Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (November 9 to 15, 2014)
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Summary: It is a curious coincidence that the event often described as having belatedly begun the twentieth century (the First World War) and the one often thought to have prematurely ended it (the fall of the Berlin Wall) were both commemorated this week, as the latter's 25th anniversary coincided with the day to mark the former's ending (Armistice Day). The theme of beginnings and endings as one was further elaborated by the 100th anniversary of the war's start, which fell in July this year. Leaving sombre commemoration aside, movies and TV formed the mainstay of the list, as usual, though a surprising number of entries were from those seeking information about the shows or their subject matter, rather than merely listings.
As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of November 9 to 15, 2014, 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 Interstellar (film) 
2,567,100 
The debate just won't stop. Is this a cosmic masterpiece on the level of its inspiration, 2001? Or an exposition-laden string of trite scifi concepts that fails to reach its own goals? The critics aren't sure (Interstellar has the lowest RT score of any Nolan film to date) and neither, it seems, is the public (the film has yet to break $100 million domestically in its second week, despite strong overseas grosses), but nothing brings views to Wikipedia like debate, and this movie remains Wikipedia's no 1 talking point for the second straight week, with views up 60%. 2 Thanksgiving 
1,626,523 
This beloved holiday has been very ill-used by Wikipedia viewers. Every year, when it comes around, immediately money-spinning spammers start flooding Wikipedia with fake views for this article, thus forcing us to remove what should be a perfectly acceptable annual addition to this list. But now the mobile fraction is high enough (about 5%) to suggest that, were it not being obviously pumped up, it would still appear somewhere in the top 25, though exactly where is an open question. So in the name of seasonal good cheer, I am pardoning this turkey. Is it not, after all, in the Thanksgiving spirit to be overstuffed? 3 Philae (spacecraft)
1,462,564 
Well, it may not have achieved what it set out to do, but ESA's plucky fridge-sized lander still managed to send back enough cool pictures from its unique position on the surface of a comet this week to win the hearts of the public. And who knows? The comet it's riding is still approaching the Sun. Philae may yet wake up when its solar panels are tickled. 4 Berlin Wall
1,223,551 
It's odd to think, for me at least, that a fair portion of the people reading this weren't even alive when this came down, 25 years ago this week. To be fair, I was just a kid at the time, and barely understood the significance of what was happening as it unfolded on cable news. And really, no one truly grasped the magnitude of the structural collapse this crumbling wall would trigger. 26 months later, the Soviet Union was gone, the Cold War was over and we were left struggling to grasp what kind of world would replace the one we were born into. It's fair to say we still don't know. 5 Marvel Cinematic Universe 
1,076,501 
Its mobile percentage is suspiciously low (2.85%), but it's only natural that people would be interested in Marvel Studios' announcement of the third and longest phase of its ongoing cinematic saga, which has so far spanned six years, ten films, $1.7 billion in budgets and $7.1 billion in revenues. With two more films to go in phase 2, and a whopping nine for phase 3, the slate's booked til 2019, and it will be interesting to see if Marvel's so-far successful formula of risk-taking and artistic commitment will hold until then. 6 Veterans Day
803,419 
The eleventh day of the eleventh month, when peace was declared after the hell of World War I, has been recognised for decades as a time to remember the dead of war. In the US, it is known as Veterans Day, while in the Commonwealth, it is known as Remembrance Day (see below). This year's carried a special poignancy due to its coinciding with the centenary of the start of World War I. 7 Victor Zsasz
746,943 One of the more disturbing villains in Batman's rogues' gallery (and that's saying a lot), Victor Zsasz is a serial killer who carves scars into his flesh for every successful kill. His story has been somewhat retconned for the new TV series Gotham where he has been recast as the pit bull for Carmine Falcone. Interest in this character spiked this week with the newest episode, the first since his introduction. 8 Myles Munroe 
661,095 Bahamian Evangelical preacher who caused a ruckus with his opposition to gay rights this year, and then capped it by dying in a plane crash this week. 9 Facebook
651,716 
A perennially popular article, as it is the second most popular website in the world, after Google. 10 Big Hero 6 (film)
604,591 
The public seem to have taken to the first Disney/Marvel crossover, (an anime-inspired superhero comedy based on an obscure Marvel property) as it has so far made a respectable $110 million in 10 days and looks set to at least equal its ersatz predecessor, Wreck-It Ralph, at the box office. 11 Macaulay Culkin
577,458 
The former child star is now 34 years old, sings Velvet Underground parodies about pizza, and is not dead. Despite this, he was declared so on Facebook on 8 November, leading him to post an Instagram pic of his "body" being dragged around Weekend at Bernie's-style by an Andy Warhol impersonator. The strange thing is, I didn't make any of that up. 12 John Constantine
565,364 The star of the DC Comics imprint Hellblazer became the topic of interest when his eponymous TV series premièred on NBC on 24 October. Wildly different from the ... liberal film adaptation, this series actually portrays Constantine as he is in the comics, i.e. a blond Liverpudlian, rather than, well, Keanu Reeves. Reviews and ratings have so far been unremarkable, however. 13 Assassin's Creed Unity
553,658 
The latest instalment in Ubisoft's prolific Assassin's Creed franchise was released on 11-13 November to generally positive reviews. 14 Kim Kardashian
535,694 
The socialite and professional celebrity gained more notoriety than usual this week for posing nude in an arty niche magazine rather than a lads' mag. 15 Remembrance Day
533,677 
The name for Armistice Day in the Commonwealth (see above) 16 Stephen Hawking
525,479 
The Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, black hole theorist and latter-day science icon got a boost with the release of the biopic, The Theory of Everything, in the United States on 7 November. 17 Deaths in 2014 
520,366 
The list of deaths in the current year is always a popular article. 18 World War I
512,265 
The centenary of the start of this horrific conflict falls this year, and has meant that it has appeared several times in the top 25 recently, but attained particular resonance with the arrival of Armistice Day, which marks its conclusion. 19 Bob Marley
506,576 
The reggae superstar had several appearances this week; Chance The Rapper voiced him in a cameo in the Adult Swim series Black Dynamite, and he had a cameo in Marlon James's novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings. 20 American Horror Story: Freak Show
492,195 
The fourth season of the American Horror Story series débuted on 8 October, and has remained on the list for past few weeks. 21 Google
443,018 
Always a fairly popular article. 22 United States
429,675 
A perpetual bubble-under-er that, while it seldom makes the top 25, usually appears in "Top of the Year" lists. Not really surprising that the country with by far the most English speakers would be the most popular on the English Wikipedia. 23 The Walking Dead (TV series)
429,344 
The show's fifth season premièred on 12 October. 24 Taylor Swift
415,775 
The country/pop singer released her latest album on October 27. 25 John Eleuthère du Pont
404,802 The paranoid schizophrenic heir to the Du Pont family acted as a wrestling coach to Dave Shultz, whom he shot dead in an apparently motiveless crime that was the subject of the biographical film Foxcatcher, released on 14 November.
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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.
Specific exclusions this week:
- Red hot chili peppers - No, not Red Hot Chili Peppers; that specific capitalization. Not even the analytics people can puzzle that one out.