Web surfers ogle La Lopez

Pop princess Britney Spears has been ousted as the most searched-for female on the internet, but the top ten is still dominated by singers and tennis players.

Latin divas Jennifer Lopez and Shakira have taken the throne as the most searched-for stars, in positions one and three respectively. Britney has been knocked back to fourth place while singer-pianist Alicia Keys has stormed into second place. Previous favourite Anna Kournikova has slipped down to fifth.

According to search engine Ask Jeeves, which released the figures, there has been a 128-per-cent increase in picture searches for Shakira and J-Lo over the last six months.

As for the men, England captain David Beckham is still number one, while Robbie Williams is only just managing to hold off Will Young from second place.

Nick Pearson, from Ask Jeeves UK, said: "Picture searches on the web have increased hugely recently and we are getting a real sense of who's hot and who's not on the celebrity circuit."

He said that according to the questions people ask, it is easy to chart the rise to fame of the new stars of recent months as well as how quickly their careers will fade into oblivion.