TORONTO - Even the King of Pop is no match for Canada's hockey obsession.

The National Hockey League is at the top of Yahoo! Canada's 2009 Buzz Index of Internet searches. Michael Jackson's unexpected death in June rocketed him back into the global spotlight, but he only made it to the number five spot on the overall list. RuneScape, a free multi-player online role-playing game and last year's number one, took the number two spot ahead of UFC and WWE.

Actress Megan Fox, "American Idol," NASCAR, the NBA and singing sensation Susan Boyle round out the top 10.

Conspicuously absent from this year's list is pop star Britney Spears.

After years of placing in the top 10, Spears seems to have sorted out her life and doesn't make this year's list.

Yahoo! Canada says in a statement that despite a year with persistent fears about the economy and swine flu, Canadians still managed to have a little fun as sports and entertainment topics dominated the top 10 most searched terms of 2009.

"Although sports and pop culture-related search terms always do well on the list, you could argue that interest in these topics is even higher during tougher economic times," says Derek Chezzi, managing editor of Yahoo! Canada.

Chezzi says Michael Jackson's memorial, although sad, was also a reminder of a lot of positive and hopeful times, and united people in a shared experience.

The index also reveals that "Twilight" was the top movie searched, "American Idol" was the top TV show, Michael Jackson was the top celebrity, swine flu was the top news story and Sidney Crosby was the most searched athlete.

The index is in its fifth year and explores the search habits of millions of Yahoo! Canada users, and provides insight into consumers' interests and emerging trends.