Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/June 14 to 20, 2020


Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (June 14 to 20, 2020) edit

Prepared with commentary by Rebestalic and Igordebraga

⭠ Last week's report

Reviewing the data for this week was, in my opinion, a blast. There were a fair amount of surprises: The three George Floyd powerhouses, George Floyd, Killing of George Floyd and George Floyd protests, are all out without much trace (the traces remaining including #3-ranked Aunt Jemima and related Nancy Green (#6)). Most interesting of all was the entry of composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who is currently making the rounds because of recent discussion on his racial orientation (as a matter of fact, he would be turning 250 years old this December).

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Sushant Singh Rajput   11,538,094   Wow. The 10 million mark had only been broken five times before, and only Trump post-election wasn't a deceased celebrity. Except Prince, David Bowie, Kobe Bryant and Stephen Hawking certainly had an international appeal and legacy. Bollywood star Rajput earned his views for both the fact he comes from a nation of a billion people and the shock factor, given he hanged himself at just 34.
2 Juneteenth   4,655,883   "On Friday, it was Juneteenth, which a large portion of White America celebrated and learned about for the very first time." - John Oliver
For details, on June nineteenth, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery began to be enforced in one of the last states, Texas. 46 states celebrate this as a holiday, also known as Emancipation Day. And on these days where race matters are generating protests and thinkpieces everywhere, it's certainly a big deal!
3 Ankita Lokhande   1,819,981   Our article on #1 only lists one known relationship, former co-star Ankita Lokhande. Yet another actress, Rhea Chakraborty, has been assumed to have dated him, and some parts of the internet decided to put the blame of Rajput's suicide on her.
4 Rhea Chakraborty   1,573,943  
5 Aunt Jemima   1,409,005   Aunt Jemima is "a brand of pancake mix, syrup, and other breakfast foods", according to its respective Wikipedia article. It is a brand of the Quaker Oats Company, which is in itself currently a property of PepsiCo (which I guess you'd know most from Pepsi and Doritos). Now, a central part of the Aunt Jemima logo is a graphical representation of a 'Mammy', an African-American woman who works in a white household (think Aibileen Clark from The Help). In light of the racial relations revelations following the death of George Floyd, Quaker Oats Company announced a rework of the Aunt Jemima brand for reasons stated above.
6 365 Days (2020 film)   1,055,835   Poland adapted a local best-seller which is seemingly a local version of Fifty Shades of Grey, featuring raunchier sex and an even unhealthier relationship - as put by Variety, "vacuous idiot is kidnapped by a hot, rich mafioso" who bets she'll fall in love with him after a year. Reviews have been scathing, but the Netflix crowd was certainly drawn to the movie, which certainly proves the upcoming two sequels will have an audience.
7 Nancy Green   1,048,856   And the dirty Polish movie stands between Aunt Jemima and the first spokesperson for the brand, with the incoming rebranding leading to efforts to keep Green's legacy alive.
8 The Last of Us Part II   975,742   Seven years later (six counting the expansion pack), the post-apocalyptic misadventures of Joel and Ellie are back in this PlayStation 4 exclusive, no matter if empty landscapes because of a deadly disease might be too real lately.
9 Dil Bechara   887,738 Due to being postponed over and over again because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian remake of The Fault in Our Stars directed by Mukesh Chhabra (pictured) is now set to be a posthumous release for #1.
10 Deaths in 2020   809,101   And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead
11 COVID-19 pandemic   788,711   When this thing started, I said to myself that five million total cases would be a very high estimate. Well, fast forward to now, and it turns out that the total number of cases nearly doubles my 'very high' estimate. Half a million people have died. Yet, some people still say 'Too soon, too soon' in a mocking/dismissive manner when I give them the stats. Have empathy, people.
12 Chhichhore   768,220   This comedy-drama from last year is now the last theatrically released film of our #1 in life.
13 Ian Holm   764,927   A British actor with knighthood and a storied career, including roles such as Bilbo Baggins, the android Ash, Father Vito Cornelius and the trainer from Chariots of Fire, the last one earning him an Academy Award nomination, Sir Ian Holm died at the age of 88.
14 Tulsa race massacre   718,278   As if the George Floyd protests and such wouldn't bring this bad moment of race relations to light, the fact someone (#17) decided to do a rally in Tulsa during Juneteenth (#2) didn't help matters.
15 Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone   701,267   Seattle has been gathering the George Floyd protests in this area comprising 6 blocks which can be called by a fun acronym (CHAZ), and has attracted the opposition of the Tweeter-In-Chief (#17).
16 Vera Lynn   686,979   "Does anybody remember Vera Lynn?" Well, this singer famous for "We'll Meet Again" lived up to 103 before passing away this week.
17 Donald Trump   614,250   The 45th and current President of the United States, who is currently in the news for everything from seemingly having trouble walking down ramps and making comments of questionable veracity (e.g. 'Kung Flu' when referring to the virus at the helm of the COVID-19 pandemic) to holding a Bible upside-down at a photoshoot in front of St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square and achieving an embarrassingly low turnout during a recent political rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma (which happened to be the site of the Tulsa race massacre, #12).
15 Dexamethasone   613,500   This medication has recently been found to potentially offer a lower chance of death from COVID-19, when given to a patient. This discovery, made in the United Kingdom, has apparently prompted the World Health Organisation to put some focus into it.
19 Danny Masterson   582,400   Hyde from That '70s Show was arrested and charged in connection with three rape allegations.
20 Backlash (2020)   526,521   WWE continues with their pay-per-views in empty arenas, featuring among others Asuka (pictured) taking the WWE Raw Women's Championship.
21 Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal 504,757   BBC has been broadcasting The Salisbury Poisonings, about how a Russian officer who was actually a double agent for the British secret service wound up poisoned by a nerve agent alongside his daughter.
22 Shooting of Breonna Taylor   503,084   Another incident involving the death of an African-American by police. Relatable again to George Floyd's death.
23 Ludwig van Beethoven   491,019   Ludwig van Beethoven is widely credited as being one of the greatest composers of music in Western history. A fair judgement, too--being an amateur musician myself, I find Beethoven's music immensely complex on the inside without sounding that way outside. He's the man behind that dun-dun-dun-dun thing, and the version of the Ode to Joy that we know today. But here's an interesting question--was he black? When I heard about that question, I immediately dismissed it. However, some follow-up reading on webpages such as this one provided a lot of intriguing thoughts. Here's a quote from that page--Beethoven apparently had a "wide, thick-lipped mouth, short, thick nose, and proudly arched forehead"; most, if not all, bodily traits of people from the Black ethnicity. But for example, as you see in the painting on the left, Beethoven is clearly seen with pale-ish skin. Was he actually pale? Did he bleach his skin? Did the painter change his skin tone so that he would seem more 'pure' as a pale-skinned person? I don't know.
24 Jeffrey Epstein   469,988   One last entry for the subject of Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.
25 Killing of Rayshard Brooks   461,820   And to finish off, another death of an African-American by a policeman, who has been charged with felony murder and ten other offenses.
 

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.