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Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (December 1 to 7, 2013) Information

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Summary: When one edits this page for too long, one is tempted to appoint oneself as the psychoanalyst for mankind, or at least the English-speaking portion thereof. Since nearly everyone uses Wikipedia, the constant stream of TV updates, pointless celebrity scandals, and inquiries after who has died can seem like a dreary peek into humanity's surprisingly banal collective consciousness. So when two notable deaths occur in the same week, one a treasure of the world widely regarded as a true Great Man in a time of comparative minnows who died peacefully in his sleep after a long life; the other a mid-tier actor who died in a speeding car, the cynic can smugly note that the latter got nearly twice as many views as the former, and that humankind once again rushed to scandal, while ignoring the passing of history. Except for one thing: stats lie. In fact, actor Paul Walker's tragic and grisly death was announced on December 1, the day this list began counting, while Nelson Mandela's passing was announced on late on 5 December, two days before the end. That means that, per day, Mandela's death generated more than twice the views of Walker's. So, while the public sympathise with the tragedy of Walker's death, it appears they aren't being led by sensationalism alone.

For the week of December 1 to 7, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages* were:

Rank Last Wks Article Class Views Image Notes
1 - - Paul Walker C-class 7,406,813 (includes Paul walker)
The tragic death on the road of this Hollywood star (ironically best known for the Fast and the Furious film series, which is mainly preoccupied with crashing cars) became the week's major talking point.
2 - 5 Nelson Mandela Good Article 4,267,723
The 95-year-old father of the new South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize winner and global inspiration finally succumbed to his long illness on December 5, triggering tributes from around the world.
3 - - Maria Callas B-class 2,592,011
The hugely popular and influential operatic soprano got a Google Doodle on what would have been her 90th birthday on December 2.
4 - - Carlos Finlay B-class 2,591,877
The Cuban doctor who identified the Aedes mosquito as the vector for yellow fever got a Google Doodle on what would have been his 180th birthday on December 3.
5 - - Tinnitus B-class 1,250,021
A sudden spike near the end of the week for this medical condition (better known as "ringing in the ears") may have been due to the announcement of a purported treatment developed at the University of Texas.
6 - - Fast & Furious 7 C-Class 758,749 Production has shut down on the next instalment of what had been a money-printing franchise with the death of its returning star, Paul Walker. Director James Wan has insisted it will be finished.
7 - - Apartheid in South Africa C-class 723,078
The death of Nelson Mandela led to renewed attention for the atrocious system he suffered to end.
8 - - Kevin Carter C-class 531,666
The South African photojournalist, who committed suicide shortly after winning the Pulitzer Prize for his frankly hideous photograph of a starving young girl in Sudan being eyed by a hungry vulture, became a topic of discussion on Reddit this week.
9 6 4 Bitcoin C-Class 521,192
The oddball digital currency that is mostly beloved of radical libertarians is back in the news this week. Bankers have (prematurely?) suggested it may prove a legitimate competitor to real money, even though they are best described as a store of value rather than a functional currency. An attempt to declare "Bitcoin Black Friday" to try and get people to actually spend the frigging things instead of hoarding them (Except that hoarding them is exactly the right thing to do if their value continues to skyrocket as it has done) led to the purchase of a great deal of gold, swapping one store of value another store of value.
10 12 48 Facebook B-class 484,711
A perennially popular article
11 - - The Fast and the Furious C-class 472,922 With its previous two installments earning a combined $1.4 billion worldwide, it seemed this car-crushing franchise was a golden goose among risky chicken hawks. And then its returning star died, leaving its future uncertain.
12 18 57 Deaths in 2013 List 462,195
The list of deaths in the current year is always quite a popular article.
13 17 19 The Walking Dead (TV series) Good Article 445,918
The mid-season finale of the popular TV series aired on December 1.
14 13 11 United States B-Class 435,468
The 3rd most popular Wikipedia article between 2010 and 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.
15 - - 2014 FIFA World Cup C-class 404,171
With qualification over, all that's left is the big draw, and speculation over whether Brazil can pull it off in time.
16 - - Porsche Carrera GT B-Class 371,505
It remains to be seen whether Paul Walker's death car will attain the same legendary status of a certain, earlier Porsche.
17 17 50 World War II Good Article 332,621
Another perennially popular article. (The 16th most popular article from 2010 to 2012, in fact, see Table 2 here.)
18 - - Vin Diesel C-class 365,830
Unsurprisingly, Paul Walker's frequent Fast & Furious costar got some media attention in the week of his friend's death.
19 - - Christmas B-class 365,174
Surprisingly late to the game, given that there's less than a month to go and we're usually expected to be "in the spirit" by sometime around October these days.
20 - - Frozen (2013 film) C-class 357,207 Disney's de facto sequel to Tangled has already outperformed its predecessor in its first two weeks, having grossed nearly $200 million worldwide.
21 14 29 List of Bollywood films of 2013 List 343,411
An established staple of the top 25.
22 16 10 Lorde Good Article 341,600 The just-turned 17-year-old singer-songwriter from New Zealand released her modestly titled debut album, Pure Heroine, on 27 September.
23 11 4 Jennifer Lawrence C-class 326,212
The second installment of the Oscar-winning actress's blockbuster franchise, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, opened last weekend to a record-breaking $158.1 million.
24 - - The Walking Dead (Season 4) Start-class 316,809
Most likely people looking up the air dates for future episodes.
25 - - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela C-class 308,039
Nelson Mandela's controversial ex-wife, who has been accused of direct involvement in murder, abduction and torture, gained attention in the wake of her ex-husband's death.
Almosts:
Exclusions:
  • This list excludes the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages, and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Please keep in mind that the explanations given for these articles' popularity are, fundamentally, guesses. Just I can't find a reason for an article to be included doesn't mean there isn't one, and just because a plausible reason is found for a view spike, that doesn't mean it wasn't due to a bot.
  • There are a number of articles that reappear frequently in the top 25 for no determined reason, and have been excluded as likely being due to automated views. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish.
    • G: This, or alternately G-force, frequently appears in the top 25. It is probably due to people typing "G" for "Google" in Google Chrome's search bar and hastily clicking "enter".
    • Lycos: the geriatric web portal seems to be back en vogue, for no apparent reason.
    • A rather un-creative bot is spamming the list with Trivial Pursuit-esque topic headers: "Human Interest"; "Entertainment Culture"; "Hospitality Recreation"; "Health Medical Pharma" etc. (for some reason, always capitalised- also, whoever created this bot has apparently never heard of the slash).
    • Java: My only guess is a bot searching for the programming language.
    • Several articles related to global warming (including global warming) have been removed from this list; their continued high view counts are raising suspicions of artificial inflation. I'll believe that Climategate was #1 during a typhoon, but that it got more hits than Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving? No.
Notes:
  • Number of views needed to reach Top 25 this week: 308,039. Last week: 287,642.
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