In an article for EContent Magazine in late 2003, I wrote:

If you google “XML,” you do get a stunning 20.5 million hits, which is about four times as many as “Britney,” but—sensibly—half as many as “God.” So I guess XML falls short of omniscience. Still, the prevalence of XML has led to its being a too-ready answer to seemingly every question about information technology in general and content management in particular. The assumption seems to be that, no matter the requirement or problem, XML is the answer.

Updating those searches for today’s results on Google, I get 119 million hits for XML, which is now about six times as many as “Britney,” and now only 10 million fewer than “God.”