soap opera lengths, but Jolie finally delivered, literally, fraternal twins (as per the latest celebrity trend).The double coming resulted in a Jolie family reunion and a huge charity benefit, which rumors so far point to People magazine as the main $10-$15 mil contributor. While the Jolie-Pitt offspring overshadowed newborns from Nicole Kidman/Keith Urban and Matthew McConaughey/Camila Alves, searches went on overload for baby photos of Thomas "Pregnant Man" Beatie's little girl. Price to publish photos of a medical miracle? A rumored steal of $300K.
Other searches that buzzed in July...
- Dame Diana Rigg (+17,157%), who immortalized Mrs. Peel in the 1960s British camp spy series, turned 70 this month.
- Space Agency NASA (+25%) marked its mid-century of existence. Just in time, Dr. Edgar Mitchell—man number six on the moon—said aliens indeed existed.
- Cancer claimed two well-known personalities this month: Carnegie-Mellon professor Randy Pausch's passing once again fueled searches for his lecture (see chart). Former journalist and White House press secretary Tony Snow lost to a second bout of colon cancer.
- As expected, "dark knight" cast its bat shadow, with Heath Ledger getting the last laugh as the Joker... and as "keith ledger," perhaps the most popular misspelling of the month.
Fastest Movers in July Searches
1. Thomas Beatie Baby Photos (+infinity). See above. 2. T. Boone Pickens (+67,360%). See above.
3. Daisy Lowe (35,881%). Supermodel dating producer Mark Ronson, brother to DJ Samantha Ronson who's linked to Lindsay Lohan. Get all that?
4. Abigail Adams. Wife of 2nd U.S. president John Adams, mom to number 6 John Quincy Adams, and subject of an HBO miniseries.
5. Riyo Mori (+22,139%). The outgoing Miss Universe gave up her crown to Miss Venezuela.
6. American Teen (+21,799%). The Sundance Festival documentary favorite keeps it real, and opens in some theaters this Friday.
7. William Sisters (+21,552%). Venus finally beat younger Serena in a Wimbledon match-up, and they teamed up to win doubles.
8. James Haven (+19,986%). See above.
9. Dara Torres Maxim. (19,923%). Aiming for Olympics number five, the gold medalist's element is water, but for fans it's glossy paper.
10. Randy Pausch, the Last Lecture Video (+19,748%). See above.
Filed under: NASA, Celebrities, Gas Prices, Space, Money, Babies, Wimbledon, Pageants, Wrap Up
Who Is That?
We're hardly the first to point this out, but it's something that deserves repeating: Fame ain't what it used to be. More and more often, talentless turkeys are getting famous just for being famous. Sure they may "sing" or "act," but really, who do they think they're kidding?
Not you, that's for sure. We've noticed what appears to be a growing trend in Search—lookups for "who is" followed by a name of a not-so-famous-but-wishing-they-were "celebrity." The list is as long and varied as it is hilarious. There are queries for "who is tila tequila" (answer: a reality show trainwreck), "who is kim kardashian" (another reality show trainwreck) and one of our personal favorites—"who is samantha ronson" (a Los Angeles deejay and rumored "partner" of Lindsay Lohan).
But as much as we wish the list consisted only of d-list hacks, there are a few legitimate names. For example, searches on "who is barack obama" seem pretty unnecessary to us, as do lookups on "who is nelson mandela." "Who is t. boone pickens" is more understandable, but come on, are there really people out there who need to ask "who is oprah winfrey"? Apparently so.
Below we break down the top 20 "who is" searches for the past week, complete with a handy answer key. If people have to ask who you are, you're probably not that famous...
| 1. | Who is T. Boone Pickens (Businessman) | 11. | Who is Samantha Ronson (Music DJ) | |
| 2. | Who is Tyler Perry (Filmmaker) | 12. | Who is Aristotle (Philosopher) | |
| 3. | Who is Tila Tequila (Reality TV Star) | 13. | Who is Phoebe Price (Actress) | |
| 4. | Who is Jane Austen (Author) | 14. | Who is David Gates. (Musician) | |
| 5. | Who is John Galt (Character in Atlas Shrugged) | 15. | Who is Nelson Mandela (Former President of South Africa) | |
| 6. | Who is Barack Obama (U.S. Presidential Candidate) | 16. | Who is Mike Jones (Rapper) | |
| 7. | Who is Ed Hardy (Artist) | 17. | Who is Minka Kelly (Actress) | |
| 8. | Who is Leon Czolgosz (Assassin of President McKinley) | 18. | Who is Val Emmich (Musician) | |
| 9. | Who is Kim Kardashian (Reality TV Star) | 19. | Who is Megan Fox (Actress) | |
| 10. | Who is Wendy Williams (Radio Host) | 20. | Who is Andy Dick (Comedian) |
Filed under: Celebrities
The Batman Family Album
Countless articles were written about "The Dark Knight"'s weekend at the box office. But amid the bat-mania we noticed something else lurking within the Buzz—a near across-the-board increase in lookups for actors from past Batman flicks.
The biggest jump belonged to Jack Nicholson who played the Joker in the 1989 film, “Batman.” Interest in the man with the sinister grin surged an impressive 461%. That jump was no doubt due to all the talk surrounding the late Heath Ledger’s performance in “The Dark Knight.” Folks love to compare and contrast badguys, which helps to explain the searches on “heath ledger joker vs. jack nicholson joker.”
Director Tim Burton also rocked the Search box. Lookups on the director of two of Batman’s films nearly doubled. Related lookups on “tim burton batman” and “tim burton filmography” also scaled the walls of Buzz.
Of all the previous caped crusaders, Val Kilmer experienced the biggest surge, up 56%. George Clooney, who played Batman in the 1997 disaster "Batman and Robin," rose a modest 21% while Michael Keaton, the original Bruce Wayne, "soared" a mere 14%. How soon they forget.
Still, even Mr. Keaton faired better than Tommy Lee Jones. Searches on the man who played Harvey "Two-Face" Dent in "Batman Forever" actually fell a few percentage points over the weekend. Did Aaron Eckhart's take on the twisted district attorney make folks forget about Tommy's over-the-top version? Anyone who caught a glimpse of Jones with fluorescent purple make-up knows that’s probably for the best.
Filed under: Movies, Celebrities, Batman
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kara Dioguardi | Breakout! |
| 2 | Brooke Mueller | Breakout! |
| 3 | Genie Francis | Breakout! |
| 4 | Goliath Grouper Fish | Breakout! |
| 5 | Hari Puttar | Breakout! |
| 6 | Tropical Storm Gustav | Breakout! |
| 7 | Mia Hamm | 33250% |
| 8 | Ellen Barkin | 26799% |
| 9 | Luciana Barroso | 20830% |
| 10 | Giant Squid | 16720% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amanda Peet | +542 | 549 |
| 2 | Dancing With The Stars | +304 | 327 |
| 3 | 2008 Olympics | -377 | 323 |
| 4 | Ellen Barkin | +273 | 274 |
| 5 | Luciana Barroso | +245 | 246 |
| 6 | Mia Hamm | +229 | 229 |
| 7 | Hi-5 | -17 | 219 |
| 8 | Jessica Biel | +160 | 198 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.