Looking at the top search terms on seattletimes.com is a tricky exercise. Here's why: If the website is successfully designed, people should easily be able to find the big news stories via the navigation bar or simply by scanning the homepage. We think that's why things like "BP oil spill" and "Haiti earthquake" didn't show up on the list.

Nonetheless, the top 10 list of top-searched-for news stories is interesting. In particular, we have no idea why IBM shows up at No. 1 -- there doesn't seem to have been any big IBM news in 2010. If you know why this may be, please tell us in the comments! Here's the list:

1. IBM
2. Boeing 787
3. Darren Berg
4. Marijuana
5. Patty Murray
6. Immigration
7. Amanda Knox
8. Mastro
9. Suicide
10. Starbucks

After the jump: Most-popular searches on Yahoo! and Google ....

Here are the top searches on Yahoo! for 2010:

1. BP oil spill
2. World Cup
3. Miley Cyrus
4. Kim Kardashian
5. Lady Gaga
6. iPhone
7. Megan Fox
8. Justin Bieber
9. American Idol
10. Britney Spears

Google has created something called "Zeitgeist 2010: How the world searched".

Although they don't have a list of the top search terms per se, they do have a United States-specific list they call "Fastest Rising Queries":

1. iPad
2. Chatroulette
3. iPhone4
4. World Cup
5. Justin Bieber
6. Myxer
7. Facebook
8. Grooveshark
9. Glee
10. Mocospace