If you want to see exactly how much the death of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy has dominated web news, check out Google Trends’ Hot Trends list. The Christian Science Monitor’s Chris Gaylord did this morning and reports:

What are people searching for today? Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy.

With the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy yesterday, Google saw a huge surge in online searches about the longtime politician, his family, and key points in his life.

Gaylord lists the 25 most popular Google searches from earlier this morning. Here are the top 5:

1. ted kennedy
2. mary jo kopechne
3. chappaquiddick
4. mass lottery
5. ronnie spector

No, I don’t get the last one either. But as the morning has worn on, the list has evolved. As of 11 a.m., the new most-popular search was for Mike Barnicle — Kennedy-related to be sure (Barnicle’s a long-time Boston Globe columnist and Kennedy watcher), but No. 1? Weird. Again, though, the list is dominated by Kennedy-associated searches and will be for the rest of the day. Ronnie Spector, alas, has dropped to No. 52.