Beyoncé just lost out on a major distinction, but the Beyhive probably won't take anyone to task over this loss. According to Billboard, McAfee named aughties pop stalwart Avril Lavigne the internet's most dangerous celebrity.
The cybersecurity company analyzed celebrities and their respective search results to see which ones would pull up the most infected sites. Looking at viruses and malware, Lavigne's search results on Google, Bing, and Yahoo had a 14.5% chance of coming with unwanted online stowaways. Beyoncé has the honor of No. 10 on the list, but somehow, she and a slew of other notable celebrities were bested by an artist that hasn't released any new material since 2013. If users add "free mp3s" to Lavigne's name in the search bar, the likelihood of malware popping up in the results rises to 22%.
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Billboard reports that a few factors could have led to Lavigne's conquest of this particular ranking. E! ran a feature on the singer and the internet was obsessed with a conspiracy theory that proposed Lavigne had actually passed away and was replaced by an imposter. Plus, she announced that new music was on the way, which could have given her a spike in searches. The last time she was on the list, in 2013, she ranked as second most dangerous.
McAfee has been ranking celebrities for over a decade, hoping that the list illuminates the dangers of malware and suspicious links for users all over the world. Other celebrities on this year's most dangerous list include predictable names like Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, and Katy Perry, but also some unexpected ones, such as Carly Rae Jepsen, Céline Dion, and Diddy.
Lavigne is the first female musician to top the list. Last year, comedian Amy Schumer took home the honor and in 2015, DJ Armin Van Buuren took the top spot.
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