• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, January 4, 2010

For the second straight year, the iPhone topped a ranking of social media brands in which Apple placed three in the top ten. Disney was runner-up to the iPhone and CNN fell one spot to third in the ranking of the top 100 social brands begun last year by social advertising company Vitrue.

Underscoring Apple's dominance of the ratings, iTunes came in at No. 6 and "Apple" at No. 8, while iPod and Mac ranked 34th and 35th, respectively. With its legions of fanboys and independent blogs dedicated to all things Apple, it's hard to imagine the storied company getting knocked off its perch anytime soon.

Will "iSlate" join the roster of Apple brands on the list next year?

The ranking of social brands is based on Vitrue's social media index (SMI), which calculates a brand's share of voice by applying algorithms to conversations on various social networking, blogging, micro-blogging, photo and video-sharing sites. It monitors more than 2,000 brands online.

The biggest gainer over the last year was the NBA, which jumped from 29th to fifth on the list, just behind MTV. Other brands that moved up the chart include Nike, MLB, Nissan, Victoria's Secret, HP and KFC.

Luxury companies defied the recession by posting a stronger showing in 2009, with Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Burberry all making the top 100 social brands. Other categories with multiple brands on the list included media, automotive, restaurants and sports.

None of the top three companies in BusinessWeek's 2009 ranking of top global brands -- Coca-Cola, IBM and Microsoft -- cracked the top ten on the Vitrue 100 list. (Microsoft finished highest at No. 18). By contrast, Apple dropped four places to No. 24 last year on BusinessWeek's list.

Other prominent brands making the Vitrue top 100 included Amazon (40), BlackBerry (15), Pepsi (73), Visa (87) and Zappos (60).