The online archives -- dating back to the 11th century and home of the national census -- eclipsed the competition in its field, attracting almost 40% of visitors to sites in the top 10. Most of the traffic was generated by the rush to examine the 1901 census which was uploaded on January 1. The popularity of the site was much more than the Public Record Office had anticipated and crashed the servers on its first few days.
Multimap.com, the UK's leading travel site, came second with a 24.6% share, followed by UK Street Map with just under 10%. The Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS) edged The Open University into fifth position.
Other sites to feature in the top 10 were the government-run concerns UK National Statistics, Department for Education and Skill UK, and Department for Education's Standards Site.
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