1: Madeleine McCann: A British child’s mysterious disappearance from a Portuguese holiday resort was one of the biggest stories of the year, and prompted 72,504 searches from people looking for new information.

2: Anna Nicole Smith: The self-inflicted travails and untimely death of the notorious Playboy model and television personality brought 23,912 searches on the site.

3: Airbus: A combination of business users and mile-high enthusiasts searched for airbus 20,202 times.

4: American Idol : Reflecting Times Online’s global reach, as well as the catholic interests of our readers, we had 13,536 searches for American Idol news.

5: China : A combination of our China special, business interest in the fastest-growing market worldwide, and curiosity about the world’s premier source of quirky news stories gives China a solid fifth position with 13,353 searches.

6: Spice Girls Reunion: The comeback tour by the quintessential 90s pop act engendered a respectable 12,133 searches, principally from gentlemen of a certain age.

7: Kate Middleton: Prince William’s special friend elicited 11,765 clicks from optimistic readers hoping perhaps for a happy announcement. By contrast Prince William managed fewer than 8,000.

8: Fopp : The demise of the much-loved music and books retailer brought 11,481 mournful shoppers to the site hoping for news of its resurrection.

9: Global Warming: 2007 was the year when we all stopped arguing about whether it was happening and we started arguing about what we were going to do about it. 9,792 people came to us for a solution.

10: Afghanistan: Six years after Operation Enduring Freedom began, US and UK troops are still enmired in bloody conflict with Afghan insurgents. 9,245 people came looking for news on this half-forgotten war.

11: Iraq: The other war we all thought was over still claims lives in its fourth year. There were 9,143 searches for light at the end of the tunnel.

12: Royal Ascot 2007: With Royal Enclosure passes available to anyone for purchase for the first time, this once-exclusive horse-racing event was big news. 8,421 people looked for stories from the three-centuries-old event.

13: Turkey: Students of Kurdish culture, sports fans and cookery enthusiasts used this search term 8,146 times between them over the last 12 months.

14: Prince William: Our future monarch warranted 7,931 searches from loyal subjects-to-be (and a sprinkling of enthusiasts from the colonies no doubt).

15: Scottish Election : The much-maligned May ballot piqued the interest of 7,307 inquisitive readers,

16: Inflation Rates: In the year of the Credit Crunch, and with the threat of imminent global recession, 7,289 readers were looking for some answers.

17: ICI: A mooted foreign takeover of the venerable Imperial Chemical Industries corporation sparked 7,213 searches.

18: Kent Tremor: A very British earthquake in April of this year, with one person slightly injured but a degree of property damage which had us all concerned about house prices. 7,131

19: India: The anniversary of independence and a Times Online special had 6,848 readers looking for news from the subcontinent.

20: Meredith Kercher : The brutal sex murder of a British student was one of the biggest stories of the year, and 6,844 people have looked for information on our site since the case broke in early November.

Back to Top 10 News stories of 2007 from Times Online