Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/August 7 to 13, 2022

The Top 25 Report

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Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (August 7 to 13, 2022)

Prepared with commentary by YttriumShrew, Igordebraga, TheJoebro64, SSSB and an anonymous editor

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It's one of those weeks where death dominates. The deaths of Anne Heche and Olivia Newton-John and the near-death of Salman Rushdie propelled those articles to the top three spots on this list, and brought some related topics in too (#8, #12, #15, #16, #21). Outside that, it's mostly the usual mix of film and TV; plus the ComGames, here for one more week.

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Anne Heche	6,740,122	An actress who never took off as a leading lady but had a steady line of work that included roles like Wag the Dog and Chicago P.D., albeit her public image was more shaped by a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres and a subsequent mental breakdown following the break-up, Anne Heche suffered a sequence of two car crashes last week which caused a massive house fire and sent her to intensive care, where she died after 6 days at the age of 53.
2	Olivia Newton-John	5,004,161	Forever known as the star of Grease, along with scoring quite a few hit songs like "Physical" that made her one of the best-selling musical acts of the 20th century, Olivia Newton-John was an Australian of two other countries (British born, American based) who survived a breast cancer in the 90s but saw it return in a more intense form, having spread to the bones, in 2017, ultimately causing her death at 73.
3	Salman Rushdie	2,562,277	In 1988, the publication of the novel The Satanic Verses (#8) caused uproar among some in Islam, and the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to kill its author, Salman Rushdie. 33 years later, a man attempted to follow through on that by stabbing him at a literary event in Chautauqua, New York. By all accounts he is recovering from the attack, but will likely suffer permanent damage.
4	Laal Singh Chaddha	1,703,109	The latest Indian film to make a big impact here is a Bollywood remake of Forrest Gump starring Aamir Khan (pictured) in the title role, as previously played by Tom Hanks. It has not received the acclaim of the film it's based on, and may have to rely on Khan's star power to get it over the line.
5	The Sandman (TV series)	1,612,204	The long-gestating adaptation of Neil Gaiman's magnum opus (#17) managed to stick the landing gracefully, silencing critics who were concerned that the beloved DC comic was unfilmable. In addition to critical acclaim, it became the top Netflix show in just three days, with 69.5 million viewership hours worldwide.
6	India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games	1,458,127	The Commonwealth Games closed out this week, with the next one to be hosted in regional Victoria. It is of course impossible to sum up everything that happened, so I'll do some blind patriotism and mention that New Zealand did very well. India also did quite well as they tend to, although it wasn't their best medal haul. Congratulations to all the competitors, and we'll see most of you in four years!
7	2022 Commonwealth Games	1,393,046
8	The Satanic Verses	1,310,550	#3 penned this novel in the late 1980s, which included a sequence based on the life of Muhammad. After the book was released, some Muslims accused it of blasphemy, resulting in book burnings, bans in multiple countries, the aforementioned fatwa and multiple assassination attempts. The controversy sparked a complex international debate about balancing freedom of expression with religious tolerance, a question that still lingers today.
9	Prey (2022 film)	1,189,306	With a title that reverses the name of its franchise, Predator, this streaming release with the alien hunter targeting Native Americans and French expeditionaries in the 18th century has been very well received.
10	Deaths in 2022	1,046,385	Every time we say goodbye Baby, it hurts When the sun goes down And the band won't play I'll Always Remember Us This Way
11	Woodstock '99	1,045,567	Five years after a successful 25th anniversary revival, the Woodstock festival tried again, and it was a far cry from the peace and love of the '69 original, as a crowd fed up with heat, price-gouging and unsanitary conditions took to heart the aggressive music of some performers like Limp Bizkit and finished the thing by burning and looting whatever was in sight. Netflix documents it in the aptly named miniseries Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 (a great companion piece to an HBO documentary from last year).
12	Chloe Lattanzi	940,887	#2's only daughter, who attempted some acting and singing too and spent the last two weeks tending for her dying mother.
13	Andrew Tate	815,721	The internet personality/influencer/potential human trafficker is still on the list after a meteoric rise to prominence. Perhaps a spot on the yearly list is on the cards?
14	Elvis Presley	761,177	It's the Return of the King, as Elvis is back on this list following renewed interest in the runup to the 45th anniversary of his death.
15	Matt Lattanzi	748,149	#2's first husband and #12's father, an actor who she met recording the camp classic Xanadu.
16	John Travolta	732,471	The co-star of #2's most famous movie.
17	The Sandman (comic book)	687,353	The comic upon which #5 is based. The show condenses the comic's first two storylines ("Preludes & Nocturnes" and "The Doll's House") into one season, but aside from some changes to modernize the overarching plot and the removal of cameos from other DC characters (including guest appearances from the Justice League and references to John Dee being the classic DC villain Doctor Destiny), it's a faithful adaptation that does the beloved comic justice.
18	Tham Luang cave rescue	684,774	Four years ago, a junior football team drew some attention away from the bigger ones at the World Cup by getting trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand. Prime Video has now released the Ron Howard-directed Thirteen Lives reenacting the incident.
19	Ezra Miller	645,950	As if Warner Bros. shelving a practically finished Batgirl movie months before its release wasn't enough, DC fans also have the issue that a $200 million Flash one is tainted for its star's unruly behavior, which now included an arrest for burglary.
20	Sita Ramam	588,434	A Telugu romance film set in 1960s Kashmir.
21	James Tupper	542,250	A Canadian actor formerly married to #1, who she had a child with and starred in a TV show with.
22	Tom Sturridge	540,782	#5's Dream of the Endless/Morpheus.
23	Jennette McCurdy	533,113	This former Nickelodeon actress already declined returning to the iCarly reunion last year, and now released a memoir with the eye-catching title I'm Glad My Mom Died, saying her abusive and controlling stage mom made her life hellish enough to drive McCurdy away from being in front of the camera.
24	Raksha Bandhan (film)	526,643	Back to Bollywood now, with a "family comedy-drama film" (as Wikipedia puts it) named after a traditional Hindu/Sikh rite about a man trying to marry his daughters off so he can marry his girlfriend.
25	Amber Midthunder	521,477	And last on the list is the star of #9, where she delivers a well-received performance as a Comanche warrior, and is also (unusually) actually a Native American, although from a different tribe. Still, it's a step forward for Hollywood.

Exclusions

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 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 talk page if you wish.