Celebrity News:

Imagine being searched for online by millions of people millions of times ... You can bet celebrities (and the folks who manage them) know exactly where they stand in what may be America's ultimate popularity contest -- Online Search Rankings. Here's a list of the TOP 2007 CELEBRITY SEARCHES ON AOL IN 2007 ... You may be surprised by the people we couldn't get enough of & seemed to want to learn more about ...

Topping the list ... Britney Spears takes the title as the most searched celebrity and most searched person overall on AOL in 2007. Britney also took the Search title in 2001, 2002 and 2004. The paparazzi swarmed all over Brit' with leading gossip site TMZ.com leading the way in what seemed like a daily play-by-play. The site currently has over 900 archived postings about Britney. A quick glance at just a few of the headlines and it's easy to tell what kind of year she had:

Britney Runs Over Another Photographer!, Britney Terrorizes the Road ... Again!, Brit and K-Fed -- New War Erupts. But Brit's biggest blunder of 2007 came during the VMA Awards in what was supposed to be a big comeback performance.

But, there's no shortage of fans rooting for Britney. Most notably Chris Crocker of "Leave Britney Alone" fame. And, on a serious note given we're talking about an actual human being with two young children, Dr Phil & Dr Drew Pinsky have offered to lend their expertise. Personally, I wish this for her.

Also high on the list of top searched celebs, the late Anna Nicole Smith. Searches spiked nearly 3000% when she was found unresponsive in a Hollywood, Florida hotel room on February 8, 2007. The mystery surrounding her death and the ensuing custody battle over her daughter Dannielynn, had Web surfers captivated for months. We covered the story for CNN Headline News & I'll never forget how sad it felt to see her website updated with the end-date of her life. She was merely 39.

Then there are those celebrities who seem to be famous for being famous. We'll call them "Accidental Celebrities," though on their part think is sometimes totally intentional. Former friend of Paris Hilton, all-around socialite and TV reality star Kim Kardashian, led the pack as the most searched for "Accidental Celebrity." A reality show on E!, a spread in Playboy, a sex tape leaked online ... it seems Kim K. had the right recipe for causing serious search spikes in cyberspace. I caught the show over the holidays with my sister. We both couldn't believe what we were seeing. Here's hoping Kim and her sisters don't do anything too extreme to stay on this list.

Another top searched accidental celeb in '07 was Shyamali Malakar, sister of Sanjaya from American Idol fame. Even as an Idol reject, Shyamali was a big hit online ... A fan even launched the site sanjayassister.com to track her every move. And she had a 15 sec. viral video hit on YouTube viewed nearly 1 million times. Wonder if she ever gave up her day job (see picture below) ... Am thinking if you want to rise up on the Hot Search list having a picture of yourself in a Hooters tank top, is probably a good move ...

Then there was Larry Birkhead, Anna Nicole's ex-boyfriend and winner of the Dannielynn sweepstakes. MSNBC recently referred to Birkhead as the millenium's Kato Kaelin ... Interesting analogy. As for Barbra Walters' "10 Most Fascinating People of 2007," he failed to make the cut.