Janet named as surprise hit on Google News

THE year 2005 may have been dominated by devastating natural disasters, but internet users were more interested in the private life of a 39-year-old pop star.

Incredibly, Janet Jackson was the most-searched term on internet search engine Google News - ahead of Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami.

She was even way out ahead of her brother Michael Jackson, who was cleared of child sex-abuse charges in June.

As a massively successful artist, Janet Jackson has a large fan base, but her position at the top of the Google list raised some eyebrows.

Her overwhelming popularity in cyberspace this year would appear to be connected to a series of events which began with her infamous “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Superbowl, during which her right breast was exposed to the entire world on live television.

This year, a 40-second paparazzi video began circulating on the internet which showed the star sunbathing naked.

There was more controversy when her former brother-in-law, Young DeBarge, claimed the singer had an 18-year-old “secret” daughter with her first husband, James DeBarge.

The star said the claim was false but it led to millions of hits on news websites.