The decapitation of American Nick Berg and the Iraq war have replaced pornography and pop stars as the main Internet searches, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The Terra Lycos group said that "Nick Berg", "War in Iraq" and "Muntada al-Ansar", a militant Islamic group, were the top three searches made in the week to May 15.
"War in Iraq" became the most sought topic the previous week after the release of images of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops, knocking American celebrity Paris Hilton off the top spot.
Hilton and pop star Britney Spears had dominated the web search rankings for months.
But Berg, a 26-year-old US contractor who was abducted in Iraq, has taken over since images of his decapitation were put on a website, run by the militant Islamic group Muntada al-Ansar, last week.
Terra Lycos said that in the 48 hours following news of the execution, the most popular search requests included "Nick Berg video", "Nick Berg beheading", "Nick Berg execution", "Nick Berg beheading video" and "Nick Berg decapitation video".
"Nick Berg-related searches are so prevalent that they dwarf all other searches, including the consistent pop-culture leaders.
"Over the past week, Nick Berg searches were 24 times higher than Britney Spears (number 4), Paris Hilton (number 6), and US pop singer Clay Aiken (number 5).
{{/usCountry}}"Over the past week, Nick Berg searches were 24 times higher than Britney Spears (number 4), Paris Hilton (number 6), and US pop singer Clay Aiken (number 5).
{{/usCountry}}Top 10 internet searches in the week ending May 15, as released by Terra Lycos internet group: 1. Nick Berg, 2. War in Iraq, 3. Muntada al-Ansar, 4. Britney Spears, 5. Clay Aiken, 6. Paris Hilton, 7. al-Qaeda, 8. Kazaa, 9. Al Jazeera, 10. Survivor.