The Top 25 Report
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (November 29 to December 5, 2015)
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So do you laugh, or does it cry?: Singer Scott Weiland (#1) who died this past week wrote many cryptic lyrics, including "So do you laugh or does it cry?", in 1994's Interstate Love Song. And things that either make us laugh or cry are the things that tend to dominate this Report every week. But aside from Weiland's death, the Top 10 is entertainment-dominated this particular week.
As prepared by Milowent, for the week of November 29 to December 5, 2015, 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 Scott Weiland 
1,149,112 
The former lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots was found dead on his tour bus in Minnesota on December 3, likely the result of a drug overdose. Weiland was an unabashed rock star-type who came out of a 1990s grunge-era that was very ambivalent about 70s rock glamour. Sadly, Weiland's long history of drug use made his death not terribly shocking to many. 2 Tyson Fury
1,076,733 
On November 28, the British professional boxer defeated Wladimir Klitschko (#14) in a match held in Düsseldorf to become the unified heavyweight champion. This ended Klitschko's reign, the second longest in heavyweight history. 3 Lucy Maud Montgomery
1,063,021 
The author of Anne of Green Gables was honoroed with a Google Doodle on her 141st birthday on November 30. 4 Facebook 
1,057,020 
Always a popular article, but rarely this high on the chart. Founder Mark Zuckerberg's (#18) recent announcement that he planned to give away 99% of the gazillions he has earned from giving us the ability to "like" posts about internet memes and keep informed of the insane racist rantings of your distant relatives likely caused the view bump this week. 5 Jessica Jones
914,281 
Down from #1 last week, a drop of a million views. The Netflix series based on this Marvel Comics superhero, starring Krysten Ritter (pictured), debuted on November 20, 2015, and, like its predecessor, Daredevil,shot to the top of this list. Pandemic binge-watching of the latter among MCU fans led to a rapid decline in interest, as everyone scoffed down the entire season in two days. This series seems to be fairly slightly better, at least here. 6 Krampus 
842,714 
As Yuletide falls in the German-speaking regions of the Alps, children are told not only of jolly Saint Nick with his sack of toys; they are also told of Krampus, whose sack is empty, waiting to be filled with naughty children who will then be carried to his lair. He isn't the only "anti-Santa" out there; the Dutch have Zwarte Piet, and the Haitians have Tonton Macoute, but Krampus's demonic appearance caught the eye of America last year, where he became a leering antidote to the oversaturation of manufactured Christmas cheer, and this year, it seems he's back, no doubt aided by an upcoming movie. 7 Jessica Jones (TV series)
830,756 See #5 8 Google
787,850 
Ironically, it can be hard to google Google to figure out why Google is especially popular in a given week. When I googled "Scott Weiland" (#1), for example, I immediately learned he was dead. Last week Google had only 252,348 views (#80 on raw WP:5000). The only edit of note to Google during this week was a link to Project Fi, which looks like Google's plan to provide cell phone service primarily using Wi-Fi networks. 9 Kobe Bryant
659,062 
On November 29, the American basketball star announced that he will be retiring at the end of the current NBA season. This means that every time he plays in a city for the final time on his "farewell tour" (a disambig article that seems ripe for expansion?), it will be a minor news story. 10 Adele
631,753 
"Hello, it's Adele, if you're wondering, after seven weeks yes I'm still here." And will no doubt stay in the Top 25 for a bit longer. 11 Peyton Manning 
614,883 
The accomplished American football quarterback last appeared on the chart in January 2015, and is currently injured 12 Star Wars: The Force Awakens
594,879 
The final build-up has begun. The much anticipated film rolls out in parts of Europe on December 16, the U.K. on December 17, and North America on December 18. 13 Deaths in 2015 
582,589 
The viewing figures for this article have been remarkably constant; fluctuating week to week between 475 and 575 thousand on average, apparently heedless of who actually died. 14 Wladimir Klitschko
548,681 
See #2, Klitschko was the losing fighter. 15 Lady Colin Campbell
548,115 Campbell is a British socialite who appeared on the latest season of Britain's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. She withdrew "on medical grounds" on December 1. Vicky Pattison, best known for appearing on the British version of Jersey Shore, won the series on December 6. But Lady Colin remained the Wikipedia favorite of the entire show's run. 16 2015 San Bernardino shooting
518,317 
Another mass shooting in the United States, which occurred on December 2, leaving 14 dead and 21 injured. The FBI is currently investigating the event as a case of Islamic terrorism. 17 Mark Zuckerberg
507,631 See #4. 18 The Man in the High Castle (TV series)
497,327 
Amazon Video's big competitor to Netflix's stable, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's dystopian alternate history set in an America ruled by the victorious Axis Powers, had its season finale on 20 November, when the last nine episodes were released. 19 Jonah Lomu
496,399 
This New Zealand rugby player, once described the first true global superstar of rugby union, died suddenly on November 18 at age 40. A memorial service was held for him on November 30 at Eden Park in Auckland. 20 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
489,838 
Be it the fighting in the Middle East, discussions of the November 2015 Paris attacks, or this week questions about whether the 2015 San Bernardino shooting (#16) was related to them, ISIL remains a topic of continuing serious concern. 21 Star Wars
483,468 See #12 22 Creed (film)
472,029 
Holding relatively steady for another week. Much like its namesake, the Rocky franchise has proved remarkably durable, with Rocky V the only non-hit in nearly 40 years. And this sequel/reboot, in which the aged Rocky decides to train Adonis Creed (played by Michael B. Jordan, pictured), the rudderless son of his now-dead rival-turned-friend, Apollo Creed, has kept up the trend. 23 Tamasha (film)
453,751 This Indian film starring Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone was released on November 27. 24 Garry Hoy
441,159 This man died an unusual death in 1993 from a fall suffered when trying to demonstrate that the windows in his office building were unbreakable. They were unbreakable, but the entire window detached from its frame. The article was the subject of a popular "Today I Learned" thread this week. It is currently up for deletion, though the unfortunate death is unfortunately notable. 25 Goliath
432,352 
Reddit again.
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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.