Web Users Indicate Xbox Will be Hotter Than Game Cube This Holiday Season; Musicians Shakira and System of a Down are Ones to Watch.

Business/Technology Editors

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 2001

THE LYCOS 50(TM) For Week Ending October 27, 2001

Terra Lycos (NASDAQ: TRLY), the largest global Internet network, today announced the following information from The Lycos 50(TM), the 50 most popular user searches for the week ending October 27, 2001. For a complete list of The Lycos 50(TM) and for in-depth text of The Lycos 50 Daily Report, go to http://50.lycos.com.

  The Lycos 50(TM) Top 10 Search Terms for the Week Ending October 27, 2001:  1) Halloween                    6) Pumpkins 2) Osama bin Laden              7) Pokemon 3) Dragonball                   8) NFL 4) Costumes                     9) Morpheus 5) Anthrax                     10) Britney Spears 

Notes of Interest:

If Web searches are any indication then Microsoft's long awaited video game console, Xbox (#29) will be the hottest gift this holiday season. Xbox search queries currently out number searches for Nintendo's Game Cube, still shy of getting enough hits to make The Lycos 50. Xbox also jumped past Playstation 2 (#39) this week for the first time. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden (#2) searches were up 40 percent, but not enough to topple Halloween from the number one spot. Web users appear to be tiring of the terrorist topics with searches for Anthrax (#5) dropping this week, down 40 percent while Cipro fell off The Lycos 50 as search requests dropped 66 percent. Additionally, searches for The World Trade Center (#14) dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since Sept. 11.

Musicians to Watch:

Although they have yet to make The Lycos 50, musicians making a big splash with Web users include the Los Angeles-based art-metal quartet System of a Down (#65) and Latin pop star Shakira (#59). For the last few weeks, System of a Down has received more searches than currently dormant Lycos 50 mainstays like Limp Bizkit and Korn. This week they stand as the number fifth most-searched rock band, riding a wave of interest based on their new album Toxicity and their single "Chop Suey," the video currently running on MTV. Meanwhile, two years ago, The Lycos 50 predicted 22-year-old Latin American pop star Shakira Mebarak, would be one to watch. Judging from Web user searches Shakira is now heating up in the U.S. Shakira is finally making her big Ricky Martin-like move into the English-speaking market. Her first English album, Laundry Service, hits stores November 13 and her new single "Whenever, Wherever" is an MTV buzzworthy video. Shakira's popularity has been gradually growing since August, with search traffic jumping by about 50 percent over the past two weeks. Last week, Shakira got more searches than both Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera.

Other Notes of Interest:

Once again, it turns out Marijuana (# 15) appears to be autumn's hottest leaf. In the last three weeks, marijuana has jumped from number 45 to number 28, landing at number 15 on the list confirming The Lycos 50 theory that marijuana searches do go up during the school year.

About Terra Lycos

Terra Lycos is a global Internet network operating in 43 countries in 20 languages, reaching 103 million unique monthly visitors worldwide. Created by the combination Terra Networks, S.A. and Lycos, Inc., in October 2000, Terra Lycos is one of the most popular Internet networks in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America, and is the largest Internet access provider in Spain and Latin America. The Terra Lycos network of sites includes Lycos.com, Terra.com, Angelfire.com, ATuHora.com, Gamesville.com, HotBot.com, Invertia.com, Lycos Zone, Matchmaker.com, Quote.com, Rumbo.com, Sonique, Tripod.com, RagingBull.com and Wired News (Wired.com). The company's headquarters are in Barcelona and it has major offices in Boston, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Miami, Monterrey and Sao Paulo among others. It is listed on the Madrid stock exchange (TRR) and on the Nasdaq electronic market (TRLY). For more information, please visit our corporate Web site at http://www.terralycos.com.

(c)2001 Lycos, Inc. Lycos(R)is a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon. All other product or service marks mentioned herein are those of Terra Networks, S.A., Lycos, Inc. or their respective owners. All rights reserved.