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Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 28 – May 4 2013) Information

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Summary: The month of May is upon us, and with it, apparently, are a plethora of spring festivals, from International Workers' Day to Cinco de Mayo and plain old May Day. Opposing this spirit of vernal rebirth was a surprisingly large number of violent and tragic deaths, including Jeff Hanneman's encounter with flesh-eating bacteria, Chris Kelly's encounter with a speedball, and a fairly despicable murder of a likely innocent man in a Pakistani prison.

For the week of April 29 to May 5, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most trafficked pages* were:

Rank Last Wks Article Views Notes
1 Jeff Hanneman 1,000,226
The unexpected, tragic, and somewhat disturbing illness prior to the death from another cause of the lead guitarist for the band Slayer got under people's skin this week.
2 Labour Day 990,333 Most likely the result of users searching for International Workers' Day, which falls on May 1 and got a lot of attention, particularly in the left-wing press.
3 2 2 Iron Man 3 975,476 As expected, this mega-blockbuster, expected to join its predecessor in the $1 billion-earners club, had a 33% jump in views after its US debut on May 3
4 - - Jason Collins 690,067
In a self-penned cover story in the May 6 issue of Sports Illustrated, Collins became the first member of a major American men's sports team to come out as gay, with the predictable reaction from the Christian right.
5 24 2 Aashiqui 2 641,956 The popularity of this Bollywood blockbuster is a window on the substantial Indian presence on the English Wikipedia.
6 - - May Day 624,930
Before it was International Workers's Day, May Day, aka May 1, was a fount of odd and esoteric traditions.
7 3 9 Game of Thrones 556,635 This epic fantasy TV series launched its third season on March 31, and has seen its ratings almost double on its premiere episode.
8 11 2 The Great Gatsby 539,104
This perennial contender for the Great American Novel and eternal junior high school homework assignment got a 33% increase in views this week, most likely from users looking for the upcoming Baz Luhrmann film.
9 5 17 Facebook 473,125 A perennially popular article.
10 - - Kris Kross 466,872 This 1990s hip-hop duo, famous for, oddly, wearing their clothes backwards, sparked interest after the death of one of them, Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly, from a drug overdose.
11 - - Steve Jobs 438,784
The flamboyant late CEO of Apple Inc. had a prolonged spike in views from April 15 to May 3, for uncertain reasons.
12 - - Cinco de Mayo 434,702
One of the most self-explanatory article spikes on Wikipedia ever, this celebration of Mexican-American culture (originally meant to commemorate a Mexican victory over the French) occurred, conveniently, on May 5.
13 8 27 Deaths in 2013 418,124 The lists of deaths in the current year is always a quite popular article.
14 - - Sarabjit Singh 418,079 The sad story of this Indian national, believed by many to have been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death by a Pakistani court for a fatal series of bombings in Lahore and Faisalabad in 1990, came to an end on May 2, when he was pronounced dead after having been beaten by a brick and blade-wielding mob.
15 20 29 YouTube 392,365 Another perennially popular article
16 19 3 Game of Thrones (season 3) 379,879 see #7 above
17 13 29 World War II 371,553
Another perennially popular article. (The 16th most popular article from 2010–12, in fact, see Table 2 here.)
18 - 3 Arrow (TV series) 367,076 This currently popular Green Arrow TV series is nearing the end of its first season.
19 22 3 List of Game of Thrones episodes 366,478 see #3 above
20 12 9 Google 361,143 A perennially popular article
21 - - Satyajit Ray 330,871
The hugely respected Indian filmmaker (whose Apu trilogy was the inspiration for the name of a character on The Simpsons) was the subject of a Google Doodle on his birthday on May 2.
22 - - Robert Downey, Jr. 329,028
The onetime troubled star of the Iron Man trilogy rode his #1 movie into the top 25.
23 - - International Workers' Day 326,860
The actual day searched for by those looking at Labour Day, above.
24 - 4 Macklemore 316,515
Popular singer returning the top 25, though nearly always in the top 50
25 - - United States 301,934
A newcomer to the top 25, but the 3rd most popular Wikipedia article between 2010-2012, and a perpetual bubble-under-er. Not really surprising that the country with by far the most English speakers would be the most popular on the English Wikipedia.
  • This list is derived from the WP:5000 report. It excludes the Wikipedia main page (and "wiki"), non-article pages, and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish. Standard removals this week include:
    • Cat anatomy; explanation still unknown for its continuing high view counts

Specific removals this week (those articles for which no reason for any sudden popularity could be located):

  • Patti Reagan: The fact that this is a redirect (her official name is Patti Davis) suggests that this was a spam.
  • G: A venerable and useful letter. No reason why it should be so popular.
  • New Jersey Wedding: This, apparently, is not a reality TV show.