Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/September 15 to 21, 2019

The Top 25 Report

This page contains material that is kept because it is considered humorous.
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Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (September 15 to 21, 2019) edit

Prepared with commentary by Hugsyrup and Igordebraga

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Spies and Aliens edit

Aside from the usual handful of celebrity deaths and the latest films and TV series, there's something of an aliens and spies theme running through this week's list, with a secret US Air Force base and an obscure Israeli spy both making surprise appearances. And in equally bizarre and incomprehensible happenings, British politics isn't entirely out of the list, with the colorful Mr Bercow appearing again. He may have slipped to the bottom of the list this week but, with more drama almost certain to occur, he may yet rise again.

For the week of September 15 to 21, 2019, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Views	About
1	Ric Ocasek	1,448,669	When a celebrity appears on this list, all too often it's because they've died, and sadly the appearance of the lead vocalist for The Cars is no exception. Ocasek died on September 15, at the age of 75.
2	Storm Area 51	1,080,603	The long-awaited, semi-serious, semi-satirical, storming of Area 51 to discover dead or captured aliens finally took place on September 20. Or perhaps it was cancelled. At any rate, around 150 people showed up.
3	Cokie Roberts	845,528	The second person to appear on the list due to their death, the award-winning journalist died on September 17 of complications arising from breast cancer.
4	Unbelievable (miniseries)	785,151	No top-25 list would be a top-25 list without several of the latest TV series making an appearance. This critically acclaimed web series dramatises the Washington and Colorado serial rape cases and was released on Netflix on September 13.
5	Deaths in 2019	779,592	Death is always on everybody's mind, it seems. Whether it's your own death or, in this case, the deaths of famous people.
6	Hustlers (2019 film)	739,379	With an almost all-female cast including Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu, this stripper caper was released in the US on September 13, and has already made $76 million a the box office and attracted positive reviews.
7	Clash of Champions (2019)	637,908	If there's one thing Wikipedians like almost as much as dead celebrities and new Netflix dramas, it's wrestling. This week, it was this pay-per-view wrestling event held on September 15 in North Carolina that's been getting a lot of interest.
8	Ad Astra (film)	637,533	Not the motto of the Royal Air Force, nor even the popular chicken pizza from Pizza Express, this article is about the star-studded (pun absolutely intended) new film directed by James Gray and released on September 20.
9	It Chapter Two	572,364	The second part of the film that means you'll never look the same way again at clowns, red balloons... or children in yellow raincoats. This returns two years after part one, both of which are based on the 1986 Stephen King novel.
10	Paulina Porizkova	563,058	She's a model, actress and author, but this week she appears on this list after being unfortunate enough to have discovered her estranged husband, Ric Ocasek (this week's #1) dead in his home.
11	Area 51	555,826	With so many curious about this week's #2, perhaps it's not surprising that they would also wish to find out a little more about the classified Air Force base in Nevada that is perhaps more associated with secret alien information than anywhere else on the planet.
12	Gardner Minshew	521,470	The second-string quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Minshew became the team's starter following a season-ending shoulder injury to original starter Nick Foles. He saw his first victory this week, in a 20-7 game against the Tennessee Titans.
13	Phil Hartman	483,581	He's another dead celebrity, except he didn't die this week, but over 20 years ago. So why is he attracting interest in September 2019? It was this week that his brother-in-law 'broke his silence' about Phil's murder by his wife Brynn in the ABC special The Last Days of Phil Hartman.
14	The Cars	474,425	Who's gonna drive you home? The band led by this week's #1 has, unsurprisingly, also been getting a bit more attention than usual.
15	6ix9ine	463,066	The American rapper, otherwise known as Daniel Hernandez, is facing substantial prison time in connection with his alleged membership of the Nine Trey Gangsters. He's been appearing in the news this week following his appearance in US federal court on September 18, when he testified against other gang members.
16	Antonio Brown	461,913	Another American football player, but having a bit less of a good season than #12. Brown was cut from the New England Patriots, to whom he had been traded only weeks earlier, following more allegations of poor off-field behavior.
17	Rambo: Last Blood	409,882	The fifth film in the Rambo series, starring and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, Rambo: Last Blood was released on September 20 and promptly received widespread criticism for violence and perceived racism and xenophobia in the film.
18	Eli Cohen	404,078	An Israeli spy who was active in Syria between 1961 and 1965, Cohen is now portrayed by British actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in the new Netflix series The Spy, released this month.
19	Joker (2019 film)	401,705	It's hard to imagine anything equaling the performance of the late Heath Ledger, but it seems that Joaquin Phoenix's unusual take on the eponymous Batman-universe villain just might get close. Not even released in the US yet, it's already attracting widespread attention and critical plaudits.
20	Top Boy	397,285	After a substantial hiatus, the third season of this British crime drama is available on Netflix, including much of the original creative team and cast.
21	Greta Thunberg	391,044	16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has attracted considerable attention in recent weeks after sailing across the Atlantic to attend the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in New York, and for attracting a sarcastic tweet from President of the United States Donald Trump.
22	Ansu Fati	377,272	Another 16-year-old doing remarkable things, albeit in an entirely different area, Fati is the youngest person ever to play for FC Barcelona in the Champions League. He made his debut on September 17 and has unsurprisingly been a popular search term.
23	2019 Rugby World Cup	374,304	The ninth Rugby World Cup, taking place in Japan from September 20. Something tells me this won't be the last time this article appears in the Top 25 list between now and the end of the tournament on November 2.
24	Sylvester Stallone	373,617	Star and co-writer of this week's #17, the actor may be 73 years old, but he's still as much an action hero as ever.
25	John Bercow	363,015	It may only be a matter of weeks until Bercow finally stands down as Speaker of the House of Commons, but he's making every second count, pushing the boundaries of the constitution in an effort to protect the rights of the House of Commons. And, with parliament no longer prorogued, he's back in the hot seat a little earlier than anyone expected.

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.