Avril Lavigne is the most dangerous celebrity online

Doing an online search for Avril Lavigne is more likely to land your device with a virus than searching for any other celebrity.

That’s according to McAfee’s Most Dangerous Celebrity 2017 study, which ranked the relatively inactive pop singer in its top spot ahead of more relevant and trendy names, such as Beyonce and Justin Bieber.

Avril Lavigne has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, and is Canada’s second best-selling female artist of all time.

However, she hasn’t released an album in four years, which is a long time to the typical pop fan.

Last year’s top ten placed Amy Schumer in the number one spot, but the comedy actress didn’t even appear in 2017’s list.

Instead, this year’s list was made up exclusively of singers or people who found their fame in the pop world.

Bruno Mars ranked second, with Carly Rae Jepson in third, followed by Zayn Malik and Celine Dion. The list was completed with Calvin Harris, Justin Bieber, Diddy, Katy Perry and finally, Beyonce.

Searching for any of these named followed by ‘free mp3’ generated the most potentially malicious websites and helped musicians dominate the list, McAfee’s study found.

“In today’s digital world, we want the latest hit albums, videos and movies immediately available on our devices,” said Gary Davis, McAfee’s chief consumer security evangelist.

“Consumers often prioritise their convenience over security by engaging in risky behavior like clicking on suspicious links that promise the latest content from celebrities.”