Google's Blogger is home to some eight million blogs, more than any other hosting service, reports MarketWatch, citing research from Perseus Development Corp., a web-based survey firm. In second place is LiveJournal.com, with about 6.6 million accounts.

Xanga.com rounds out the top-three list. The "primary challenger" spot, based in part on high momentum, goes to MSN Spaces, launched in December.

The number of blogs created on hosting services is expected to grow to 53.4 million by the end of the year, from the nearly 32 million currently. The Perseus research was based on a survey of 10,000 blogs.