Britney Spears: More Interesting than Barack Obama?

— -- Just when you thought she had disappeared into relative obscurity, Britney Spears is back. On Yahoo's recently-released list of the top 10 searches of 2008, Britney Spears takes the cake. In this election year, Spears managed to beat out president-elect Barack Obama, who came in at number 3, as the most sought-after search topic of the past year.

Yet another institution I had believed to have past its prime, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), landed the number two spot on the list, followed by a series of female entertainers and the online game "RuneScape," which nabbed the number five slot.

The complete list:

1. Britney Spears

2. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)

3. Barack Obama

4. Miley Cyrus

5. "RuneScape"

6. Jessica Alba

7. "Naruto"

8. Lindsay Lohan

9. Angelina Jolie

10. American Idol

The top 10 political searches this year were a little more predictable, with Obama nailing the number one spot and Sarah Palin (the Britney of politics) sliding into number two. McCain rested at number three; Hillary Clinton took number four; and our current president rounded out the top five.

Google has yet to release its 2008 list of top searches, but keep an eye out for its end-of-year results on the off-chance that the next leader of the most powerful nation in the world bests a pop star.