Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/June 2 to 8, 2013

Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (June 2 to 8 2013)

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Summary: This week belonged to Game of Thrones. A potent presence in the Top 25 since it premiered in March, this HBO TV series grabbed the top three slots this week, and only a tragic suicide prevented it from taking the top 4. The most recent episode, which saw the bloody decimation of House Stark, became an instant water-cooler sensation. The fascination spilled over from the TV series to the still unfinished novel series (take the hint, George) upon which it is based. Real world politics made a rare return to the Top 25 as well, as the word "Chapulling", an article only created 4 days ago, became a shout of defiance against the tactics used by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan against initially peaceful protesters.

For the week of June 2 to 8, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most trafficked pages* were:

Rank Last Wks Article Views Notes
1 3 14 Game of Thrones 1,314,024 There is no denying it: this epic fantasy TV series is unstoppable. Viewing figures for the third season are up by a million, and the reaction to this week's bloody massacre bodes well for next week's finale.
2 4 8 Game of Thrones (season 3) 827,717 see #1 above
3 8 8 List of Game of Thrones episodes 827,553 see #1 and 2 above
4 - - Nafisa Khan 652,165
 
The tragic apparent suicide of this young Bollywood actress made headlines across India.
5 - - A Song of Ice and Fire 631,362 The series of novels by George R. R. Martin on which the TV series Game of Thrones (above) is based.
6 9 22 Facebook 585,492 A perennially popular article.
7 - - Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani 539,078 This romantic comedy is currently the 7th highest-grossing Bollywood film in history.
8 - - Juliane Köpcke 527,384 The young woman who fell more than 10,000 feet from a disintegrating plane and survived, only to have to walk several miles though jungle, became a talking point as a result of a Today I Learned thread on Reddit.
9 17 2 After Earth 471,632 Despite appearing on course to box-office bombhood, having grossed only $50 million worldwide in ten days against a $130 million budget, this remains the most-viewed American movie on Wikipedia.
10 - - The Purge 450,459 This social allegory/home invasion thriller had a strikingly good opening weekend, taking in ~$36 million on a $3 million budget, despite poor reviews.
11 16 32 Deaths in 2013 425,779 The lists of deaths in the current year is always a quite popular article.
12 - - The Rains of Castamere 423,514 The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones's gangbusting third season; the one showing the so-called "red wedding" and the seeming exit of House Stark from the game.
13 - - Arrested Development (TV series) 420,323 The long-awaited fourth season of this cult sitcom was finally released on Netflix in its entirety on May 26.
14 - - A Game of Thrones 410,557 The first novel in George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, from which the TV series Game of Thrones takes its name.
15 24 33 World War II 405,507
 
Another perennially popular article. (The 16th most popular article from 2010–12, in fact, see Table 2 here.)
16 6 3 Fast & Furious 6 387,096 In the 22 days since its first international release, this movie has grossed $584 million worldwide. So, that's a franchise in rude health then. How rude? Part 7 comes out next year.
17 25 3 Attack on Titan 363,831 This anime series, which reaches its season finale next week, has attained cult status in the Nerdisphere despite never having been released outside Japan.
18 19 33 YouTube 358,846 Another perennially popular article
19 23 3 List of Bollywood films of 2013 356,153 Bollywood secures its eternal presence in the Top 25.
20 18 6 Aashiqui 2 351,609 This film has grossed over Rs. 1 billion (~US$18 million) at the Indian box office, and become a phenomenon on the sub-continent.
21 - - The Last of Us 340,944 This eagerly awaited and critically adored zombie apocalypse video game gets released on June 13.
22 - - Chapulling 333,901
 
An article only four days old about a word barely any older, this Anglicised form of the Turkish çapulcu (meaning "looters") was appropriated by the protesters in Istambul's Taksim Square after being described as such by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose adversarial response to the protests has arguably served only to inflame them.
23 21 22 Google 331,496 A perennially popular article.
24 15 6 Daft Punk 327,957
 
This robot-helmet-wearing, cyberpunk-infused electronic music duo released their long-awaited new album Random Access Memories on May 17.
25 - - Man of Steel (film) 325,607 The second attempt to rework the Superman mythos for modern cinema after Bryan Singer's reverent but turgid Superman Returns arguably has a better chance of success, with the backing of Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan.
  • This list is derived from the WP:5000 report. It excludes the Wikipedia main page (and "wiki"), non-article pages, and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish. Standard removals this week include:
    • Cat anatomy: explanation still unknown for its continuing high view counts
    • G: This, or alternately G-force, has been in the Top 25 since the list was started at the beginning of the year. The continuing popularity of this article, which jumped in June 2012, has been without explanation. Articles on popular scientific concepts get nowhere this level of viewing based on our analysis to date, e.g., Gravitation (49,516 views from March 3–9), and therefore we have decided to remove it from the list as most likely caused by non-human views.
    • Cult: Unknown reasons for periodic spikes in popularity
    • Melanie Maddison: high counts for a redlink are usually due to spambots or pranksters.
    • Ernst Litfaß: A periodic visitor to the Top 25, Litfaß (or Litfass) was the German inventor of advertising columns. Whether the views are the work of a spambot with a sense of humour is unknown. The German Wikipedia's version sees no view spike when this occurs.
    • Hollow Body Guitar (or, alternately Acoustic Electric Guitar): This redirect (capitals included) has occasionally appeared in the top 25, probably due to a sadly confused adware bot.
  • Specific removals this week (those for which no reason for their sudden popularity could be determined):
    • Jim Lovell: This all-American hero, made immortal by Tom Hanks in the film Apollo 13, got a massive spike in views on June 2 and 3, for reasons unknown.
    • Rosetta Stone: The imposing black stele in the British Museum and perpetual metaphor saw an anomalous 1-day spike on June 7; perhaps not coincidentally the day after Rosetta Stone Inc. announced the pricing of its stocks. Since it was only for a day, that might be due to a spambot whose programmer either a) had no idea how Wikipedia works or b) (tragically just as likely) had no idea there was an actual Rosetta Stone.
    • Second Congo War: The bloodiest conflict since World War II, with up to 5 million dead, has received little attention outside Africa. And then a massive spike on June 4-5 sent it into the Top 25. It would be nice to think that was due to human interest, but as yet we cannot say.
  • Number of views needed to reach Top 25 this week: 325,607. Last week: 330,123
  • Almosts: The Fast and the Furious (series) (310,966 views); IPv6 ( 307,845 views); The Great Gatsby (304,033 views)
  • The revision of WP:5000 containing the data used to create list: [1]