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Hot off the presses from Nielson, it's the 2006 Most Popular Awards — and this time, there are no consolation prizes (nice try, You). The big winner: American Idol, in multiple categories on multiple nights, with a nod to #3-selling artist Carrie Underwood as well. Also Pirates of the Caribbean, An Inconvenient Truth, Cars, and James Patterson, with a whopping four books on the Fiction hardcover list. Impressive. And, Atoosa may be on to something: High School Musical topped the charts as top album (message: You can play basketball, be on the science team AND star in the school play! And also, it's okay for boys to bake), and Justin Timberlake did well across the board with one of the top albums, downloads and ringtones (message: Sexy was gone, but he brought it back; and also, there's something special for you in that box) . In other news, Shakira's hips don't lie, and neither do the Nielson numbers. In no particular order, here are some of the top categories:
Top 10 Regularly Scheduled TV Programs
Rank/Program, Rating (% of Nielson homes)
1 - AMERICAN IDOL - TUESDAY FOX (17.7)
2 - AMERICAN IDOL -WEDNESDAY FOX (17.2)
3 - DANCING WITH THE STARS ABC (12.7)
4 - CSI CBS (12.0)
5 - DANCING W/STARS RESULTS ABC (11.4)
6 - NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL NBC (11.1)
7 - CSI: MIAMI CBS (10.3)
8 - DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ABC (10.2)
9 - HOUSE FOX (10.0)
10 - DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON NBC (9.8)
10 - WITHOUT A TRACE CBS (9.8)
Source: Nielsen Media Research. Note: Data from Dec 26, 2005 - Dec 17, 2006. Household Ratings include Live and Same Day timeshifted viewing.
No real surprises here: America obviously loves singing, dancing, serial killers and cranky doctors. but don't let Jeff Zucker tell you scripted shows are dinosaurs, it' s only the crappy scripted shows. And even if NBC forgets about Joey and Coupling, Jeff, we remember.
Also, here is the second-most surprising list of the batch: A list where the number-one show is "Studio 60." And it's not even the list of Top Ten Super-Earnest Self-Referential Sanctimonious Television Shows Written By People Who Obviously Consider Themselves Creative Geniuses! Though we'd give them that one, too. It's this one:
Top 10 "Timeshifted" Primetime TV Programs - 2006
Rank/Program, % Increase in Viewership
1 - STUDIO 60 - NBC 10.9
2 - HEROES - NBC 9.1
3 - GILMORE GIRLS - CW 7.9
4 - AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL - CW 7.7
5 - 30 ROCK - NBC 7.5
5 - FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS - NBC 7.5
7 - THE NINE - ABC 6.7
7 - SUPERNATURAL - CW 6.7
9 - KIDNAPPED - NBC 6.6
9 - ONE TREE HILL - CW 6.6
9 - SMALLVILLE - CW 6.6Source: Nielsen Media Research. Note: Data from Dec 26, 2005 - Dec 3, 2006. Percent Increase in viewership is based on difference between Live Household Ratings and Live+7.
The most surprising list, as Radar already pointed out, was this one:
Top 10 Cited Wikipedia Entries - 20061 Web 2.0
2 Steve Irvin
3 Mark Foley Scandal
4 Blog
5 Ajax
6 World War II
7 Snakes on a Plane
8 Meme
9 Wiki
10 RSSSource: Nielsen BuzzMetrics. Note: Data from Jan 1 - Dec 10, 2006
I don't even know how to decode this. Ajax? Apparently, the internets are abuzz with secondary characters from Greek mythology, or really feel strongly about leaving their toilet bowls sparkling. Nick: Ajax is a development technique named last year that makes pages like Google Maps all Web 2.0-ish, but I sure as hell wish people were looking for the legendary king of Salamis. Also, sort of meta that one of the top wikis is "wiki."
Source: Nielsen BuzzMetrics. Note: Data from Jan 1 - Dec 10, 2006
More results below, including proof that Yahoo! topped something this year.
Here are the top movies - note that "Talladega Nights" is in there, but not "Borat." Also, recall that "Pirates of the Caribbean" was one of Nina Jacobson's films, whom Disney ousted in July. Yeah, she clearly didn't know what she was doing.
Top 10 Box Office - All Theatrical - 2006
Rank/Title - Cumulative Total US $
1 - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - $423,315,812
2 - Cars - $244,082,982
3 - X-Men: The Last Stand - $234,362,462
4 - The Da Vinci Code - $217,536,138
5 - Superman Returns - $200,081,192
6 - Ice Age: The Meltdown - $195,330,621
7 - Over the Hedge - $155,019,340
8 - Happy Feet - $149,244,791
9 - Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby - $148,213,377
10 - Casino Royale - $137,501,384
Source: Nielsen EDI. Note: Data from Jan 1 - Dec 17, 2006, US and Canada Only
Al Gore is so getting an Oscar:
Top 10 Box Office - Documentaries - 2006
1 - An Inconvenient Truth - $23,814,997
2 - Deep Sea 3-D - $21,586,668
3 - Dave Chappelle's Block Party - $11,718,595
4 - Roving Mars - $5,342,643 - 1/27/2006
5 - Wordplay - $3,119,555 - 6/16/2006
6 - Neil Young: Heart of Gold - $1,828,069 - 2/10/2006
7 - Who Killed The Electric Car - $1,678,874 - 6/28/2006
8 - Why We Fight - $1,439,972 - 1/20/2006
9 - The U.S. vs John Lennon - $1,109,146 - 9/15/2006
10 - Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man - $1,044,254 - 6/21/2006
Source: Nielsen EDI. Note: Data from Jan 1 - Dec 17, 2006, US and Canada Only
Top Single Telecasts: Football, Football, Football and...McDreamy? "Grey's Anatomy" sneaks into the big leagues here, bigger than "CSI" or "Desperate Housewives" or any of the top-ranked shows.
Top 10 TV Programs - Single Telecasts - 2006
Rank - Telecast - Network - Date Aired - % of Homes in U.S. (Rating)
1 - SUPER BOWL XL - ABC - 2/5/2006 - 41.6
2 - SUPER BOWL POST GAME - ABC - 2/5/2006 - 29.0
3 - ACADEMY AWARDS - ABC - 3/5/2006 - 23.1
4 - ROSE BOWL - ABC - 1/4/2006 - 21.7
5 - GREY'S ANATOMY - ABC - 2/5/2006 - 21.0
6 - FOX NFC CHAMPIONSHIP - FOX - 1/22/2006 - 20.8
7 - AMERICAN IDOL-WED - FOX - 5/24/2006 - 20.5
8 - AMERICAN IDOL-TUES -FOX - 1/24/2006 - 19.6
9 - AMERICAN IDOL-TUES - FOX - 1/17/2006 - 19.3
10 - AMERICAN IDOL-TUES - FOX - 3/21/2006 - 19.2
Source: Nielsen Media Research. Note: Data from Dec 26, 2005 - Dec 17, 2006. Household Ratings include Live and Same Day timeshifted viewing. Excludes telecasts under 5 minutes.
How, exactly, did Yahoo! screw things up so badly? And Craig, honey, there's gotta be somewhere you can put an ad.
Top 10 Web Brands - 2006
Rank/Brand - Total Web Page Views (Rounded to Billion)
1 - Yahoo! - 354.5
2 - MySpace - 250.7
3 - Google - 147.7
4 - eBay - 143.4
5 - MSN/Windows Live - 141.2
6 - AOL - 73.1
7 - Craigslist - 27.1
8 - Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network - 24.7
9 - Comcast - 23.5
10 - Microsoft - 23.2
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings. Note: Data from January 1 - Nov 30, 2006; U.S. Home and Work
