The Top 25 Report
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (24 to 30 January 2016)
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Summary: Tough guy competition was the theme this week, as the lead up to the Super Bowl coincided with the annual appearance of the WWE Royal Rumble, a perennial favourite among our viewers. Wrestling fan Donald Trump, who arguably has appropriated many of the techniques of that art into politics, also featured as the first real competition of the 2016 US Presidential race, the Iowa Caucus nears into view, alongside his far less theatrical fellow insurgent, Bernie Sanders.
As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of 24 to 30 January 2016, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Royal Rumble (2016) N/A 1,557,865 
Wikipedians love their wrestling, but none more so than the annual WWE Royal Rumble, which usually finishes either at or near the top of the list in normal weeks (though it wouldn't have stood a chance in the previous few weeks). What is Royal Rumble, you might possibly ask? Well it's when 30 or so guys fight in the same ring until one is left. For the record, Triple H (pictured) was the last man standing, beating previous winner Roman Reigns. 2 Zika virus 
1,354,360 
This unassuming flavivirus had, since its discovery in in Uganda in 1947, been seen as a meek also ran when stood among its more formidable cousins, such as Dengue, Yellow fever and West Nile. Whereas those could often prove fatal, Zika symptoms mostly compared to a nasty case of flu. However, its sudden pandemic spread throughout the Americas has triggered a panic in the US, particularly after a potentially related spate of microcephalic childbirths in Brazil. 3 Cam Newton 
1,319,633 
Super Bowl 50 is due this week, and Wikipedians have once again reduced the game to a duel between quarterbacks. Cam Newton, the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, has earned substantially more views than his rival Peyton Manning, below, perhaps due to controversy over his behaviour, which has been described as arrogant, leading to charges of incipient racism. 4 Peyton Manning 
947,294 
After injury and concerns as to his increasing age, the popular quarterback for the Denver Broncos led his team to their second Super Bowl in three years. 5 Airlift (film)
887,316 
An Indian war thriller film released on 22 January. Akshay Kumar stars. 6 The Revenant (2015 film)
807,384 
Alejandro González Iñárritu's Western survival epic starring Leonardo di Caprio (pictured) continues to be popular in the leadup to the Oscars, having earned nearly $300 million worldwide as of 4 February. 7 Republic Day (India)
801,807 
The annual holiday in India celebrating the Constitution of India on 26 January got nearly double the views of last year. 8 Super Bowl 50
758,841 
The fiftieth annual clash between the National Football Conference champions (Carolina Panthers this year) and American Football Conference champions (Denver Broncos this year) will be held on 7 February at the Levis Stadium in San Francisco (pictured) with the Panthers favourites to win. 9 The X-Files (miniseries) 
745,805 
Despite "meh" reviews, the brief revival of the 1990s cult hit paranormal investigation series has proven relatively strong in the ratings, leading to speculation that it may make a more permanent return. 10 Steven Avery
713,641 Avery is an American prisoner who is the subject of the popular new Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer which was released on 18 December. (Episode 1 is available free on YouTube.) Avery served 18 years in prison, from 1985–2003, after being framed by the local police for a sexual assault he plainly did not commit. During his subsequent civil lawsuit for compensation, during a period of explosive depositions, he was charged with the murder of a local photographer, and later convicted. The documentary is compelling to watch, and it causing a fair amount of controversy, and thus bringing continuing attention to this article. 11 The X-Files
686,502 See #9 12 Donald Trump
666,806 
Trump remains the most discussed US Presidential candidate in the run-up to the 2016 Iowa caucuses (this list's time period ends before they were held on 1 February); it will be interesting to see whether, after months of declaring himself a pure winner, his being the second place "loser" in the caucus affects his position on the list next week. 13 List of Super Bowl champions 
640,493 
This list invariably pops up once a year, as Americans first scramble for facts to determine which team will win, then rush back to see if their dream/nightmare came true. 14 Deaths in 2016 
626,562 
The annual list of deaths is usually fairly consistent in weekly views, but is up again for third week. 15 Star Wars: The Force Awakens
604,677 
The reignition of the Star Wars remains in the Top 25 for another week. 16 Abe Vigoda
572,983 
If it is possible for a death by natural causes at the age of 93 to be ironic, then this week's death of beetle-browed actor Abe Vigoda fits the bill. Having flirted with stardom in the 70s, both with a role in The Godfather and on television as Det. Phil Fish in the TV series Barney Miller and Fish, he attained a peculiar fame in his later years by simply being not dead. False reports of his death in the media became so common in the last 30 years that he eventually parodied them himself, particularly on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Well, now, at last and for good, the news can report that Abe Vigoda is, in fact, deceased. Honest. 17 Bernie Sanders
552,517 
It seems outsiders are in in the run-up to Iowa, as the two candidates without backing from billionaire donors are the ones with the most Wiki views. 18 John Logie Baird
540,998 
The Scottish inventor of the television got a Google Doodle on the 90th anniversary of the first televisual broadcast this week. 19 A.J. Styles
540,148 
After 12 years with TNA and two years in Japan, this pro wrestler made his WWE debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble (see #1). 20 Carolina Panthers
529,967 The NFC champions are the current odds-on favourites to win Super Bowl 50 on 7 February. 21 Amrita Sher-Gil
496,723 
The influential Indian artist got a Google Doodle on her 103rd birthday on 30 January. 22 Tom Brady
496,415 
The quarterback for the New England Patriots and seven-time Super Bowl entrant was beaten in the lead up to the Super Bowl by Manning and the Broncos 18 – 20 on 24 January. 23 Making a Murderer
485,136 
See #10. 24 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
572,788 
The 30th anniversary of the heartrending tragedy, witnessed live by thousands of school children waiting to welcome the first teacher into space, fell this week, to sombre reflections. 25 Anti (album)
459,940 
The latest album from Rihanna (pictured) released on 28 January. In 2012, after a backbreaking five albums in eight years, Rihanna took a well-deserved break, leading to heightened anticipation.
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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 also exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (~2% or less) or almost all mobile views (~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.