Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/October 15 to 21, 2023

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (October 15 to 21, 2023)

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Ollieisanerd, Death Editor 2, CAWylie and Rajan51.

⭠ Last week's report → Next week's report

Even if South Asia's constant presence led to the top article, people are still worried about the armed conflict in West Asia.

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	2023 Cricket World Cup	3,937,866	It may have taken three weeks, but the latest edition of the premier cricket tournament finally made it to the top of this list. Last week witnessed some big upsets, with Afghanistan beating the reigning champions England, and South Africa losing to the Netherlands. On the other hand, India and New Zealand have remain unbeaten after four games each, but one of them will lose that streak when the two teams face each other on Sunday.
2	Suzanne Somers	2,539,567	'Had Somers died in 1993, her achievements would have been immortal. Had she died in 2003 she would still have been a great actress but flawed. But she died in 2023. Alas, what can one say?' Paraphrases about Chairman Mao aside, actress and health and wellness businesswoman Suzanne Somers died at 76 of cancer.
3	Leo (2023 Indian film)	2,458,805	Kollywood returns with another action film. This one stars Vijay, and is directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, whose previous film topped this list last year, and this one would have probably done the same if not for sports and deaths. A sequel is already in the works.
4	Cricket World Cup	2,358,550	Brought to this list by #1.
5	2023 Israel–Hamas war	1,759,278	The latest Middle Eastern conflict continues, with rockets flying, thousands of civilians dying, both sides committing war crimes and being called out for their misdeeds (the extremist group who rules the Gaza Strip and struck first for terrorism, Israel for continuous occupation of territories recognized as Palestinian that tends to turn violent).
6	Gaza Strip	1,539,801
7	Israel	1,522,213
8	State of Palestine	1,495,597
9	The Fall of the House of Usher (miniseries)	1,457,045	A Netflix miniseries based on #13 and other works by the Gothic fiction writer Edgar Allan Poe was released on October 12.
10	David Beckham	1,453,522	One more week for the footballer chronicled in Netflix's Beckham. And it's nice that the miniseries features a clip from the hilarious interview Posh and Becks gave to Ali G.
11	Hamas	1,409,357	The extremist political and military organization ruling #6, whose opposition of #7 is enough to both be labeled as a terrorist group in many countries and to strike first in #5.
12	Killers of the Flower Moon (film)	1,391,511	Martin Scorsese made his third 3-hour movie in a decade, an adaptation of a novel that itself was inspired by the true story of the Osage Indian murders that happened in 1920s Oklahoma after oil was found in the Natives' territory. While big chunks of Killers of the Flower Moon could be cut with no loss, it's a worthwile watch, helped by an exceptional cast led by Marty's two favorite actors: Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. The studio arm of the biggest company in the world could easily spend $200 million in the picture, and while it might not make as much in theaters between its length and competition with among others #18, the praise received by Killers of the Flower Moon makes it a certain awards contender.
13	"The Fall of the House of Usher"	1,045,459	Edgar Allan Poe's 1839 short story which #9 is loosely based upon.
14	Deaths in 2023	961,512	"'And you have not seen it?' he said abruptly, after having stared about him for some moments in silence – 'you have not then seen it?—but, stay! you shall.'"
15	Israeli–Palestinian conflict	945,035	In 1947, the United Nations proposed to split the region of Palestine, about to be released from British rule, into a Jewish state (#7) and an Arab one (#8). The latter disagreed feeling they were not being given enough land, and went in arms for it, starting a sad constant that is war for territory in the Holy Land.
16	2023 Polish parliamentary election	838,680	Poland chose their representatives, and the right-wing Law and Justice held its majority to certify Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will have a second government.
17	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	733,103	While the other continents are playing the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, Europe is deciding who will join hosts Germany in next year's continental tournament. Spain, Scotland, Turkey, Austria and England got in, joining Belgium, France and Portugal, who got lucky in the Friday the 13th immediately before the week covered by this Report. 15 spots are still open, with the next match day being November 16.
18	Taylor Swift	685,481	The highest-grossing movie of the week was actually a concert, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, that came out 2 months before the singer's 34th birthday and in North America alone had a massive $92.8 million opening weekend (the second biggest October opening after Joker, whose sequel will have another pop star). Wonder if many tickets were from people who couldn't attend the actual tour, that is currently paused before 9 South American concerts next month.
19	UFC 294	655,462	Mixed martial arts hit Abu Dhabi, and Islam Makhachev (pictured) has retained his championship belt.
20	Jerusalem	644,316	A city holy for Christianism, Islam and Judaism, hence it's claimed by both #7 and #8 as their capital (Israel manages to operate its government from the West side, but Palestine does not do much from the East, with its administrative center in #23's capital Ramallah).
21	Bobby Charlton	603,388	One of the last reminders of the only time the inventors of football won the FIFA World Cup at home in 1966, Sir Bobby Charlton died at 86, having previously been a record-setting idol for both the English Team and Manchester United.
22	2023 Rugby World Cup	589,402	Another world championship, held in France. The final has been set between the Springboks of South Africa and the All-Blacks of New Zealand, a repeat of the 1995 Rugby World Cup final that inspired the film Invictus.
23	West Bank	588,276	AKA Cisjordan, which #7 took from Jordan in the Six-Day War of 1967, and has since become one of two recognized territories of #8 alongside #6.
24	Travis Kelce	551,258	#18 never confirmed if she's dating this Kansas City Chiefs player, but the media continues to cover their relationship extensively.
25	Benjamin Netanyahu	531,679	Right above the Zionism that created #7 is the country's Prime Minister, whose popularity has sunk with the war (#5), with his population blaming the country's leadership for the security failings that led to the surprise attack, and the international community bothered by all the death and destruction.