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Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 3 to 9, 2022)

Prepared with commentary by YttriumShrew, TheJoebro64, Ab207, Igordebraga, SSSB, and two helpful IPs

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This week, Wikipedia readers sought a wide variety of subjects. This includes the still awful things happening in Ukraine, wrestling, music, and plenty of movie and streaming content, including documentaries and scripted shows on criminals and warriors.

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Wrestlemania 38 2,205,071 Every year, WWE's premier event tops this list when it happens.
2 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 1,973,977 Sunflowers in Ukraine This week saw the emergence of reports of atrocities committed across Russian-occupied Ukraine.
3 RRR (film) 1,611,044 India's latest hit is this Telugu film, bringing in the crore and the Wikipedia views to check on the tale of two revolutionaries against the British Raj. Apparently it delivers quite the spectacle in its three hour runtime.
4 Jimmy Savile 922,601 Although his abuse scandal began years before the likes of Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein appeared on this report for their respective scandals involving abuse, the prolific British serial pedophile Jimmy Savile makes his first appearance here since the report began in 2013. Like Cosby, Savile was initially respected by the general public for his television appearances and seemingly good charity work, but was hated by the entire nation after his sexual abuse crimes were revealed to the public. Unfortunately, like Epstein years later, Savile died before he could receive proper punishment for his crimes. The Savile case, much like the appearance of the man, is disturbing, but here's a condensed summary of what happened.

Jimmy Savile was an English media personality, BBC host, and DJ who was celebrated during his lifetime for his appearances on television shows (including being a long-running presenter of the music chart television programme Top of the Pops and hosting his own shows, including Clunk Click and the poorly aged Jim'll Fix It), and was also frequently respected for his seemingly good charity work at numerous hospitals. Although he was often rumoured by some to be a sex offender, Savile was protected by powerful political and professional connections, the affection of the general public, and his own skill in controlling and manipulating his public image (often suing people and journalists who had made complaints about him). However, a year after his death, Savile was outed as one of Britain's most prolific predatory sex offenders, and his surviving relatives agreed to the removal and destruction of his gravestone out of respect for his victims. The revelation of Savile's sex offences disgusted the general public and led to Operation Yewtree, a major police investigation in which several other high-profile figures were imprisoned (or in the case of Rolf Harris, tied down sport) for similar offences to those committed by Savile. In 2014, it was concluded that Savile had sexually assaulted staff and patients aged between 5 and 75 over several decades.

Ten years after he was first exposed as a sex offender in a documentary hosted by Mark Williams-Thomas, Savile is now the subject of a new documentary; the Netflix two-part documentary Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story, which was released on April 6. The documentary focuses on his life and career, his history of committing sexual abuse, as well as his friendships with other high-profile people including other celebrities, politicians (e.g. Margaret Thatcher), and royals (including Prince Charles, who had a close friendship with Savile and wrote to him for 20 years).

5 Jon Batiste 913,596 The New Orleans singer and jazz pianist won Album of the Year at #15 for his album, We Are. If he seems familiar and you cannot quite remember why, it is because he has been the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert since 2015.
6 Moon Knight 879,106 From Marvel Comics, Marc Spector is a mercenary on a mission from God. Or rather, the Egyptian God of the Moon, Khonshu. Disney+ introduced him to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (#9)
7 Deaths in 2022 878,034 I think he did it but I just can't prove it
No, no body, no crime
But I ain't letting up until the day I die
No, no
I think he did it
No, no
He did it
8 Morbius (film) 860,648 Last week, I wrote that audiences would eat Morbius up even though it was terrible. Thankfully, that comment hasn't aged well due to the recent release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. (Whereas Morbius made me want to sleep as a longtime Spider-Man fan, Sonic 2 made me shed tears of joy as a longtime Sonic fan.)
9 Moon Knight (miniseries) 794,336 #6's live action debut on Disney+, where Oscar Isaac is a meek guy working in a museum that discovers that he's actually the alternate personality of Marc Spector. Every week has a new episode to keep viewers waiting for surprises like the opener's chase scene scored with " Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go".
10 Olivia Rodrigo 751,725 This week the 19-year-old pop singer won Best New Artist at #15 off the back of her debut album Sour, which was critically acclaimed, produced several number-one singles, and even earned her a place on the Top 50 Report.
11 Bridgerton 737,957 Inventing Anna left, but Shondaland is still present with the return of this period piece that used to be raunchy.
12 Dwayne Haskins 728,729 Haskins, an NFL backup quarterback, was fatally hit by a dump truck this week.
13 Elon Musk 692,799 Over the last few months, DumbMemesMcSpaceDork quietly bought a 9% stake in Twitter, in the process committing only a teeny-weeny violation of US financial laws. After this was announced, Twitter's share price surged by 27% (making Musk several hundred million dollars) and he was appointed to Twitter's board of directors. Make of that what you will.
14 Bucha massacre 662,316 Mass graves have been found in this Ukrainian city, strong evidence of war crimes during #2. Russia has also bombed civilian areas, eye witness accounts suggest Russian soldiers have been shooting civilians retrieving water, food and aid, as well as killing fleeing civilians. The only problem, it is very difficult to prove that Pitler and his high-ranking officials ordered these war crimes - they will undoubtedly claim that these soldiers have gone rogue. Russia will likely throw them under the bus.
15 64th Annual Grammy Awards 644,705 This week saw the annual awards for the year's best in music. Silk Sonic (pictured) won Record of the Year and Song of the Year for " Leave the Door Open", #5 won Album of the Year, and #10 won Best New Artist.
16 Jack McKinney (basketball) 622,217 The HBO show Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, chronicling the rise of the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers that dominated the NBA in the 80s on the backs of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, made viewers look up the coach fired by the purple-and-yellow halfway through the 1980 NBA Finals, played in the series by Tracy Letts.
17 Jada Pinkett Smith 619,721 The slap continues to echo. Smith resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was later barred from any Academy events for ten years. In the meantime, Jada, the reason why all this ruckus happened, keeps out of the limelight.
18 Will Smith 614,233
19 List of highest-grossing Indian films 593,057 #3 is the third in this list too. It's also the third Indian film to gross over 1,000 crore (equivalent to 11 billion or US$130 million in 2023) after Baahubali 2: The Conclusion and Dangal.
20 Ketanji Brown Jackson 557,016 This week, the D.C circuit appeals court judge was confirmed to the Supreme Court by the United States Senate, becoming the first black woman and only the third black person ever to serve on the highest court in the U.S.
21 Elizabeth Holmes 549,972 The Dropout, featuring Amanda Seyfried (pictured) as this disgraced entrepreneur found guilty of fraud after not delivering her promised revolution in clinical tests, released its final episode this week.
22 Death on the Nile (2022 film) 543,918 In 2017, Kenneth Branagh adapted Murder on the Orient Express with himself as Hercule Poirot. Its sequel based on Death on the Nile was originally scheduled for 2019 before multiple delays, first by Disney's purchase of its studio, and then the goddamned pandemic pushing it until February of this year. The theatrical underperformance in spite of it being a good movie - even if not as tightly paced like the first - can now be compensated with a release on both HBO Max and Hulu.
23 Place (Reddit) 528,501 Reddit revisits pixel pattern experiment from April 1, 2017. One of the people behind the idea is now better known for his Wordle game.
24 Tiger Woods 513,093 Man still recovering from car crash injuries goes for a walk while millions watch.
25 Simone Ashley 507,304 The star of #11 stays in the charts. If only Commons had a picture of her.
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 3 to 9, 2022)
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 3 to 9, 2022)