The Year of Death and unreleased, not to be released anytime in the near future Taxes
Let's face it, 2016 was a disaster of an excuse for a year. (And so is 2017, but that's not the point.) 2016 is now done and over with, though, and it's good riddance. With plenty of tragic, um, political or just plain overmemeified (that's not a word, is it) news to go around, I think that almost everyone is glad that 2016 is over. I suppose there was some good stuff, but not enough to justify everything else that happened
[1] based off of
Commentary by A lad insane, with a bit of copying and pasting from other reports.
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Donald Trump 
75,965,727 
He was elected president of the United States on November 8, 2016. Well, not really, but conservatives seem to accept the severely unfair and screwed-up ways of the Electoral College because their "person" won. It seems like just four years ago they were saying it was OF THE DEVIL. How superficial. I want to move to Canada. (Or New Zealand.) And I would if I wasn't 12. Being a minor is frequently quite inconvenient. 2 Deaths in 2016 
35,911,398 
2016 was absolutely horrible in terms of celebrity deaths, and so far 2017 is shaping up to be that way as well. David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Glenn Frey, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Gene Wilder, Leonard Cohen, John Glenn, George Michael, Carrie Fisher (and then her mum), the list continues... Now it's 2017 and as bad as last year. Can't wait to see what 2018's like. rolls eyes 3 Prince (musician) 
22,793,889 
Died on 21 April of a fentanyl overdose at the age of 57, leaving the world with a lot of widely acclaimed music, and a new Wikipedia record, with his article accumulating 16,561,273 views in a 7-day period, which broke the article. To my knowledge, however, it was only the one article that broke. Unlike some others. Thanks for breaking Wikipedia, Conrad Murray! 4 United States presidential election, 2016
22,063,171 
"No. No. That's not true. That's impossible!" "Search your feelings. You know it to be true."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Enough said. Moving on...
5 Suicide Squad (film)
19,435,260 
I'm not really a fan of this kind of stuff, but hey, it had Bohemian Rhapsody in it. That's a good thing. However, with a 25% rating, it doesn't seem to be exactly acclaimed... but at least it did better than Daddy Day Camp. Although that one could be hard to beat for the award of critical bellyflop. 6 List of Bollywood films of 2016
19,285,100 
Generally a popular yearly list article, often slightly below the Top 25 in weekly reports but has collected enough long-term views to be awarded this small box explaining this. Such a glorious award. 7 David Bowie 
19,039,110 
David Robert Jones died and left for Mars on 10 January 2016, having released his last album just two days before his untimely death. He left the world with many albums and movies, a new Wikipedia record (for the week of January 10-16, 12,006,245 views, which was then broken by Prince}, and a world trying to confirm a paranormal/Illuminati connection because of the song Girl Loves Me (involving a coincidence that had a 1 in 7 chance of happening, given the lyrics, but probably less if you take into account for the fact that it was the very next week, so probably 1 in 30, which is still not that unlikely) and the also untimely death of Alan Rickman later the same week. Admittedly, there are a lot of similarities (they both were British performing-arts males that died of cancer within a week of each other that had to do with spiders and lightning bolts) but not enough to go running to the Daily Mail with your precious "I have proof that David Bowie was involved with the Illuminati" stories. People. Seriously. Quit it with the Illuminati stuff. Um, anyway, ending that squirrel... 8 Melania Trump
18,946,792 
Summed up in one word: eesh. The First Lady of the United States, in office since January, has been surrounded by controversy, as well as many other people involved in the same administration. 9 Captain America: Civil War 
18,693,046 
Well, it did pretty well at the box office and in the hands of critics, but it sounds like a typical superhero movie to me. My opinion of superheroes has not changed since four items ago, but each person to their own opinions I suppose. 10 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
18,548,575 "Of my friend, I can only say this: Of all the souls I have encountered in my-"... oh yeah... wrong movie... Anyway though, here's more superheroes. What is it with superheroes? Everyone likes superheroes. Why is the public so fascinated with mutant humans saving innocent civilians from doom? (or killing each other...) but... 11 Hillary Clinton
17,801,991 
The unsuccessful Democratic candidate for president of the United States (who should have won, I mean, she sucked too but not as badly). Her would-be status as President raises the question: What would Bill Clinton's status have been if she had won? 12 Deadpool (film)
16,917,412 
SUPERHEROES! EVEN MORE SUPERHEROES! This one, though, is rated R for apparent "strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity" (I haven't seen it). Thus barring unaccompanied teens from watching the movie in theaters. Thus encouraging censorship. Which could then cause rioting. Which could kill prominent political leaders. Which could then send the country into major political upheaval and possibly anarchy. Which could spread the same effect to the entire world. Which causes the extinction of all life on Earth in a massive nuclear holocaust. All because of one movie being rated R. 13 Elizabeth II
522,443 
The queen of England and related commonwealth, she secures her place here due to a biographical drama about her early years called The Crown that aired its first season on British TV during 2016. 14 United States
518,119 Typically popular article, see also #1, #4, #8, #11, et cetera. 15 Muhammad Ali
496,597 
This world-famous boxer died on June 3 of Parkinson's disease related to brain injuries sustained while boxing at the age of 74. 16 Pablo Escobar
485,168 
The current big film in India, the follow up to 2014's Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania was released on the Holi weekend. 17 Barack Obama
474,132 
Sheeran has spent ten weeks top of the UK Singles Chart. He has spent eight weeks top of the Billboard Top 100. He has spent ten weeks top of the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. He has spent nine weeks top of the Dutch Top 40. In the past couple of weeks he has broken through to top the Slovenian SloTop50. There is absolutely no way of knowing where he will strike next, so please do remain vigilant. 18 Game of Thrones
465,898 
Another Reddit discovery. The term, popularised by Roger Ebert, refers to a plot which is kept in motion solely by virtue of the fact that everybody involved is an idiot. As well as being a useful literary criticism term, it can also be used to discuss abysmal graphwork. 19 The Revenant (2015 film)
441,090 Remains President of the United States, despite all those petitions your Facebook friends have been signing. 20 UEFA Euro 2016
427,879 
The CW's adaptation of Archie Comics appears to have taken a brief break over the past couple of weeks, perhaps leading viewers to come to Wikipedia to find out where it is? Archie sadly completely passed me by as a kid, but I am holding out hope that the success of this series will eventually lead to a dark and gritty re-imagining of The Beano. 21 Star Wars: The Force Awakens
418,476 
R.I.P. Julius Caesar, assassinated on March 15, 44 BC. The Ides are down 252,471 readers on last year, with the Dutch election not quite raising the same parallels as last year's Super Tuesday II. 22 Game of Thrones (season 6)
399,893 
The UCLA Bruins basketball star has broken the single-season record for most assists and is seen as a top prospect for the 2017 NBA draft in June. 23 2016 Summer Olympics
14,026,668 
Sports are always popular among Wikipedians, and this was no exception. With many events, a few scandals and other things that news media love to cover, people flocked to the article in droves to either find the latest scores or the latest updates on the scandals. 24 Carrie Fisher
13,923,993 
Princess Leia passed away on 27 December 2016 after drowning in moonlight, having been strangled by her own bra. (or going into cardiac arrest on a plane, whichever, I like the first one.) her initial heart attack occurred on December 23, and people who were (rightfully) sick and tired of people dying hoped that she wouldn't join them. Then, they were distracted by a cruel twist: george Michael had died. While they were in private mourning for this sadly ironic twist of fate, the penultimate blow struck, and she died. Then her mother as well. It seemed to end after that, but everyone was thankful for the new year. ...then silently cursed 2017 as well. 25 O. J. Simpson
13,795,907 
The world's most famous accused-murderer-turned-robber claims the last spot on the list thanks to a true-crime TV series featuring his controversial trial for murder in the 1990s.
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Exclusions edit
Typical exclusions apply.