The Top 25 Report
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (August 20 to 26, 2017) edit
Prepared with commentary by OZOO
← Last week's report – Next week's report →
Stark v. Lannister, Mayweather v. McGregor, Moon v. Sun edit
Our list topper, one way or another, is Game of Thrones, the main page for the series replacing the season 7 article, which drops to second (but see the note at the bottom), with both the list of episodes (#17) and leading actress Emilia Clarke (#25) also making it onto our list. Comedian Jerry Lewis is at #3 following his death.
Eclipse content tended to dominate the list, with some surprising entries. Obviously the article for this week's eclipse (#4) makes it onto the list, and not really a surprise to see the main solar eclipse article (#8) here, and both the lists on eclipses this century and eclipses visible from the United States (#9 & #10) make sense, and I accept people are interested in the US's next solar eclipse (#16). But I certainly didn't expect to see the list of solar eclipses from the last century making it onto the list, as the world got swept up in eclipse-mania.
Also sweeping the world up in -mania was boxing, with both Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (#5 & #6) making good placings and the week-ending fight in at #13. Despite this hype, the fight itself was still beaten by WWE SummerSlam (#12), which opened the week and may well have taken advantage of that boost to get a higher placing on this list.
Matters arising from India, now, with the controversial guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh being convicted of rape this week, a conviction that led to riots in which more than thirty people were killed. The disturbing internet "challenge" blue whale continues to make headlines, with governments in some regions of India making efforts to ban the game which has been linked to a number of suicides. Continuing with politics, but moving to America, the controversial ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio (#14) and the show-offy wife of Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, Louise Linton (#18) are on the list, as are the late comedian and activist Dick Gregory (#20) and the left-wing movement Antifa (#24).
Finally, three entertainment items getting a low presence on the list are the recently launched Netflix/MCU series, The Defenders (#19), the 2017 Southeast Asian Games (#21) currently running in Kuala Lumpur and the drummer Chad Smith (#23) and his noted resemblance to Will Ferrell.
For the week of August 20 to 26, 2017, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Game of Thrones 
1,962,313 
In the land of Westeros, the most popular article over on the Dothraki Wikipedia is called Double Entry. It is a fantasy drama about an accountant who never meets weird skeletal ice-monsters and has almost no one trying to kill him to take his power. In the highly rated season finale, the hero had a nice lunch before a quiet afternoon in watching the football. Over here on the English Wikipedia, it's Game of Thrones again. The page view count here may be exaggerated (there's an unusual bump on the daily viewcounts), but the page would be on the list anyway and the show would have an article in the #1 slot regardless, since #2 is... 2 Game of Thrones (season 7) 
1,820,225 
It would, of course, be easy, not to mention extremely lazy, to reduce this objectively popular series to "just some nonsense about dragons". But I've got 25 of these to write, so let's crack on with the dragon talk! Who are your favourite dragons? Mine are Gorwen, Y Ddraig Goch and Duncan Bannatyne. 3 Jerry Lewis
1,640,879 
Jerry Lewis, the American comedian, actor and singer, died on August 20 at the age of 91. He was known for his slapstick humour in film, television and radio; his partnership with Dean Martin as part of the comedy duo Martin and Lewis and a significant career of solo work. He also served as national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and hosted the live Labor Day weekend broadcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon for 44 years. 4 Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 
1,515,648 
On August 21, 2017, The Heroic Moon briefly blocked out the hideous light from the Hated Sun. The phenomenon was visible from the United States, a big country in North America. 14 states experienced totality, with the rest of the country getting at least some partial coverage. Even amongst those who couldn't make it to a viewing could have seen it in this modern world, with NASA reporting over 90 million page views on their eclipse page, breaking the previous record seven times over. 5 Conor McGregor
1,324,844 
Conor McGregor, the current UFC Lightweight Champion, made his professional boxing debut with a fight on August 26 against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (#6). Despite some predicting "Notorious" would be knocked out within the first two minutes, McGregor started aggressively, but faded over the course of the fight, which was eventually called in favour of Mayweather in the tenth round by technical knockout. 6 Floyd Mayweather Jr. 
1,301,421 
Floyd Mayweather Jr., the WBC Supreme Champion, made what will likely be his professional boxing end with a fight on August 26 against Conor McGregor (#5). Mayweather defeated McGregor in the tenth round, moving him on to 50 fights unbeaten. Where he will likely stay, unless someone else offers him $200,000,000 to come out of retirement again. 7 Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh
1,239,905 
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, an Indian guru who has been head of the religious social group Dera Sacha Sauda since 1990, was convicted on 25 August of two counts of rape. Following the verdict, at least thirty-six people were killed and more than three hundred injured in widespread riots throughout Northern India. 8 Solar eclipse 
1,195,758 
As seen in America this week, and elsewhere throughout history. In 585 BCE an eclipse predicted by Thales of Miletus allegedly launched a peace between the warring Medes and Lydians, while in fifth year of the reign of Chinese king Zhong Kang, two astronomers were executed for their failure to predict and eclipse. So, you know, some good, some bad. 9 List of solar eclipses in the 21st century
1,042,511 
Solar eclipse of July 22, 2009 pictured, with a photograph taken from Bangladesh. The next total eclipse will be on July 2, 2019, but I wouldn't expect a significant amount of coverage since the main region of totality will be over the southern Pacific Ocean, where humans are unlikely to live unless science can finally evolve us some gills. 10 List of solar eclipses visible from the United States 
1,021,067 
To be honest, there is a limit to how much can be written about eclipses, and there's still two more eclipse articles to go. I could take this opportunity to tell you when the next total eclipse visible from the United States will be, but since that's one of the two eclipse articles still to come, I will maintain the tension. 11 Blue Whale (game)
1,003,778 
The sick Internet "game" - which ends with the participant's suicide - is, lamentably, still in the news, primarily in India. The actress Aishwarya Rajesh has reported that a family friend committed suicide due to the "game", while the government of Utter Pradesh has instructed major social networks to take down all information about the "game". 12 SummerSlam (2017)
991,486 
Ah, WWE, unusually, only the second most over-the-top combat event on the list this week. The 30th SummerSlam event was held on August 20 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. In the main event, Brock Lesnar (pictured) triumphed against three rival wrestlers to retain the WWE Universal Championship. "Universal Champion" is quite a claim to make, and one that if WWE have any sense will be swiftly challenged by the Daleks, the Sith and whoever gets the final qualifying place by winning the Game of Thrones. 13 Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor
893,771 
Mayweather vs McGregor, referred to variously as "The Money Fight", "The Biggest Fight in Combat Sports History" and "The Bout to Knock the Other Guy Out", took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada on August 26, with, as previously mentioned, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (#6) triumphing in what he says will be his final ever fight with a technical knockout in the tenth round. 14 Joe Arpaio
802,361 
Joe Arpaio, the Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona from 1993 until losing re-election last year, was convicted in July of contempt of court, before being pardoned this week by President Trump. During his period of sheriff, Arpaio became known for his use of chain gangs, of setting up a self-described concentration camp, and of allegations of racial profiling, as well as an obsession with the birth certificate of former President Obama. For some reason, the pardoning of Arpaio has not been a universally popular move. 15 Deaths in 2017
722,029 
On the Dothraki Wikipedia, this is the most frequently edited page. 16 Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024
669,848 
The next total eclipse visible from the United States will be on April 8, 2024, which sounds like a long time until you realise the United Kingdom doesn't get one until 2090. This eclipse will travel at a diagonal to this week's eclipse, and a few lucky cities will get to experience totalaty from both eclipses. My advice for all people in the region is not to look directly at the eclipse; unless of course you are a bad person, in which case, go nuts. 17 List of Game of Thrones episodes
664,686 
The seventh season concluded last night, if you are reading this report on August 28, 2017; or concluded seven years ago if you happen to be going back through this report while waiting for the Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024. If you are reading this report while waiting for the eclipse, could one of you send a message back through time to let us know how Dwayne The Rock Johnson is doing as POTUS? Cheers. 18 Louise Linton
598,572 
Time for some more American politics, here with Scottish actress Linton, who appeared in the 2016 remake of Cabin Fever and an episode each of CSI: NY and Cold Case, and who also happens to be the wife of Steven Mnuchin, the current United States Secretary of the Treasury. It is in that latter position that she finds herself, having decided to Instagram a photo of herself on the way to Fort Knox highlighting her designer clothing, and then reacting badly to criticism of that image, boasting that she paid more taxes than an "out of touch" mother of three from Portland, Oregon who had criticed the post. That is rarely a good image to present, and Linton has been backpedaling rapidly since. 19 The Defenders (miniseries)
593,536 
Are you all excited about another superhero series? What do you mean, "no"? Well, here's the latest Netflix effort as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (a part that, seemingly, will never actually be acknowledged by anything Cinematic). The main characters from the four previous Netflix series, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, combine, Avengers-style, to take on a new antagonist played by Sigourney Weaver. In terms of the major characters, Jessica Jones (played by Krysten Ritter, pictured), is the most popular amongst our readers, and would be #31 on this list if we went down that far, with the other characters having raw list locations of #148 (Iron Fist), #211 (Luke Cage) and #353 (Daredevil). Jessica's high ranking might be down to her last series being the least recent to be broadcast, or might be down to her being the best character. Difficult to say for sure. 20 Dick Gregory
542,731 
Dick Gregory, the African American comedian and civil rights activist, died on August 19 at the age of 84. As a comedian, Gregory was notably the first black comedian to successfully cross over to white audiences, appearing on television and putting out comedy record albums. As an activist, Gregory was arrested multiple times for protesting the Vietnam War and racial injustice in the 1960s, and ended up on the master list of political opponents for President Nixon. 21 2017 Southeast Asian Games
541,804 
The 29th Southeast Asian Games games are currently being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (main athletics stadium Bukit Jalil National Stadium pictured). As I write this, hosts Malaysia currently lead the medal table with 109 golds (252 total), with Thailand in second, some way back with 60 golds (206 total). The event continues through to 30 August. 22 List of solar eclipses in the 20th century
532,622 
The solar eclipse of August 11, 1999, which is pictured, was the last total eclipse of the 20th century and, as previously mentioned, was the most recent visible from the United Kingdom. The first total eclipse was May 18, 1901, with the path of totality crossing Madagascar and Indonesia, amongst others. There wasn't as much TV coverage in those days. 23 Chad Smith
502,130 
Chad Smith, the drummer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, looks a lot like the actor Will Ferrell, a fact which has been noted on many occasions. They first met at the premiere of film The Ladies Man, and the tale of their meeting was a highly rated submission on r/todayilearned this week. 24 Antifa (United States)
483,954 
Is it a revolutionary movement? Is it an anarchist organisation? Heroes fighting fascism? Villains supporting communism? A blanket term to categorise a number of individuals with different beliefs and dismiss them? There are many opinions on what the Antifa movement actually is. If you, personally, are undecided, my opinion would be to find out what the neonazis and Ku Klux Klan supporters think of them, and think the opposite, since Nazis and the KKK have historically not held views which align with equality, freedom, and all the things generally regarded as "good". 25 Emilia Clarke
470,741 Emilia Clarke, known for her breakthrough role in gritty BBC drama Doctors and her role in indisputable classic Triassic Attack, is almost certainly her as a result of her role as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones (#1). A few other GoT actors are just off the list, notably Kit Harington (Jon Snow, #30), Rose Leslie (Ygritte, #53) and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark, #78). Being yet to watch this series, I am forced to make the same assumptions as I do whenever basketball players are on the list, and assume that these are currently MVPs in the eponymous game.
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Note:
- The article for Game of Thrones has increased by roughly a million viewers from last week, with no equivalent boost for the season article, which looks suspicious. Considering the mobile percentages from the raw list, it can be estimated that last week had 507,454 mobile & 578,474 computer views, with this week having 543,364 mobile & 1,418,948 computer views, indicating a potential issue. However, it is difficult to say how many of those views should be branded "illegitimate", as the article certainly belongs on the list, even if it maybe should be slightly lower. It should be considered that the #2 page is the season article, so the #1 slot has not been "stolen" from something unrelated that deserves it more. If the view counts for Game of Thrones were the same as last week, the article would be down at #8 (from #4), which is, perhaps, an indicator of how many big articles there were this week.
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.
- Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.