Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (March 8 to 14, 2015)
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It's not cricket: If not for Kanye West's dubious repeat at #1 due to people's glee at seeing "loser.com" redirect to his Wikipedia page, the 2015 Cricket World Cup (#2) would have made the top spot, albeit in a generally slow news week. And news was slow enough that a barrage of light news coverage of Pi Day even brought Pi to #9. The most notable death of the week was popular British author Terry Pratchett at #3.
As prepared by Milowent, for the week of March 8 to 14, 2015, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Kanye West 
1,519,364 
A big drop from 4.2 million views last week, and though views were on a downward trend the entire week, he still got enough to stay on top of the chart for a second week. Kanye West is, it is fair to say, a polarising figure. His most persistent recent gaffe has been his ill-judged tirade against Beck, winner of this year's Grammy for album of the year, which has apparently earned him the undying enmity of Beck fans. This enmity has manifested itself in many ways, and the web address "loser.com", which just happens to share a name with Beck's best known single, was recently redirected to his Wikipedia page. This redirect has led, naturally, to a spike in views to said page. Loser.com still redirects to his Wikipedia article as of now. 2 2015 Cricket World Cup 
923,501 
Up from #16 and 465K views last week, as the group stage reached its conclusion. Eight teams have now advanced to the knockout stage. In Pool A, the four advancing teams were New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, while England, Afghanistan, and Scotland were eliminated. From Pool B, India, South Africa, Pakistan, and West Indies advanced, leaving Ireland, Zimbabwe, and United Arab Emirates behind. 3 Terry Pratchett
864,966 
The second most-read living British author after J.K. Rowling, Pratchett died on March 12 at age 66 from Alzheimer's disease. He was best known for his Discworld series of 40 volumes. His daughter Rhianna Pratchett announced his death with a series of tweets, starting with "AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER," using block capitals as a reference to how the character of Death speaks in Pratchett's works. 4 International Women's Day
610,668 
This celebration falls on March 8 each year, and Google celebrated it once again with a Google Doodle. 5 Stephen Hawking 
606,680 
The former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, black hole theorist and latter-day science icon makes his 19th straight appearance in the Top 25 this week. So, considering this longstanding run by Hawking, you might ask where other outstanding physicists fall on our charts. Well, Albert Einstein was #118 on the raw WP:5000 this week (218K views), and Marie Curie was #1139 (63,449 views). Max Planck doesn't even make the top 5000, and neither does Erwin Schrödinger, though the internet being what it is, his cat is #3197 (35,626 views). 6 Daylight saving time 
554,687 
Not unlike clockwork (or just like clockwork?) this article last seen on the Top 25 in November 2014 returns. Views peaked on March 9, when the United States, Canada, and a few smaller nations made their time switch. 7 John Cena
552,553 
The popular American professional wrestler is engaged in a "feud" with Alexander Rusev, who holds the current WWE United States Championship. The two will next spar at WrestleMania 31 (#20) on March 29. 8 Deaths in 2015 
505,910 
The viewing figures for this article have been remarkably constant; fluctuating week to week between 450 and 550,000, apparently heedless of who actually died. Deaths this week included Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons (#26) (March 8); actor Windell Middlebrooks (#24) (March 9); Pulitzer-winning reporter Claude Sitton (March 10); American businesswoman Dell Williams, known for founding the first feminist sex-toy business in the United States in 1974 (March 11); Oleksandr Peklushenko, former governor of Zaporizhia Oblast (2011-14) in Ukraine, found shot dead (March 12); Romanian Olympic fencer Maria Vicol (March 13); and Argentine actress Ana María Giunta (March 14). None of the latter five made the WP:5000. 9 Pi
489,655 
Pi Day (#56 raw) falls on March 14, which make sense in countries using the month-day date format like the United States, i.e., 3/14. This year, Pi Day got extra coverage due to both a lack of other news stories, and the fact that 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 a.m (and also at p.m. in applicable countries) represented the first 10 digits of π. It is all rather silly but good-natured (and full of corny jokes like "Never talk to pi. He'll go on forever"). But anything that encourages people to enjoy math (or at least not fear it) must raise the collective intelligence of the world in a positive way. And maybe a few people will even read A History of Pi by Petr Beckmann, a delightfully quirky volume that not only provides math history and formulas, but also bashes Aristotle and the Romans. 10 Fifty Shades of Grey
485,465 
The release of the film adaptation of this onetime Twilight fanfic continues to draw fans. A big drop from 736,594 views last week, but still enough to make the Top 10 in a slow news week. 11 Facebook
480,744 
A perennially popular article. 12 Empire (2015 TV series) Unassessed 476,832 
Lee Daniels' TV drama about a family-run hip-hop label stars Terrence Howard (pictured) and has proven a hit for Fox, with consistent ratings in its debut season. 13 The Walking Dead (season 5) Unassessed 476,572 
The latest episode of this popular TV series premièred on March 1. 14 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Unassessed 473,108 
This new series starring Ellie Kemper (pictured) debuted on Netflix on March 6. The show's premise (apparently correct although the article doesn't yet have a cite for it) follows "29-year old Kimmy Schmidt as she adjusts to life in New York City after her rescue from an Indiana doomsday cult. The pilot opens with her rescue from the cult's underground bunker, where Kimmy and three other women were held with the Reverend for fifteen years." Wow, television series plots are really getting creative these days, aren't they? 15 House of Cards (U.S. TV series)
458,640 
The third season of this political thriller TV series debuted in its entirety on Netflix on February 27 16 Saint Patrick's Day
453,949 
This will probably rise to #1 or #2 next week. 17 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
444,801 
The Islamic State continues to find new and innovative ways to appal. Now, to add to the already varied resume of torture, mass murder, and slavery, you can add cultural genocide, as Hatra, the ruined ancient Persian city in Iraq, has been reportedly bulldozed to rubble. The birthplace of human civilization had better find some decent custodians, and fast. 18 John Eleuthère du Pont 
436,730 Du Pont is the subject of the 2014 film Foxcatcher, in which he is portrayed by Steve Carell. The film was released on video on March 3. 19 Better Call Saul
430,890 
A television show spinoff of Breaking Bad (a former chart favorite on Wikipedia) starring Bob Odenkirk (pictured), it debuted on AMC on February 8, 2015. 20 WrestleMania 31 
415,347 See #7. 21 The Walking Dead (TV series)
403,946 See #13 22 Fifty Shades of Grey (film)
396,086 See #10. 23 Madonna
388,805 
The singer released her latest album Rebel Heart on March 6. 24 Windell Middlebrooks
377,094 This American actor died on March 6 of a pulmonary embolism at age 36. 25 List of Bollywood films of 2015 372,479 
One of the latest Bollywood releases is NH10, a thriller starring Anushka Sharma (pictured).
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- Just missing the list: Sam Simon (#26), Chris Kyle (#27), United States (#28), Alan Turing (#29), and Google (#30).
- By the 100s (notes from Raw WP:5000): #100: Whiplash (2014 film) (226,950 views); #200: Pharrell Williams (164,009 views); #300: Leonardo DiCaprio (130,991 views); #400: Dragon Ball XenoVerse (111,005 views); #500: Assassin's Creed (98,022 views); #600: FourFiveSeconds (89,981 views); #700: Mexico (82,828 views); #800: Mad Men (76,804 views); #900: Sun (72,146 views); and #999: Black Death (68,553 views) (the non-real page Index.php driven by bot views was #1000).
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 also exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (2% or less) or almost all mobile views (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.
Specific exclusions this week:
- Finance
- Tablet computer: A crazed viewing pattern offsets a decent mobile count.