Summary: We skipped a week a few weeks ago (I was on holiday and there are only two of us working on this), which resulted in a slight miscount of the dates. Anyway, Cinco de Mayo happens this week. Other than that, the main theme of the week appears to be true crime; a confluence of events around the world sparked people's interest in old crime cases.
For the week of May 5 to May 11, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most trafficked pages* were:
The great title sequence designer, who created the classic openings to Hitchcock's most notable films, including Vertigo and Psycho, shot to the top this week thanks to an eye-catching animated Google Doodle to celebrate his 93rd birthday on May 8.
The second Sunday in May (that's May 12 to all you ingrates who forgot) is far and away the most popular time of year to celebrate Mother's Day, and in the run-up, panicked college students in all participating countries rushed to their computers to make sure they knew what day it was.
This perennial contender for the Great American Novel and eternal junior high school homework assignment crossed 1 million views this week, most likely from users looking for the Baz Luhrmann film.
Interest in this case spiked on May 8 as the suspect in the above killing, Jodi Arias, was found guilty of his murder. This trial had become something of a media circus, as millions tuned in to a real life soap opera. All this despite the fact that she had admitted the crime in open court and on live television.
One of the most self-explanatory article spikes on Wikipedia ever, this celebration of Mexican-American culture (originally meant to commemorate a Mexican victory over the French) occurred, conveniently, on May 5.
The CEO of the clothing chain Abercrombie & Fitch has caused a stir by saying that he doesn't want overweight people in his stores. I'd like to make a bet that sales at Abercrombie & Fitch will now increase.
Baz Luhrmann's 3D, hip-hop-infused, orgiastic take on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel (see above) is the most popular new movie of the week, opening at $51.1 million.
The woman who was kidnapped and held captive for 18 years became a subject of interest following the similar case of the 2013 Cleveland, Ohio, missing trio, who were found after on May 6 after having been missing for 10 years. Ironically, the article on the Cleveland kidnappings themselves didn't do as well as expected due to the page having been moved quite a few times.
A newcomer to the top 25, but the 3rd most popular Wikipedia article between 2010-2012, 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.
This list is derived from the WP:5000 report. It excludes the Wikipedia main page (and "wiki"), non-article pages, and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish. Standard removals this week include:
Cat anatomy: explanation still unknown for its continuing high view counts
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