Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/January 31 to February 6, 2021

The Top 25 Report

This page contains material that is kept because it is considered humorous.
Such material is not meant to be taken seriously.

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (January 31 to February 6, 2021) edit

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Benmite and TheConflux

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A whole lotta death on the list this week as February begins, including the death of a career: A rock icon (#6) finally got his #MeToo moment, thanks to his ex-fiancé (#12) who's been hinting at the fact that he was terrible for almost a decade now, while other predators (#23, #25) and some prey (#21) also work their way into the Report. A once-noble politician (#19) and an always-terrible one (#4) got forcibly removed from power, while other, balder leaders (#24) stepped down of their own volition. Despite kind of just doing his thing, Elon Musk is here again, because the internet loves fawning over people who are excessively wealthy, and people really like The Dig (#8, #9, #15, #20). Oh, and did I mention a lot of people died? (#1, #3, #7, #14)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Dustin Diamond	2,122,339	After becoming the target of a death hoax back in October of last year, Screech from Saved by the Bell actually died this week at just 44 years old due to lung cancer. Although his legacy as an actor mostly started and ended with Screech (unless you happen to one of the very few fans of Alumnus Guy #1 or Man in Outhouse), he earned a different reputation for his various mishaps over the years, such as filing for bankruptcy and getting arrested for pulling out a switchblade in a bar.
2	Royal Rumble (2021)	1,819,392	WWE continues to host events without an audience, with Bianca Belair (pictured) and Edge winning the main cards.
3	Christopher Plummer	1,669,358	A Canadian actor who was more than deserving of the top spot on this list and was the oldest person to win an Oscar, Plummer starred in all sorts of hit films, from The Sound of Music to Knives Out. Given he died so late in the week, his viewcount was too low to surpass that of Royal Rumble.
4	Marjorie Taylor Greene	1,353,813	US Representative known for her support of QAnon and other conspiracy theories, including one in which the California wildfires were caused by "Jewish space lasers". She was recently stripped of her committee roles in Congress by all Democrats and eleven Republicans. This is unrelated, but whenever her name is shortened in the media to "MTG," I can't stop interpreting it as Magic: The Gathering.
5	WandaVision	1,286,940	The first Marvel Cinematic Universe show on Disney+ continues to surprise viewers, this time with a very unexpected cameo.
6	Marilyn Manson	1,156,506	One of the most infamous shock rockers saw his reputation fall apart after various women came out with sexual abuse stories following a social media statement by Wood (#12), leading to him being dropped by his label, his agent, and two shows.
7	Captain Tom	1,069,212	Few centenarians do as much for the world before they leave as this British Army veteran, who last year started raising money for charity and inspired the recording of a #1 hit and Queen Elizabeth to knight him, among other things. Captain Sir Thomas Moore passed away two months before he would turn 101.
8	The Dig (2021 film)	965,743	While many would be frustrated that this is not based on the 1995 LucasArts adventure game, this Netflix adaptation of a book retelling about an archeological excavation in Sutton Hoo prior to World War II is certainly a good story, but one that brought plenty of people to Wikipedia to check how things actually went.
9	Sutton Hoo	965,046
10	Deaths in 2021	942,957	As #6 sung when we thought he was just weird instead of a deviant: Sampled and soulless, worldwide and real webbed You sell all the living for more safer dead
11	Myanmar	910,686	Unfortunately, the democratically elected country of Myanmar, led by #19, was recently overthrown in a 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. While the military already exerted a large amount of control over the government, they are now instituting even more restrictions on free speech and free expression, shifting Myanmar further into authoritarianism.
12	Evan Rachel Wood	819,837	This talented actress who currently plays a rebellious robot in Westworld has been extremely vocal about her abuse and grooming at the hands of an unnamed man for a while now, even testifying in front of Congress about it and writing the Phoenix Act, a California bill which extended the statute of limitations on domestic abuse cases. This week, she came out and gave a face to the man who she's been talking about for nearly a decade, revealing that it was none other than the rocker who shows up at #6 on this list and inspiring many others to come out with their own tragic experiences with Manson.
13	Elon Musk	791,312	Trying to prove he's not a supervillain, the richest man in the world placed a $100 million competition on X Prize to stimulate development of carbon removal solutions.
14	Sophie (musician)	777,579	SOPHIE, the reclusive electronic producer, passed away on Saturday morning. According to a statement from Transgressive Records, SOPHIE wanted to climb up on the roof to see the moon, but slipped. SOPHIE was influential - not only for shaping the state of pop music, but also as a transgender icon.
15	Edith Pretty	752,776	The owner of the Sutton Hoo (#9) land where ancient artifacts were found, portrayed in the Netflix movie (#8) by Carey Mulligan.
16	Bridgerton	747,339	Enter the magical world of Shondaland, where doctors are always either involved in some serious drama or dead, hackers hack faster than their hands can type, and England can be as whimsical and historically inaccurate as you'd like it to be.
17	The Little Things (2021 film)	736,947	"I can deal with fate, but not The Little Things..." Sorry. Denzel Washington stars in this thriller about a criminal investigation in the 1990s that was simultaneously released in theaters and HBO Max. Reviews have been mixed, but Jared Leto's turn as the prime suspect is already contending for awards.
18	QAnon	733,215	Something the ignorant right cooked up to paint the government as good guys (when conspiracy theories usually do the opposite!), which is thankfully falling in prominence.
19	Aung San Suu Kyi	729,070	The former leader of #11 until she was deposed this week in a coup, she won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights, so of course she was removed by aggressive people.
20	Basil Brown	680,221	Back to Sutton Hoo (#9), the guy who led the excavation efforts, who in The Dig (#8) is portrayed by Ralph Fiennes.
21	Groundhog Day	627,643	This idiosyncratic North American not-really-holiday fell, as it always does, on February 2. Thanks to the movie, most people in the world probably think it involves doing the same thing over and over again, but they're wrong; that's called "living during the COVID-19 lockdown". For the still-perplexed, let me explain: every year, on the second day of February, people watch a groundhog, which is a large, potbellied marmot, emerge from his burrow. If he sees his shadow, he goes back in; if he doesn't, he comes out. Coming out heralds an early spring; staying in means six more weeks of winter. (as long as the pandemic ends following that, I'm all for it!) The custom is strongest in Pennsylvania, where it originated, and particularly Punxsutawney, home of the world's most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, who speaks his forecast in Groundhogese into the ear of the chairman of the Groundhog Club Inner Circle, who then translates for the audience. No I did not make that up.
22	Tom Brady	597,161	Speaking of the same thing over and over again, this guy reached his tenth Super Bowl at the age of 43. According to Nate Silver's super-scientific Twitter poll, a majority of people think he is "clearly" the greatest football player of all time.
23	Richard Ramirez	586,190	A serial killer, subject of Netflix docuseries Night Stalker. And just like our #6 combines Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson in his stage name, his best known songwriting partner Twiggy Ramirez (pictured) took the surname from this guy (and the name from Twiggy; and sadly, he was also accused of sexual misconduct).
24	Jeff Bezos	546,580	The world's second richest man announced that he would be stepping down from being Amazon.com's CEO to focus on his other endeavors (though he will remain on the board of directors as executive chairman).
25	Donald Trump	534,317	As if this guy didn't do enough damage to his country, he also made sure Andy Jassy, who will be replacing the guy above, couldn't make it into this list.

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.