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width="1" height="1" //divpBarack Obama's epochal victory in the US presidential election may have
transfixed and gladdened the world but the British public, it seems, is more preoccupied with the
life and times of another American colossus - a 26-year-old singer by the name of Britney Jean
Spears./ppDespite, or perhaps because, she has endured yet another turbulent year, Spears has
topped a list of the UK's 10 most searched-for subjects on Yahoo./ppThe huge appetite for
information on Big Brother and The X Factor pushed them into second and third place on the search
list, while the US election had to make do with the seventh spot, sandwiched between High School
Musical 3 and Amy Winehouse. Oasis, who released their seventh studio album, Dig Out Your Soul,
last month, came in at number four. Kate Moss, whom the sculptor Marc Quinn immortalised in a
pound;1.5m gold statue displayed in the British Museum, claimed ninth place, just ahead of
EastEnders./ppAlso on the most-searched list was Heath Ledger, who died in New York in January. The
Australian star of the latest Batman film was placed eighth. His performance as the psychopathic
Joker in The Dark Knight generated speculation that he may win a posthumous Oscar next year./ppA
spokesman for Yahoo Europe said: "It is fascinating to look back over the last year and see the
stories, personalities and subjects that have captured our imagination ... some of which continue
to be the hot topics of today."/ppSpears has crammed a remarkable amount into the past 12 months.
As well as facing trial for driving without a valid Californian licence, having her father granted
indefinite control of her assets and spending two days in a psychiatric ward, the singer has
managed to confound many by launching a comeback. /ppLast week she was named best international pop
star at an awards ceremony in Germany. On Saturday, the singer made her first UK television
appearance for four years when she sang her new single, Womanizer, on The X Factor. Her performance
brought in the highest ratings for the show, attracting a peak of 12.8 million viewers. Today sees
the launch of her sixth studio album, Circus./pp"I've been through a lot and there's a lot that
people don't know," she told MTV this year. "I look back and [think]: 'I'm a smart person. What the
hell was I thinking?'"/ppDespite her impressive showing in the list, however, Spears' new record
has not captivated all the critics. "Circus isn't bad as pop albums go," wrote the Guardian's
Alexis Petridis. "But ... it's less edgy and exciting than its predecessor."/pdiv style="float:
left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internet"Internet/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/yahoo"Yahoo/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/britneyspears"Britney Spears/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/barackobama"Barack Obama/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/bigbrother"Big Brother/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/realitytv"Reality TV/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/television"Television/a/lilia
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa"United States/a/li/ul/diva
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