Who hogged the most airtime in all of 2009? After years of coming in second to his female counterparts, did “General Hospital’s” Steve Burton edge out the competition in 2009?

As the year 2009 came to a close, so did a years worth of tracking appearances of contract and recurring actors on daytime’s remaining soap operas. “General Hospital’s” Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) and “Days of Our Lives” Arianne Zucker (Nicole Walker) top the list of appearances in 2009 as the duo respectively appeared in 208 and 207 out of a little over 250 episodes of soap opera hours produced for each soap (except for the canceled CBS sudser “Guiding Light”) last year.

ABC: As daytime’s most overexposed network, the network of “All My Children,” “General Hospital,” and “One Life to Live” held down 15 positions in the Top 20 Airhog list. “GH” and its star Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) led the wave as the soap took up 8 positions on the 2009 Top 20 Airhog list. “AMC” landed just behind their sister soap for the most airhogs in 2009, taking up 6 spots. Thorsten Kaye (Zach Slater) topped the list for the soap that celebrates its 40th Anniversary this week. Trevor St. John was the only “OLTL” actor to crack the top 20, the star ranked 13th.

CBS: The network with the most balance, CBS, was led by “The Bold and the Beautiful” stars Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan Forrester) and Ronn Moss (Ridge Forrester). The beautiful Ms. Lang lost her 2008 #1 position but still ranked among daytime’s top 10 most aired actors. No stars from “The Young and the Restless,” “As the World Turns,” and obviously “Guiding Light,” the soap went off the air in September, cracked the Top 20 in 2009. “Y&R’s” most worked star, Billy Miller (Billy Abbott) would have landed at spot #27.

NBC: James Scott (E.J. Wells) led the way for the popular “Days of Our Lives” in 2008, ranking at #23 in airtime. In 2009, Mr. Scott’s (who landed at #7 in the latest list) frequent screen partner Arianne Zucker (Nicole Walker) put “DAYS” top 2008 ranking to shame by landing the #2 spot in the latest airhog list.

Note: Had Sarah Joy Brown‘s “GH,” where she played Claudia, and “B&B,” where she plays Sandy, airtime been added together, the actress (who landed at spot #17) would have climbed up to the top 10 – airing in a little over 190 episodes of daytime drama this year.

Memory Lane: The Top 20 for 2007 and 2008…

Our thanks goes out to those contributors who helped compile this information throughout the years at the Soap Opera Network messageboard. Thank you to jcar03, jhc2010, y&r_fan, JAS0N47, dmarex, alexisfan07, Scotty, Toups and Angela.

Until next year…