Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/February 17 to 23, 2019

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Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (February 17 to 23, 2019)[edit]

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga

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Fashion! We are the Wiki squad, and we're coming to town[edit]

It's a bit of a slow week, to the point the last entries couldn't even break 400,000 views. And the subjects that got the most views are the usual offenders: the recently deceased, the latest Hollywood and Bollywood hits, the latest things people are binging on Netflix, wrestling events, politics, Google, Reddit... plus, expectations for the Academy Awards that will dominate next week's Report, some people getting arrested, and a terrorist attack.

for the week of February 17 to 23, 2019, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank Article Class Views Image About
1 Karl Lagerfeld 2,498,583
The German creative director who made a name for himself in big fashion houses of both France and Italy died at the age of 85 of a pancreatic cancer.
2 The Umbrella Academy (TV series) 1,978,854
Netflix has a new superhero sensation, but drawing from Dark Horse Comics (#5) instead of the big two. Ellen Page is one of seven gifted people who once studied together under the wing of an eccentric billionaire, and eventually start to uncover (and possibly prevent?) an apocalyptic plot.
3 Freddie Mercury 1,842,284
One of the few men whose biopic could have box office comparable to a superhero movie ($860 million worldwide!) and even get Oscar nominations. No time for losers, as Farrokh Bulsara is undeniably the champion.
4 Jussie Smollett 1,682,857
A few weeks ago, this actor was seemingly a victim of a hate crime, which would be shameful for the country. Instead, he forged a hate crime as a publicity stunt to further his career, leading Smollett to get arrested, which is probably even more shameful, but only for himself.
5 The Umbrella Academy 1,622,346
My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way collaborated with Brazilian penciller Gabriel Bá (both pictured) to create this comic, now adapted as a Netflix series (#2).
6 Steve Irwin 1,579,247
Google homaged the birthday of The Crocodile Hunter, who for all his courage in dealing with dangerous reptiles, sadly died 13 years ago attacked by a fish which usually isn't lethal, the stingray.
7 Robert Kraft 918,875
After many Super Bowl rings, the owner of the New England Patriots tried to get involved with a prostitution ring in Florida and is now facing an arrest threat.
8 List of The Umbrella Academy characters 837,600
See #2, #5. And since it's hard to avoid it:

When the sun shine, we shine together, told you I'll be here forever
Said I'll always be your friend, took an oath, I'ma stick it out to the end
Now that it's raining more than ever, know that we'll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella!

9 Deaths in 2019 763,259
Better honor the deceased with the artist I already quoted:

But now it's time to go, curtain's finally closing
That was quite a show, very entertaining
But it's over now (But it's over now), go on and take a bow

10 Elimination Chamber (2019) 710,100
The latest edition of a WWE pantomime, where the main event has the ring surrounded by a tent-like cage.
11 Alita: Battle Angel 696,859
Rosa Salazar is a cyborg with huge eyes (it's a manga adaptation, after all) who can easily wreck much bigger opponents in this cyberpunk adventure that was a pet project of James Cameron (though due to other commitments, he only writes and produces, leaving directing to Robert Rodriguez). It's visually striking and highly entertaining, even if the narrative had enough shortcomings that led to mixed reviews. Alita opened at #1 in the US box office but is certainly struggling a bit to make its money - and given it ends on a blatant sequel hook, I for one hope the movie makes enough cash to warrant follow-ups.
12 Gully Boy 661,108
Hollywood has made rap biopics for a while, so Bollywood went the same way: the lives of Divine and Naezy inspire this musical drama starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, which has been raking on the crore.
13 Ted Bundy 628,316
A two-pronged offensive from Joe Berlinger has seen the most infamous non-astrological serial killer in US history returned firmly to the public zeitgeist - first, there was the seemingly obligatory Netflix series, sending a Bundy Bunch of binge-watchers to the no longer BLP to investigate the malevolent man in greater detail. Then, there is the continuing furore surrounding Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile, where cinemagoers will see Troy Bolton play the heinous criminal, where he will presumably get their heads off the court.
14 Ken Jeong 616,639
A certified physician turned actor-comedian (whose claim to fame are crazy Asians such as Mr. Chau from The Hangover) had stand-up special Ken Jeong: You Complete Me released on Netflix, and is a panelist in The Masked Singer, which inspires some view spikes but hasn't caused a Top 25 entry yet.
15 Queen (band) 600,989
For all the things the Oscar ceremony did or threatened to do that people took the wrong way, one might be an improvement: Queen will perform! (granted, it's Queen + Adam Lambert, with the original band being only Brian and Rog, and a frontman with no pretentions of being our #3, but hearing their songs is always a good thing!)
16 Peter Tork 591,115
This American musician best known as the bassist for The Monkees (#22) died at the age of 77 of cancer.
17 2019 Pulwama attack 557,533
The typically troubled Kashmir region returned with tragedy to the news, as the insurgency seeking independence attacked a convoy of security personnel with a suicide driver, leading to 40 deaths.
18 Fred West 502,690 ITV broadcast documentary Fred and Rose West: The Real Story, about this infamous serial killer who cruelly murdered 12 young women, mostly with the help of his wife.
19 A Star Is Born (2018 film) 439,682
My personal favorite of the Best Picture nominees (I just keep on postponing in watching Roma, sorry) alongside Black Panther, the fourth go at the "entertainers fell in love, she becomes famous, he starts to fall" story was a big hit and continues to get reader attention. And one of its stars, some girl named Stefani whose stage name is based on a song our #3 performed, called off her engagement, making some people wish she could reenact in real life the romance with the co-star\director that stands at #25.
20 Lady Gaga 434,751
21 Bernie Sanders 418,876
Second to Hillary Clinton in the campaign to choose the Democratic candidate in 2016, the Vermont Senator announced he'll try again. Many don't think Bernie's up to snuff compared to other 2020 potential nominees.
22 The Monkees 411,646
The band American TV made as a response to The Beatles now has two deceased members - pictured alongside our #16 is frontman Davy Jones, who left us in 2012.
23 Zoe Saldana 406,103
She's Uhura, Gamora and Neytiri. And due to the last two, Reddit made a topic about her.
24 Dirty John 399,715
A true crime podcast about sociopathic con artist John Meehan, adapted into a TV series (where John himself is portrayed by Eric Bana, pictured) that now, a few months after its Bravo release, hit Netflix worldwide.
25 Bradley Cooper 396,179
In spite of being the emotional center of our #19, he might not win Best Actor. And in spite of #20 having just broken off an engagement, Cooper might not re-enact the movie with her, as he's happily dating a supermodel.
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (February 17 to 23, 2019)
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (February 17 to 23, 2019)

Exclusions[edit]

  • 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.
Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.