Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/December 3 to 9, 2017

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (December 3 to 9, 2017)

Prepared with commentary by Stormy clouds

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All in the (Kapoor) family

One often forgets that, behind the United States, the country with the second most English speakers, and thereby a large footprint on the English language Wikipedia, is India. This week, motivated by the death of a Bollywood legend, they came with a vengeance to remind us of that fact. Shashi Kapoor (#1), one of the largest names in Hindi cinema, died, and much of his family, a veritable acting dynasty, appear alongside him on the report, at one point occupying four consecutive slots.

In other news, the British royal family and entertainment are well represented on the list, and Trumpian geopolitics drove interest in Israeli affairs, accounting for entries #5 and #6. All in all, the report is less diverse than most iterations, but no less intriguing.

For the week of December 3 to 9, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Views	Notes
1	Shashi Kapoor	1,578,905	The Indian actor, one of the most prominent figures in Bollywood not named Khan, comprising a corpus in excess of 160 films, died and prompted a surge of interest on Wikipedia in both himself and the acting dynasty that is his family.
2	Bitcoin	1,495,043	Interest in the cryptocurrency has continued, increasing exponentially in tandem with its monetary value. An interesting and live economic study, but its inevitable collapse will leave investors feeling like tulips.
3	August Ames	928,067	The pornographic actress, both bipolar and bisexual, was branded a homophobe for her refusal to participate in a scene with a male actor who had experience in gay porn. Her underlying depression, coupled with relentless cyberbullying over her accused bigotry, drove her to suicide.
4	Meghan Markle	844,442	The media circus surrounding Miss Markle continued to propel her upwards in the report. Last week, she announced her engagement to Prince Harry, and Wikipedians are still determined to learn about the Suits actress.
5	Israel	786,817	The eternally controversial state saw itself in the news once again after Donald Trump decided to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (#6), thereby recognising it as the capital of the country. This move incited anger, angst, and anguish in the Middle East – a bombastic idea.
6	Jerusalem	768,238	See above (#5). Purported and claimed ownership over the ancient and religiously significant city is ostensibly the only thing which both Israelis and Palestinians can agree upon.
7	Deaths in 2017	757,450	The list of the deceased remains prevalent and prominent amongst Wikipedians, driven to higher figures by the demise of August Ames (#3).
8	Carol Burnett	696,071	The comedienne returned to the headlines as a special episode of The Carol Burnett Show was aired to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. The extravaganza, loaded with famous and celebrated comedians, drew high viewership figures and prolonged interest on the encyclopedia.
9	A Way Out (video game)	602,146	Electronic Arts have not had a great year, with both Mass Effect: Andromeda and Star Wars: Battlefront II underperforming significantly. To round off their misery, Josef Fares, director of the upcoming game, arrived at the 2017 Game Awards to rant about EA, the Oscars, and much more in a truly glorious meltdown.
10	Elizabeth II	586,961	There are three reasons for the renewed interest in the longest-reigning British monarch of all time: the continued positive sentiments regarding the British royal family in the wake of Prince Harry's engagement to Meghan Markle (#4), the release of the second season of The Crown on Netflix, and the (presumed) continued and concerted effort to claim victory over Broad City in the "Yas Queen" meme wars.
11	Tommy Wiseau	584,070	Arguably the man who most embodies the idea of accidental brilliance, Wiseau directed and starred in The Room, the best worst film of all time. He is back in the news as a result of The Disaster Artist, a biopic about him and the creation of his magnum opus.
12	Justice League	583,195	Ray Fisher portrays Cyborg in the superhero film, whose release has been accompanied by the usual controversy surrounding a DCEU release. It is still drawing both viewers in the auditorium and interest on Wikipedia.
13	UFC 218	526,148	I am not a massive fan of the kicky-punchy thingy, but apparently José Aldo lost emphatically at the recent meeting of the "sport". It is a tad too brutalist for my likings, and some of the most prominent stars are irritating.
14	Tim Conway	525,412	Conway appeared alongside Carol Burnett (#8) on the anniversary edition of her eponymous sketch comedy show, a precursor to SNL, which he appeared on for eleven seasons.
15	Kunal Kapoor (actor)	509,864	The Kapoor invasion is reinstigated – Kunal is the son of Shashi Kapoor (#1). He is also an actor of some stature of his own accord, and is a key component of the "first family of Bollywood".
16	Jennifer Kendal	490,578	The English actress, who died in 1984, returned to encyclopedic significance following the death of her husband, Shashi (#1), whom she met and married while participating in a production of The Tempest by the Bard.
17	Karan Kapoor	484,491	Arguably the least prominent participant in the acting dynasty, Karan is the grandson of Raj (pictured) second son of Shashi (#1) and Jennifer (#16) Kapoor. He never found the same level of success as his family members, hence his diminished level of fame relative to them.
18	Kapoor family	479,454	The greatest proof of all time that people do click through on the hyperlinks, the death of Shashi (#1) drove many a Wikipedian to research his wife and children, who collectively have been labelled "the first family of Bollywood".
19	The Room (film)	456,947	"I did not hit her. It's not true. It's bullshit. I did not hit her." These lines, unequivocally the most eloquent and elegant ever penned, appear in this superb cinematic masterpiece, which has renewed fame due to James Franco's appearance as its creator, Tommy Wiseau (#11) in The Disaster Artist.
20	Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon	456,947	The deceased sister of Queen Elizabeth II (#10) appears prominently in the second series of The Crown. If past experiences are anything to go by, nothing whets the appetite for the acquisition of knowledge on Wikipedia like a binge watching session on Netflix.
21	Johnny Hallyday	452,875	Hallyday, a giant of la musique over in France, passed away this week. With over 75 million record sales, and an outpouring of emotion in L'Hexagone it is little surprise that his death attracted ample attention over here on en.wiki.
22	Tonya Harding	434,599	The infamous ice skater is the subject of I, Tonya, a biopic about her criminal assault on Nancy Kerrigan, where she is portrayed by Margot Robbie (pictured).
23	Saoirse Ronan	429,651	The Irish actress, whose name is notoriously difficult to pronounce for non-Hibernophones, hosted SNL last week. She drew the ire of her compatriots over a skit regarding Aer Lingus, the national airline of Ireland. The sketch, which incorporated many stereotypes and painted the airline as archaic and antiquated, prompted a Presidential response.
24	Sanjana Kapoor	423,510	The daughter of Shashi (#1), Sanjana hit the headlines as a result of his death. The surge of interest in Bollywood affairs is testament to the prominence of India on the English Wikipedia.
25	Al Franken	421,642	The comedian-cum-politician resigned from his position as United States senator for Minnesota following accusations of sexual misconduct levied against him. Fear not, for if polls are accurate, the Senate will soon have an accused paedophile in office.

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.

Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.