Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-06-27/Traffic report

Traffic report

So no one told you life was gonna be this way

By Igordebraga, Kingsif, SSSB, Mcrsftdog, Benmite

This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Kingsif, SSSB, Benmite and Mcrsftdog.

The Signpost took a break last month, but given the weekly report on Wikipedia's most viewed didn't stop, we have two months to cover.

And the Oscar goes to... (April 25 – May 1)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 25 to May 1, 2021)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	93rd Academy Awards	1,571,338	The goddamned pandemic derailed the film industry, yet AMPAS still decided to award the best productions of 2020 (and early 2021). One of the major jibes before the ceremony got started was its choice of main location, a train station (pictured), and it only got worse from there. The Oscars, adamantly refusing to use Zoom (or similar) after the less than successful early awards ceremonies, was in-person only, though they added hubs in London and Paris so nominees that didn't want to (or, couldn't) go to Los Angeles could attend. It certainly felt more like the Golden Globes in a normal year with its audience at tables and such. Except they weren't drunk, nor particularly excited. The screen ban also meant there were no clips played before categories, and both the hosts and the In Memoriam seemed to be rushing to get home. So, between the average moviegoer having not seen the nominees and and a fairly uninteresting ceremony, it translated into the lowest ratings ever.
2	Mortal Kombat (2021 film)	1,563,890	24 years after the disastrous Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, the ultraviolent fighting game series returned to theaters (and HBO Max) giving everything fans hoped for, namely lots of people punching each other, good special effects, mostly accurate portrayals of their beloved characters, and dialogue featuring things such as "Fatality!", "Flawless Victory!" and "GET OVER HERE!" Hence Mortal Kombat already recouped its $55 million budget even with not as many screens available.
3	Nomadland (film)	1,449,019	One of the weirdest things in #1 was that the top category, Best Picture, was the third-to-last instead of the big prize at the end.^[a] Its winner was the adaptation of a non-fiction book about a woman who decides to spend her days ~~living in a van down by the river~~ vandwelling. Two of the producers winning this prize also took home Best Director (#10) and Actress (#8).
4	Rohit Sardana	1,331,967	From Hollywood to India, where a local TV anchor died at just 41 from a heart attack.
5	2021 NFL Draft	1,309,263	American football got its latest college athletes, with the Jacksonville Jaguars using their #1 pick on Trevor Lawrence.
6	Shadow and Bone	1,267,141	Netflix has released a new series adapting a fantasy novel by Leigh Bardugo (pictured), following Alina Starkov (played by Jessie Mei Li) as she discovers she has the power to set her country free from the fold, a perpetually dark, barren strip of land cutting the country in two.
7	Shadow and Bone (TV series)	1,134,244
8	Frances McDormand	983,409	Best Actress at #1 came to this talented thespian for #3, a near-record third time (only behind Katherine Hepburn's four; counting the Supporting category, she now has as many Oscars as Meryl Streep!), following a pregnant policewoman from the middle of nowhere (where the director was husband Joel Coen) and an angry mother exploiting outdoor advertisement. McDormand also got a second statuette as the film's co-producer, and celebrated that win by howling! Here she's pictured with a different award she won thrice.
9	Deaths in 2021	960,124	Given the In Memoriam at #1 (speedily) used this song: Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea (Always) Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream
10	Chloé Zhao	925,572	For only the second time, Best Director went to a woman, the one responsible for #3. And Ms. Zhao's next movie will certainly show if she can do action as well as fellow winner Kathryn Bigelow, namely Marvel's Eternals.

^ Everyone would agree that the producers of the ceremony chose to close with Best Actor presuming Chadwick Boseman would win, ending the ceremony homaging the late actor. So what an anti-climax when the Oscar instead went to Anthony Hopkins, who wasn't even in attendance...

Our D-I-V-O-R-C-E becomes final today (May 2–8)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (May 2 to 8, 2021)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Bill Gates	1,371,353	The billionaire couple announced their divorce this week, after 27 years of marriage and 34 years as a couple. The divorce appears to be amicable and they have said that they will continue to work together on their foundation.
2	Melinda French Gates	1,027,961
3	Deaths in 2021	926,892	Lay me down Let the only sound Be the overflow...
4	Invincible (TV series)	744,955	The final episode of the first series aired on April 29. It has proved so popular that a further two series of this family-unfriendly animated superhero show were confirmed on April 30.
5	Resident Evil Village	730,516	Capcom's seminal survival horror series returned for its eight mainline title (in fact, the cover art shows there's a "VIII" hidden in "Village"), where the unlucky bastard who sought his wife in the seventh game now tries to rescue his daughter from inhuman creatures. And given the setting is Transylvania, of course there's vampires, whose leader caused quite the impact upon her reveal in a demo.
6	Cinco de Mayo	703,801	The annual celebration held on May 5, celebrating Mexico's victory over France at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
7	Elon Musk	695,271	#1 used to be the richest man in the world, now it's this guy, who hosted Saturday Night Live. Not the first entrepreneur to have done so, but most people would rather forget the previous one.
8	2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election	691,857	The election in this east Indian state was held April 27–29, with the results being announced this week. All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) increased their majority. The election was marred by violence, with opposition parties claiming the violence was conducted by the AITC against them.
9	Dogecoin	679,762	Showing how fickle the cryptocurrency market is, #7 made jokes about the memetic dog-themed one he champions on SNL (on his opening monologue, Musk brought his mom on stage, who said she expected her Mother's Day gift to not be Dogecoin; and on Weekend Update, Musk appeared as a cryptocurrency expert who was questioned thrice by host Michael Che about Dogecoin) and its value fell 37%! Perhaps to compensate, right after the week covered by this report, Musk's SpaceX announced a Dogecoin-funded mission.
10	Mamata Banerjee	673,257	Despite losing her seat in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, her party won the most seats in #8 and she remains the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain (May 9–15)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (May 9 to 15, 2021)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Elon Musk	2,023,222	Billionaire Memeguy hosted Saturday Night Live on May 8. His fans thought his was the best episode ever; his detractors thought it was as unfunny as anything modern SNL puts out. Musk also managed to crash two cryptocurrencies in one week—doge- crashing after a (presumably failed) plug on SNL, and bit- crashing after Tesla announced it would no longer be accepted as payment.
2	State of Palestine	1,543,993	In this week, protests over the eviction of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem escalated into countless missile strikes on the Gaza Strip.
3	Israeli–Palestinian conflict	1,473,599
4	Israel	1,445,058
5	Hamas	1,206,073
6	Iron Dome	1,043,060
7	Gaza Strip	1,003,236
8	Jupiter's Legacy (TV series)	983,196	What if a superhero was morally grey? What if they, get this, killed people? That'd be crazy. Jupiter's Legacy, the first piece of media to ever explore this concept, premiered on Netflix on May 7.
9	Deaths in 2021	937,721	Well, I'll die as I stand here today Knowing that deep in my heart They'll fall to ruin one day
10	Radhe (2021 film)	924,247	India has sadly been going through a huge spike in cases of the pandemic, so the latest Bollywood blockbuster had to be released digitally (though foreign markets got it in theaters).

Sing, sing a song, sing out loud (May 16–22)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (May 16 to 22, 2021)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Eurovision Song Contest 2021	1,595,667	The annual (if one forgets 2020, as many would like to do; at most there was that Will Ferrell comedy, that probably brought in bigger non-European interest this year) competition took place in Rotterdam this year, in a venue that housed a COVID field hospital. As ever, Eurovision was pretty crazy, with highlights including vaporwave backgrounds, some of the most poorly executed green screening, and some guy who wouldn't put a shirt on. The winner: Italy, who sent the alt rock band Måneskin (including topless dude). The loser: the UK, who managed to get nil points. Twice.
2	Halston	1,523,384	Ewan McGregor plays Halston (1932–1990), a mononymous fashion designer and eponymous subject of a Netflix miniseries that is proof that Ryan Murphy can produce shows about literally anything (as long as they include fashion).
3	State of Palestine	1,433,840	A second week of the conflict caused the State of Palestine to be third on our list, along with several other related articles.
4	Army of the Dead	1,206,852	Before his foray into comic book adaptations, Zack Snyder started his film career remaking Dawn of the Dead. So here's him back into zombies (in fact, it's apparently based on an idea he had while working on the remake), namely a Netflix original where Dave Bautista leads a team trying to steal a Las Vegas casino's vault before the city is nuked to contain its undead infestation.
5	Israel	1,120,843	A truce closed off the most recent flare-up of the decades-long conflict after 15 days.
6	Israeli–Palestinian conflict	1,026,543
7	Hamas	992,010
8	Deaths in 2021	886,710	Breathing, is the hardest thing to do With all I've said And all that's dead for you
9	The Woman in the Window (2021 film)	866,684	This schlocky modern retelling of Hitchcock's Rear Window, starring Amy Adams, made its way to Netflix on May 14.
10	Mare of Easttown	824,532	HBO continues to air this show about Kate Winslet as detective Mare, who returns to Easttown Township to investigate a murder.

I'll be there for you, 'cause you're there for me too (May 23–29)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (May 23 to 29, 2021)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Army of the Dead	1,584,244	Zack Snyder's newest film, released to Netflix on May 21, stars Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, and a digitally-superimposed Tig Notaro. The plot's about a crew breaking into a zombie-infested Las Vegas to retrieve millions of dollars before the place is nuked, but it's also about a father reconnecting with his estranged daughter—read into that what you will.
2	Eternals (film)	1,029,757	The first trailer for this MCU film—from Nomadland director Chloé Zhao—was released on Monday. If you're wondering how an Oscar winning director makes a Marvel movie, just take it from producer Kevin Feige: We cut a little sample reel together, I remember, to show [Disney higher-ups]. And it was so beautiful, and I had to keep saying, “This is right out of a camera; there’s no VFX work to this at all!” Because it was a beautiful sunset, with perfect waves and mist coming up from the shore on this giant cliffside — really, really impressive stuff. (Variety)
3	Phil Mickelson	989,739	Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship on May 23; at the age of 50, he's the oldest person to ever win a men's major golf championship
4	Matthew Perry	989,188	In the years between Friends and The Reunion, Chandler starred in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Mr. Sunshine, Go On, The Odd Couple, 17 Again and Fallout: New Vegas. He also tried to fend off the addiction to prescription drugs that hit him while doing the show.
5	Eurovision Song Contest 2021	945,167	After the pandemic ensured the only Eurovision Song Contest in 2020 was the one with Will Ferrell, the music extravaganza featuring the best and most bombastic of Europe (and Australia) made a glorious return.
6	Deaths in 2021	894,293	I won't stay quiet, I won't stay quiet Cause staying silent's the same as dying
7	Mare of Easttown	819,701	John Oliver joked that this series about a murder investigation is the only thing as white and depressing as the current backdrop of his show. And now there's only episode left for it.
8	Måneskin	818,137	This Italian rock band won the Eurovision Song Contest with their song "Zitti e buoni."
9	Friends: The Reunion	736,524	This special, starring the cast of the really big 90s–00s sitcom, premiered on HBO Max on Thursday. The guestlist included people who had appeared on the original series, as well as Malala, BTS, Justin Bieber, and Lady Gaga.
10	Elliot Page	716,745	Page, star of Juno and The Umbrella Academy, came out as a trans man at the end of last year. On Monday, he posted his first post-top surgery shirtless photo.

No one could ever know me, no one could ever see me (May 30 – June 5)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (May 30 to June 5, 2021)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Mare of Easttown	1,232,548	Writing/reading this Report, a pattern can be noted that articles on TV shows enter right as the season starts, and either remain steady or lose visits with more episodes, with the only thing that raises views being the season finale. This HBO drama starring Kate Winslet as a policewoman with a fractured home life investigating a murder managed to invert it, as Mare of Easttown only earned a slot by the third episode and has only grown since then, with the miniseries closer managing to the top the list – which is also a reflection of its actual ratings, with the seventh having nearly a million more viewers compared to the first!
2	Tulsa race massacre	1,178,663	On May 31 and June 1, 1921, the Black population of Tulsa, Oklahoma was devastated by attacks from a White mob. Hundreds were killed, thousands were left homeless, and the prosperous Greenwood District—known as "Black Wall Street"—was destroyed. The massacre was left out of American popular history until relatively recently; the revival probably owes a lot to HBO, as both the 2019 Watchmen miniseries and last year's Lovecraft Country both featured the events. 2020 also had the unfortunate coincidence of last year's George Floyd protests being at their height on the anniversary of the massacre.
3	Deaths in 2021	951,295	To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
4	A Quiet Place Part II	874,861	Shh! The John Krasinski-directed horror flick A Quiet Place, about a family (led by himself and real life wife Emily Blunt) who must live their lives in silence to avoid killer aliens with amazing hearing, earned itself critical and audience acclaim as well as beaucoup bucks. It got itself a sequel, but does anyone else kind of hate it when they just slap "Part 2" in front of things? It could've been A Quieter Place, or A Quiet Place: Hold Your Breath, or A Quiet Place: Please Would You Kindly Shut The Heck Up. In any case, Jim Halpert seems to have avoided the sophomore slump with this one if online ratings are to be believed.
5	Cruella (film)	856,457	The newest Joker movie, starring Emma Stone as a campy performance artist/fashion artist/mastermind criminal that will one day skin Dalmatians, was released to theatres and Disney+ on May 28.
6	The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It	830,910	This horror movie based on the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson was released to theatres and HBO Max on Friday.
7	Matthew Perry	742,353	Many viewers of the Friends reunion were worried about Perry after a withdrawn performance. During the show he admitted to anxiety surrounding how many laughs he would get. He has since announced that he and his fiancé had split after 4 years.
8	Naomi Osaka	709,447	Osaka was fined $15,000 for not giving a press conference after her first game in the French Open; the next day she withdrew, citing her mental health.
9	Frank Kameny	708,859	In 1957, Kameny was fired from the Army Map Service after his superiors learned of his homosexuality. He unsuccessfully fought this in the courts, and afterwards became a gay rights activist. The late Kameny, and pride month itself, was commemorated with a Google Doodle on Wednesday.
10	The Family Man (Indian TV series)	682,356	Prime Video has released this thriller starring Manoj Bajpayee as a middle-class man secretly working as an intelligence officer for India's counter-terrorist task force.

Someone to face the day with, make it through all the rest with (June 6–12)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (June 6 to 12, 2021)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	UEFA Euro 2020	1,725,754	After one year of delay, the 60th anniversary of Europe's football tournament between nations started on June 11. As of this report's cutoff, 4 games have been played. The only surprising result from these 4 is Finland beating Denmark (pictured is Joel Pohjanpalo, who scored the winning goal) However, given the circumstances (see below) the result is less surprising.
2	Christian Eriksen	1,553,804	The Danish international footballer suffered a suspected cardiac arrest in the tail end of the first half of a match against Finland, their opening match as part of #1. The match was immediately suspended while his team mates formed a protective buble around Eriksen and medics performed CPR. After approximately 15 minutes Erikson was transferred to hospital, where he is said to be stable, conscious and awaiting tests. The match resumed around 2 hours, Denmark's play was noticeably subdued, as were Finland's winning celebrations.
3	The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It	1,079,590	The third sequel to 2013's The Conjuring and the whopping eighth installment in The Conjuring Universe is based on Gerard Brittle's book The Devil in Connecticut, written about the demonic trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson (#9).
4	Ed and Lorraine Warren	995,545	Okay, so, if you ask me, the escapades recounted by these two ghostbusters (and the protagonists of the Conjuring films, in which they're portrayed by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectively) have about as much truth to them as when someone drops acid and then tells you they had a conversation with Julius Caesar. But you can't say the tall tales these two have Conjured up about supernatural spirits over the years haven't made for some perfect movie material, considering just how many films the studios have been able to milk from them, including the most recent Conjuring installment (#3).
5	Logan Paul	968,238	The slightly less controversial (though not that much less controversial) half of social media's Paul brothers has lived many lives both on and off of the internet, first as one of Vine's biggest stars, then as a YouTuber, an actor, a singer, a screenwriter, and a podcaster. Now, like his brother, he's made his triumphant return to boxing two years after his first professional match, going up against none other than Floyd Mayweather Jr. (#9). I didn't watch the fight, though according to the site you're reading this on, Mayweather may have gone a little easy on him.
6	Loki (TV series)	967,253	The MCU machine just keeps on pumping. In the the first episode of this semi-retconning sci-fi crime thriller, which was released on Disney+ this week, Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as the titular God of Mischief, introduced in 2011's Thor. He gets captured by the Time Variance Authority, an organization that monitors the timelines of the Multiverse, who deem one of the versions of Loki a threat to the "Sacred Timeline", in which no multiversal war breaks out, and Loki agrees to help stop the alternate, fugitive version of himself from messing up the timeline. Confused? I certainly am!
7	The Family Man (Indian TV series)	960,776	The second season of this Indian thriller, starring Manoj Bajpayee (pictured) as a middle-class man working for the National Intelligence Agency who must balance secretly trying to protect the country from terrorists with his tumultuous family life, was released last week on Amazon Prime Video. It continues to yield positive reviews and buzz.
8	Floyd Mayweather Jr.	929,958	A boxer who had a shining professional career, being champion of four weight classes and retiring undefeated after 50 fights. Mayweather returned for an exhibition fight with #5, where him holding back led to showers of boos from the audience.
9	Trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson	895,314	Saying "a demon made me kill my landlord" is like a way more extreme version of "my dog ate my homework", but in 1981, that was the excuse given by Arne Cheyenne Johnson and his defense lawyers. You must acquit, I guess. As told in #3, in a story that seems to have been based more on slightly convenient timing and coincidence than truth, the body of an 11-year-old boy named David Glatzel was supposedly being inhabited by a demon, so his family called in ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren (#4), who then got the Church to perform an official exorcism on Glatzel. Months later, Johnson killed his landlord, apparently because the demon had relocated from Glatzel's body to Johnson's. Not only is this hilarious because it means the exorcism was a failure, but it also means that the demon waited months to actually do anything demonic.
10	Sweet Tooth (TV series)	810,631	Based on the comic book series of the same name by Jeff Lemire, this Robert Downey Jr.-produced, James Brolin-narrated Netflix fantasy series released last week takes place in a world where animal-human hybrids are being hunted down, and follows the adventures of a boy born part deer and part human named Gus as he travels across America with his human companion, Tommy, in search of Gus's mother.

Even at my worst I'm best with you, yeah! (June 13–19)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (June 13 to 19, 2021)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Juneteenth	2,615,582	Saturday was Juneteenth, which commemorates the abolition of slavery in Texas following the Civil War. While most states have some recognition of the holiday, it took until this Thursday for President Biden to make it a federal holiday—the timing probably has a lot to do with the civil rights protest movement from last year.
2	UEFA Euro 2020	2,548,439	As of this report's cut-off, every team has played two of their three group games. Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands are already through, but will still try to win their group, for a theoretically easier round of 16 match (although the Netherlands have already won theirs) North Macedonia are already knocked out and now play for pride. However, for the other 20 teams still need to fight to stay in, with only 13 of those 20 teams making it through...
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	950,014	Ronaldo is currently playing for Portugal in the UEFA Euros. He's a pretty big deal, enough to be blamed for a stock value drop of The Coca-Cola Company after moving a bottle of Coke off the table to encourage viewers to drink water. (the true story is much more complicated)
4	Loki (TV series)	881,400	Thought WandaVision was a one time deal in "Disney+ Marvel shows that seem designed to leave the viewer confused every week"? Nope, Loki is here with its timeline variances to keep that void filled. There was even the reveal of the antagonist, known as "The Variant", an alternate Loki who not only is intent on breaking the flow of time, but is a woman!
5	Milkha Singh	872,744	Nicknamed "The Flying Sikh", a sprinter who was the last Indian man to get close to an Olympic medal in track and field with a 1956 fourth place (a woman got to the same position in 1984; the country has not had much Olympic success in running, jumping and throwing), and died of COVID-19 complications at the age of 91.
6	Christian Eriksen	866,489	Following the Danish international's cardiac arrest during his match against Finland national football team (June 12), he has been fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. Meanwhile, during Denmark's match against Belgium was paused in the 10th minute for a tribute (Eriksen wears the #10 shirt), with a banner reading "All of Denmark is with you, Christian".
7	Critical race theory	858,371	School boards around the United States are filled with talk about "critical race theory," a specific academic field that, to some critical eyes, encompasses everything from The 1619 Project to white genocide. In Washoe County, Nevada, parents even proposed equipping teachers with body cams to prevent the dastardly CRT. Liberals warn that bans on CRT—so far passed in Idaho and Florida—will have a chilling effect on discussions of racism, while conservatives boast that they would have a chilling effect on discussions of racism.
8	Deaths in 2021	830,867	When I die and they lay me to rest Gonna go to the place that's the best When I lay me down to die Goin' up to the Spirit in the Sky
9	Novak Djokovic	814,589	Djkovic won the Men's Singles tournament at the French Open on June 13, taking the champion title from Stefanos Tsitsipas.
10	UEFA European Championship	691,184	Ever since 1960, the European national football teams have a tournament among them every four years. Although the goddamned pandemic ensured the latest edition (#2) had an extra year of wait.

Exclusions

These lists exclude 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 exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (5–6% or less) or almost all mobile views (94–95% 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 Top 25 Report talk page if you wish.

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In this issue

27 June 2021 (all comments)

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I just wanted to say that I always enjoy the traffic reports. They have a personality that makes it a lot more interesting to read compared to just the raw data. I like to make at least one guess about what is likely popular enough to end up on the list before I read, and I won my self-bet with Loki (TV series). I don't watch much television, but I've been looking forward to Wednesdays where I watch it with my family. Clovermoss (talk) 20:44, 27 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"Cruella [...] the newest Joker movie" I shat myself from laughter from reading this -Gouleg🛋️ ^harass/_hound 14:50, 28 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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