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Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 5 to 11, 2020)

Prepared with commentary by a lad insane, Igordebraga and Rebestalic

⭠ Last week's report

Next week's report ⭢

This week saw the usual pandemic articles, as well as some herbs and spices coming in the form of Netflix productions. The odd one out was WrestleMania 36, the 36th annual rendition of a popular WWE wrestling event.

(data provided by the provisory Top 1000)

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic 4,126,190 This week, the current pandemic's cases finally exceeded the total number of recorded cases in the 2009 swine flu pandemic, which, funnily enough, is not here in this week's list (after strong showings for the quite a few of the preceding weeks). Indeed, worldwide cases are about to blast through two million. For me, the scale of this thing is becoming a little too much to comprehend. How in the world do you visualise two million of anything (with the exception of tiny things like atoms and bacteria, etc.)?
2 Joe Exotic 2,264,454
In all honesty, all this buzz about Joe Exotic (caused by the documentary Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness) is making Joe Exotic not at all that exotic.
3 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic by country and territory 2,199,766
According to the Worldometers coronavirus tracker, COVID-19 has smeared itself on about 210 unique countries and territories. Now, a clarifier that 'Territories' is used amongst 'Countries' as places such as Taiwan aren't fully recognised as an independent country (sorry for the politics).
4 Boris Johnson 2,002,392
COVID-19 (as you may have noticed) is well-represented on this list. Many articles it brings into public view - such as #s 1, 3, 14, 15, 18, you get the idea) are rather obviously related to this virus. Some, however, require a cursory following of the news to connect, although one must have been living with one of the uncontacted tribes of the Amazon to not be hearing any news these days. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (and I'll fully admit I'm not entirely sure what his duties are) was diagnosed with COVID-19 several days ago and landed in the intensive care unit for a spell - he has though, fortunately for him, now been released from the hospital. (I'll admit I'll be paying off some bets I made when he first went into hospital - but I'd much rather that than the alternative.)
5 WrestleMania 36 1,882,062
2020 saw WWE's 36th annual WrestleMania, which was held with no live audience (due to #1). This particular "Granddaddy of Them All!" consisted of two parts; the first was headlined by The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles in the first ever Boneyard match. The second was by Drew McIntyre and Brock Lesnar.
6 Carole Baskin 1,765,033
Another person featured on Tiger King, namely the woman our #2 tried to get murdered.
7 Money Heist 1,507,486
Who doesn't want money?!? And this Spanish show, which became an international sensation once picked up by Netflix, deals with people who decide to take it straight from the source! At least in the first season, don't know what is happening in the fourth which hit the streaming service.
8 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States 1,468,892
Total COVID-19 cases in the Land of the Star-Spangled Banner are almost at an almighty 600,000. However, the daily increase data offered at Johns Hopkins University's very detailed, map-based tracker shows that the best is coming for the US--a steep curve has been turned, and daily increases are now starting to fall. Best of luck to all Americans from me and don't forget to stay safe.
9 2020 coronavirus pandemic in India 1,438,743
Best of luck to all Indians as well--to me, it's an absolute miracle that India, with its vast population, has managed to keep infection numbers so low compared to its demographics. It has been estimated that without the ongoing lockdown, cases in Bhārat Gaṇarājya could have surged by 35,000.
10 John Prine 1,363,120 In any normal time, this American country-folk legend would have topped this list upon his death last week at the age of 73. Unfortunately, these are not normal times, as the rest of this list indicates. Prine made last week's list (albeit lower, at #22) upon the news that he had entered the intensive care unit on March 26 with symptoms of COVID-19, and sadly succumbed to the virus on April 7, just months after being selected for a Lifetime Achievement Award. Perhaps I'll have to send him an angel from Montgomery.
11 Tiger King 1,301,989 [a]
Documentary about life of Joe Exotic (#2), and his controversial life as a zookeeper.
12 Spanish flu 1,261,282
COVID-19 reminded everyone of the previous killer pandemic.
13 Deaths in 2020 1,190,214
This article, once the lodestone of the list whose placement indicated the popularity of other articles, has skyrocketed in views (understandably) in recent weeks, although so has everything else on the list.
14 Coronavirus disease 2019 1,008,337
Stop.

Do you have a new continuous cough, and, or a high temperature (37.8 Celsius or higher)? If you have answered "yes', please do not enter the surgery. Return home immediately and self-isolate for 7 days.

Thank you.
15 Coronavirus 939,858
COVID-19 is caused by a strain of Coronavirus, so understandably people seek the general virus type - if only because the name severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (the specific kind making people sick worldwide) didn't catch the public's mind.
16 Ozark (TV series) 916,315
Another returning Netflix show, about Jason Bateman as a financial advisor who just can't keep way from working with criminals.
17 Dominic Raab 803,756
Dominic Raab, first Secretary of State of the United Kingdom, served as the acting Prime Minister while Prime Minister Boris Johnson (#4) was incapacitated with COVID-19. Raab was born in 1974 to Briton Jean and Czechoslovak Peter Raab, in Buckinghamshire. He soon went on to study at Times Higher Education #1--ranked Ox University, as well as The Bridge, and was elected to Parliament in the 2010 UK election.
18 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Italy 778,107
The first non-Asian country hit hard by the pandemic has over 100 thousand infected, and the second highest death toll behind the United States with 21,067. Ports are closed and the country is on an overall lockdown.
19 Hydroxychloroquine 770,170
This chemical compound is used to treat malaria, and is also being studied to counter the disease which dominates our current report. It's not a proven cure, yet two leaders with less-than-stellar reputations have championed for it.
20 List of Money Heist episodes 766,119
Our #7 had its fourth season released, so understandably people want to know what previously happened in the House of Paper (that's the original title!).
21 Thomas Modly 765,848
An aircraft carrier had a COVID-19 outbreak, so captain Brett Crozier sought all help possible for evacuation even as his superiors balked, which after getting the press attention led the Navy to finally decide to send evacuation crews... and also Secretary of Navy Thomas Modly to dismiss Crozier for going outside his chain of command. This was already considered inappropriate, and Modly flying to the ship in Guam to deliver an angry tirade against Crozier earned even more criticism, and the backlash was enough to lead to Modly's resignation.
22 Elizabeth II 693,251
Elizabeth II, whose full name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, is the longest-reigning leader in the history of the British monarchy, ruling over some 16 Commonwealth Realms. Her recent address regarding the pandemic, only the fourth from Windsor Castle, saw 23.3 million live British viewers, as well as millions from close friend France. Today's times might be hard, but as she says, 'We will meet again'.
23 Andrew Cuomo 651,557
It's the man himself. Andrew Cuomo is the 56th and current Governor of New York. Alongside work in the promotion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act--yes, that's Obamacare--and vertical tax equity, Cuomo can now be referred to as a great leader in the face of the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic.
24 Carrie Symonds 635,029
Just to top Elizabeth Taylor I guess, our #4 on this list, Boris Johnson, is married and engaged at the same time. Johnson's recent, uh, health issues have dragged this fiancée of his along with him into this list.
25 Unorthodox (miniseries) 594,287
A good deal of Americans are stuck at home, with little to do but loaf around and watch Netflix. And watch Netflix America does, and this show, about a Jewish woman escaping an arranged marriage, has apparently struck the fancy of many people.
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 5 to 11, 2020)
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 5 to 11, 2020)
  1. ^ combination of page views for Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness with Tiger King due to page move on April 10.

Exclusions

  • This list excludes the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Since mobile view data became available to the Report in October 2014, we exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (5–6% or less) or almost all mobile views (94–95% or more) because they are very likely to be automated views based on our experience and research of the issue. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish.