The Top 25 Report
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (December 18 to 24, 2016)
edit- Prepared with commentary by Serendipodous.
← Last week's report – Next week's report →
Star Gabors: Hollywood history old and new collided this week as the huge success of Rogue One was overshadowed by the death of 50s star Zsa Zsa Gabor, which led Wikipedia users to search her and her extensive showbiz family. The Star Wars universe saw its own collision with history, as Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the film series, suffered a fatal heart attack. As per usual for Wikipedia, Christmas was hardly worth a mention, with only a Google Doodle drawing attention to it.
For the week of December 18 to 24, 2016, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Zsa Zsa Gabor 
2,248,668 
The heyday of Zsa Zsa Gabor, who died this week just 50 days short of her 100th birthday, was way before my time, and, from the looks of things, before the time of most Wikipedia users, since this list is peppered with the same pages I looked up to research her. Groomed for stardom from a young age and a professional celebrity before the term existed (she was married nine times to various society figures), she was also, briefly but appropriately, the great-grandmother of Paris Hilton. 2 Rogue One 
2,239,147 
Numbers are up for this Star Wars universe movie, which saw just a 38% drop over its second weekend at the US box office. (It first appeared on this chart in April 2016.) Felicity Jones (pictured) stars in the film, which has already grossed over $550 million. It probably won't dominate this chart as thoroughly as Star Wars: The Force Awakens did a year ago, but it will probably do quite well all the same. 3 'Tis the Season disambig 1,543,670 
For the third year in a row, a Google Doodle sent hundreds of thousands of people to a disambig page. You'd think they would have sorted this by now. 4 Carrie Fisher
1,233,129 
It seems that, whatever your political persuasion, the general consensus is that 2016 has been a fairly terrible year. And the one reason we can all agree on is that the Grim Reaper has called open season on the celebrisphere. So when the actress so fondly remembered for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the Star Wars films suffered a heart attack on the day before Christmas Eve, everyone girded themselves for another loss. Although her condition initially stabilized, she died on December 27. 5 The OA N/A 905,746 
This Netflix series, created by and starring Brit Marling (pictured), essentially explores ideas she first discussed in her film Sound of My Voice, about a woman who may or may not be supernaturally gifted forming a cult around herself. Released in its entirety on the 16th of December, it has become the latest Netflix watercooler topic, though less in a "you have to see it" kinda way than a "you really should just check it out" kinda way. 6 Darth Vader
854,652 
The most iconic villain in modern history (I challenge you to disagree) made an appearance in the latest Star Wars spinoff, Rogue One. He's actually appeared on this list several times over the last few weeks, but his low mobile count suggested he was usurping the throne. This is the first time I feel his mobile count is high enough to warrant inclusion. 7 Star Wars 
851,108 
See above. And #2. And #4. 8 Steve Biko
848,967 
The anti-Apartheid activist who was tortured to death by the South African police in 1977 got a Google Doodle for what should have been his 70th birthday on 18 December. 9 Deaths in 2016 
841,579 
The deaths list had always acted as this list's lodestone; it was so consistent on a day-to-day basis that where it appeared was an indication of the weekly traffic levels. Not anymore. Notable deaths have been so freakishly frequent in 2016 that as the year nears its close, people are struggling to make sense of it, even to the point of personifying 2016 as a kind of sentient demon. 10 Dangal (film) 
814,271 
Aamir Khan (pictured) is without question the biggest star in Bollywood, a world where star power counts for a lot. So it's not surprising that his latest film is already breaking records, having made ₹1.07 billion ($15.78 million) in its first three days. 11 Eva Gabor
749,334 
The younger sister of Zsa Zsa is arguably better known to my generation thanks to her appearances in Green Acres, which got plentiful exposure on Nick at Nite, and as the voice of Miss Bianca in The Rescuers. 12 Passengers (2016 film)
677,043 
Despite snagging arguably the two biggest stars in Hollywood (Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt) this movie was always going to have a problematic reception, as its current 32% on rottentomatoes.com indicates. The story of a man who wakes up alone on an interstellar sleeper ship with 90 years to go before arrival, and then decides to wake up another sleeping passenger he's become infatuated with, but tells her it was just another accident, has tried to sell itself as a scifi version of Romancing the Stone when really it's more similar to Room. From its fairly tepid box office so far, audiences seem to agree with the critics. 13 Francesca Hilton
646,543 The only child of Zsa Zsa Gabor (see #1), who sadly outlived her after she died of a stroke at the age of 67. Gabor was suffering from advanced dementia at the time, and so never knew of her daughter's death. 14 Elizabeth II 
581,095 
For yet another week, the longest-reigning British monarch in history places on this list thanks to The Crown, a $100 million melodrama about her early years in which she is played by Claire Foy. 15 Donald Trump
545,401 
Numbers have stabilized a bit after a post-election decline. It seems very possible that Trump will join Deaths in 2016 (if he hasn't already) as a constant on the chart. 16 United States presidential election, 2016
541,403 
Still popular for another week as people refresh their screens occasionally to make sure Wikipedia was not vandalized (by Russia?). 17 Felicity Jones
531,059 The actress stars in Rogue One (see #2) as well as three other major films this year. 18 Christmas
493,384 
Once again, despite a time period that includes Christmas Eve, the holiday remains largely ignored by Wikipedia users. I predict it to yet again be supplanted by Boxing Day next week. 19 The Man in the High Castle (TV series)
465,962 
The second season of Amazon Video's big competitor to Netflix's stable, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's dystopian alternate history set in an America ruled by the victorious Axis Powers, premiered in its entirety on 16 December. 20 Timur
464,222 
Timur, or Tamerlane, was the Muslim Mongol founder of the Timurid Empire in Persia and Central Asia in the 14th century. Like most Mongol conquerors, he developed a reputation for brutality, which was brought up this week in the Indian media when Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor decided to name their newborn son Taimur, a decision that triggered a minor media crisis. This was debated in the newspapers, with commentators highlighting the ruling Hindutva ideology's paranoia about Muslim rule. 21 Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt
444,861 
The ninth and final husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor (see #1) who was 26 years her junior but with whom she remained for an atypically long 20 years, paid a real princess to adopt him so he could gain a Prince's title, a move after his wife's own heart. 22 Westworld (TV series)
444,263 
The season finale episode, The Bicameral Mind, aired on December 4, but that clearly hasn't stopped people from talking about it. 23 Magda Gabor
442,426 The elder sister of Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor, who managed to outlive Eva, but not Zsa Zsa. 24 Assassin's Creed (film)
436,625 
Sadly, it seems the proverbial Great Video Game Movie and Michael Fassbender's shot at Hollywood superstardom will again have to wait, with this attempt at both scoring a risible 19% on rottentomatoes.com and an anaemic $36 million opening week (not weekend, week) at the worldwide box office. 25 Roadblock: End of the Line
435,326 
WWE's latest pay-per-view pantomime was performed on December 18, 2016, at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
.svg)
.svg)
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.