Spears bests Hilton on eBay in 2007
Derrik J. Lang

NEW YORK—EBay users wanted more of Britney Spears than Paris Hilton this year. The number of Spears-related items sold at the online auction site totaled 34,345, compared with 27,377 items associated with Hilton, eBay said this week.
Items associated with Spears ranged from signed CDs to disposable lighters featuring her likeness. Among the Hilton-related items sold: a toothbrush claimed to have been found in the hotel heiress’ trash. Fragrances were the most popular product category sold for Spears and Hilton.
Both fared better than Lindsay Lohan. Her name was only associated with 8,099 items sold, according to eBay. However, the three tabloid staples were all outslugged by Barry Bonds, who was pegged to 145,497 related items, including a grilled-cheese sandwich, which netted a winning bid of $30. The seller claimed Bonds’ 756th home-run ball bounced off the sandwich in San Francisco’s AT&T Park.
Among the searches for movie franchise-themed merchandise, “Transformers” crushed “Harry Potter” with 442,342 related items sold compared with the boy wizard’s 344,825 related baubles. Not surprisingly, wares in the action-figure category made up 71 percent of sales associated with the robots in disguise. The data, released by eBay to The Associated Press, is based on specific entertainment-related searches of items sold on the U.S. eBay site from Jan. 1 to Nov. 19 that included key terms in the listing title across all product categories.
eBay said it didn’t track how much money these items attracted. Meanwhile, Britney Spears fascinated people in 2007 with the disgraced pop princess heading a list of the top 10 searches on Yahoo Inc. Spears, a former Disney Mouseketeer who turned 26 on Sunday, continued to draw attention as she shaved her head, attacked a photographer’s car with an umbrella, went to rehab, fought with ex-husband Kevin Federline over the custody of their two sons, and released her first album in four years.