Star spotting
Pop star and X Factor Judge Cheryl Cole is the most searched-for celebrity by Brits according to a new survey by Hitwise.
The firm monitors over 50 million search terms every month in the UK, which reportedly include an ‘astonishing' amount of searches that are celebrity-related.
Due to the nation's voracious appetite for celebrity gossip, Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise UK, said: "The question of who is the most popular celebrity online is a difficult one to answer."
The results vary from week-to-week depending on who is dominating the gossip columns, perhaps confirming the old adage that all publicity is good publicity.
For instance, Goad said Wayne Rooney was the most searched-for celeb on the web last week after his contract wrangling with Manchester United was splashed all over the tabloids. However just a day afterwards, X Factor contestant Cher Lloyd was the most searched-for personality on the net.
Yet according to Hitwise, Cheryl Cole was the most consistently searched-for celebrity by Brits in the past 12 weeks. Hitwise found 1 in every 5,000 of search clicks in the time frame was for Cheryl, while consumer champion Martin Lewis (and former most-searched for personality) came in second, with pop star Katy Perry in third.
Interestingly, singers were the most popular group of celebs searched for by a long-shot and of the top 100 ranked celebrities, over a third of them were singers, while Robert Pattinson was the most searched-for actor.
Here is a table of the most-searched for celebs by occupation.
