Barbie rules girls' wish-lists but boys go high-tech

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barbie has held onto her crown as queen of girls’ holiday wish lists for the fifth year but boys are going more high-tech, according to a poll of must-have toys.

The poll of 7,982 U.S. consumers by the company BIGresearch showed Barbie remained the most sought after toy for girls, with the rival Bratz dolls in second place, generic dolls in third place followed by Dora the Explorer and Disney Princess.

But for boys there was a bit of a shake-up in the annual list with last year’s favorite, TMX Elmo, losing out to Transformers, the autobots made popular by the movie of the same name.

Coming second on the boys' wish-list was video games overall and the top 10 also included two games consoles -- the Nintendo 7974.OS Wii and Microsoft's MSFT.O XBox 360.

The National Retail Federation, a retail trade association which commissioned the annual survey released on Thursday, said the best advice for parents was to shop early so they did not miss out on their children’s favorites.

“It’s always a race for parents to find the year’s sought after toys,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin in a statement.

Newcomers to the girls’ list this year were toys involving Disney singing star Hannah Montana, who is currently on a sold-out U.S. tour, and the popular Webkinz animals that come with a special code to give access to Webkinz World online.

Cars, Spider-Man and LEGOs also featured in the boys’ top 10 wish lists.

Following are this year’s top 10 holiday wish-lists:

GIRLS:

1. Barbie

2. Bratz

3. Dolls (generic)

4. Dora the Explorer

5. Disney Princess

6. Disney Hannah Montana

7. Nintendo Wii

8. Webkinz

9. Elmo

10. American Girl

BOYS

1. Transformers

2. Video Games

3. Nintendo Wii

4. Cars (generic)

5. Spider-Man

6. LEGOs

7. Thomas the Tank Engine

8. Xbox 360

9. Elmo

10. Remote Controlled Vehicles