Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/May 20 to 26, 2018

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (May 20 to 26, 2018) edit

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga and OZOO

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Britannia rule the wiki waves

The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle continues to dominate the most viewed pages: the newlyweds still top the list, and combining all their relatives making an appearance and the article on the throne's succession, it's a whopping 14 articles - 15 if you count the columnist who got some attention by mocking the new member of the royal family. A last England-related article shows up in the Spanish manager who will take over London's most popular football club. Otherwise, there are three movies, a movie list, two musicians, a Google Doodle, and grim things on both Netflix and the news.

For the week of May 20 to 26, 2018, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Views	Notes
1	Meghan, Duchess of Sussex	5,464,369	The now retired actress married herself into the British royal family on Saturday the 19th. The results on Wikipedia were an expected and impressive viewer spike (Mrs. Markle has tied President Trump in having three of the highest weekly views ever) and an unexpected talk page war due to Jimmy Wales himself adding the Duchess title, and plenty of users disagreeing.
2	Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex	2,737,230	The other half of the royal couple, who now can be called "Duke of Sussex" (even if our article here now has removed this title for simplicity's sake).
3	Elizabeth II	2,130,368	HM The Queen is the grandmother of Prince Harry (#2). You probably knew that already.
4	Diana, Princess of Wales	1,995,943	Memories of the late Diana, Princess of Wales with the marriage of her son Prince Harry (#2). Diana was killed in a car accident in 1997 when the prince was 12 years old.
5	Charles, Prince of Wales	1,912,896	The father of Prince Harry (#2), HRH The Prince of Wales walked Meghan Markle (#1) up the aisle in the absence of her father.
6	Deadpool 2	1,794,453	Wisecracking and regenerating mercenary Wade Wilson, played by Ryan Reynolds, has returned to the big screen, now joined by his time-travelling frenemy Cable, played by Josh Brolin. Reviewers and audiences liked Deadpool 2, even if some (myself included) didn't find it as good as good as the original, and the movie has now grossed $500 million worldwide. It should also be noted the film was released with great timing, coming to theaters when Marvel fans needed to laugh in a comic book movie following what Brolin had done as the villain of our #9.
7	13 Reasons Why	1,547,260	The Netflix series about teen suicide is back, though suffering from a clear sophomore slump given the mixed to negative reviews (the Rotten Tomatoes score for season 2 is 28%, a huge drop from the debut's 80%), questioning the decision to deviate from the source material and criticizing the overall sloppy execution.
8	Prince William, Duke of Cambridge	1,466,877	Older brother of Prince Harry (#2), HRH The Duke of Cambridge was best man at the wedding.
9	Avengers: Infinity War	1,316,244	The combined efforts of (almost) all the Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes against Josh Brolin's Thanos continues to make money ($1.9 billion worldwide!) and attract viewers to our article, to the point the film stands between two halves of a royal couple.
10	Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge	1,233,726	The sister-in-law of Prince Harry (#2). The royal wedding probably reminded a few Wikipedia readers of the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.
11	Doria Ragland	1,106,394	Doria Ragland, the mother of Meghan Markle (#1), was the only member of the new Duchess of Sussex's family to attend the royal wedding.
12	Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh	1,016,587	The grandfather of Prince Harry (#2), the 96-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, made his first public appearance since a hip replacement surgery last month at the wedding.
13	Solo: A Star Wars Story	1,009,572	Who would've guessed a bunch of nobodies who don't even survive their own movie could be more popular than Han Solo? While the first Star Wars spin-off Rogue One debuted at #2 in the Top 25 Report, Solo couldn't even get more views than the two movies it beat on the opening weekend (#6, #9). Guess the production problems, leading to a change in directors, and coming so soon after the divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi didn't do any favors.
14	Unai Emery	837,830	This Spanish coach left Paris Saint-Germain and crossed the English Channel to replace long-time Arsenal F.C. manager Arsène Wenger.
15	Deaths in 2018	726,722	"Yes I understand that every life must end, uh-huh As we sit alone, I know someday we must go..."
16	Thomas Markle	721,320	The father of Meghan Markle (#1), who like his daughter worked in show business (as a cinematographer), could not attend her wedding due to a heart surgery, and instead watched it in a Mexican AirBnB.
17	George VI	699,407	In the middle of the monarchy craze, there was room for Elizabeth's (#3) father and predecessor in the throne. And to think George only became king because his brother did exactly the same as great-grandson Harry (#2) and married a divorced American woman.
18	Abraham Ortelius	684,409	Google homaged with a Doodle the creator of the atlas.
19	Exo (band)	676,359	The popular Korean boy band bounces back after missing last week.
20	Donald Glover	669,974	It's been quite a productive year for Mr. Glover, who this week topped both the Billboard Hot 100 with "This Is America" (as Childish Gambino) and the U.S. box office in our #13, Solo (as Lando Calrissian).
21	Katie Hopkins	641,566	This controversial British columnist dissed our #1 in comparison to #10. The internet was quick to counter-attack, stating Hopkins was the wrong person to discuss whether someone is classy (just check how her article has an extensive "Controversies" section - and that doesn't include field sex with a married guy).
22	Succession to the British throne	625,836	The people listed in this article are an exception to the words of some girl named Ella, that "we'll never be royals, it don't run in our blood".
23	Anne, Princess Royal	615,869	The only daughter of Queen Elizabeth (#3), and by extension the aunt of Harry (#2).
24	List of highest-grossing films	599,372	Infinity War (#9) is a few million dollars away from joining fellow Disney release Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the only $2 billion films not directed by James Cameron (pictured). In the meantime, Cameron is working on Avatar 2, which comes out in 2020, 11 years after the still- highest-grossing film ever (no matter if it's now a "forgotbuster" of sorts).
25	Prince Andrew, Duke of York	596,162	Closing off this regal list, Elizabeth's (#3) third child and by extension the uncle of Harry (#2). The Queen's fourth son, Edward, managed only the 36th place, behind even Elizabeth's late sister Margaret (#34).

Near misses: This was clearly a British week. #26 was politician Jeremy Thorpe, currently depicted by Hugh Grant in the BBC miniseries A Very English Scandal and #27 was critic\Youtuber TotalBiscuit, victim of a cancer.