Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/January 21 to 27, 2024

Don't forget to read the 2023 annual top 50 report

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (January 21 to 27, 2024)

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Rajan51, CAWylie, Krimuk2.0, Shuipzv3, I am RedoStone and Rahcmander.

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Along with the expected American and Indian entries, sports in Asia, Africa and Australia, a Jamaican singer about to have his story told and on the top a Colombian criminal that had hers.

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Griselda Blanco	2,072,125	Sofía Vergara (pictured) portrays the Colombian drug lord in the Netflix miniseries Griselda, which premiered January 25.
2	2023 AFC Asian Cup	2,023,697	Qatar already did well with the FIFA World Cup, so more football came in the continental tournament, and already offered some surprises like traditional South Korea conceding a tie to lowly Malaysia in the 105th minute (!) - but not our friends from India performing well, as they lost all three games. The knockout rounds will start with interesting matches like the currently suffering Palestine against the hosts.
3	Nikki Haley	1,835,344	No presidential caucuses or debates this week, so she remains the only female candidate on the Republican ticket and the only Republican opposing former president Donald Trump, despite a senator (Tim Scott) from Haley's home state and appointed by her putting his support behind the latter.
4	Republic Day (India)	1,684,044	The first of India's three national holidays was observed on January 26, marking the country's transition from a dominion to a republic. This year's parade featured 144 members of the Egyptian Armed Forces (pictured) marching for the first time.
5	Australian Open	1,353,113	Melbourne hosts tennis' first Grand Slam of the year. The men's side will have a one-time winner (#14) while the women's kept last year's champion (#21).
6	Ram Mandir	1,286,350	On January 22, just months ahead of the world's biggest election, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated this temple to the Hindu deity Rama in a highly publicized and politicized event that was attended by several Indian politicians, businessmen and celebrities. The temple is located at the hypothesized birthplace of Rama, and the former location of a 16th-century mosque (#15), which was attacked and demolished in 1992 by Hindu extremists. It must also be noted that archaeologists found the ruins of what was probably an ancient temple at the site following the mosque's demolition. After several years of litigation, the Supreme Court of India delivered its verdict in 2019 to give the site to Hindus to construct a temple, and to give another piece of land to Muslims for building a mosque.
7	Saltburn (film)	1,171,623	Down from #1, a thriller that followed five nominations from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts with none at all from the Americans from AMPAS (#24).
8	Palworld	1,080,585	Announced in 2021, this action-adventure / survival / monster-taming video game was released on January 19. Nicknamed early as "Pokémon with guns", it sold eight million units in its first six days and had two million players on Steam, making it the second-most played game ever (behind Counter-Strike 2).
9	Fighter (2024 film)	1,076,440	Coinciding with #4, India's first aerial action film opened on January 25. It is also the first in a planned franchise and the first collab between stars Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone.
10	Deaths in 2024	1,001,016	I heard you're goin' 'round Playing the victim now But don't even begin feeling I'm the one to blame 'Cause you dug your own grave...
11	Africa Cup of Nations	927,290	A slight delay for #2 and #13 having to occur this year drew visitors to the main page of the annual football tournament.
12	Royal Rumble (2024)	900,016	The 37th annual battle royal of professional wrestling took place on January 27, with the men's and women's winners looking for a title shot of their choice at WrestleMania XL. Cody Rhodes won his second-straight opportunity; but the night belonged to Bayley (pictured), who wrestled for just over an hour to win her chance.
13	2023 Africa Cup of Nations	843,156	Held in the Ivory Coast, this event kicked off about 7 months late on January 13, with the group stage concluding on January 22.
14	Jannik Sinner	833,428	Novak Djokovic had a 33-match winning streak at #5 dating back to 2019 (mind you he skipped 2022 for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine), yet his dreams of a record 11th Australian Open and 25th Grand Slam were ended in the semifinal by this young Italian, who will contest his first Grand Slam final against Daniil Medvedev.
15	Babri Masjid	779,529	The controversial mosque of the Ayodhya dispute that once stood at the location of #6 was built during the reign of Mughal emperor Babur, allegedly at the spot where a temple to the Rama once stood. It was demolished in 1992 by a group of right-wing Hindu nationalists, triggering riots that caused thousands of deaths. An excavation by archaeologists found the ruins of a non-Islamic structure resembling the temples of northern India at the site of the mosque. A new temple celebrating Rama was inaugurated where it stood, while another mosque is being built in the city.
16	Execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith	770,208	Continuing the topic of true crime in these lists, in 1988, Smith was hired by Charles Sennett Sr. to kill his wife. Smith and John Forrest Parker beat then stabbed her in a fake home invasion. She died en route to the hospital. Someone gave the suspects' names to the police, they questioned Sennett about knowing Smith, and later Sennett killed himself. Parker was executed in 2010, and Smith was received a stay of execution following a first botched attempt in 2022. The second one was scheduled for January 25, and it was carried out via nitrogen hypoxia, which some people believed was inhumane.
17	Poor Things (film)	749,207	This surreal black comedy, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone, received 11 nominations at #23.
18	Animal (2023 film)	748,003	Two of Indian cinema's biggest-grossers of last year were both released on Netflix this month. Both have hyper-masculinity and the sidelining of women in common.
19	Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire	743,308
20	Bob Marley	730,739	One love, one heart Let's join together and a-feel alright! This Jamaican singer, who died fairly young in 1981 (aged just 36), will be the subject of an upcoming film that releases on Valentine's Day.
21	Aryna Sabalenka	722,242	#5's female half had plenty of seeded players falling early, but still ended up dominated by No. 2, this Belarusian (who opposes the Russian invasion of Ukraine but is still competing for no flag because of it) who successfully defended her 2023 title and didn't lose a single set during the tournament, defeating up-and-coming Zheng Qinwen in the final.
22	Jim Harbaugh	717,050	The former quarterback returns to coaching in the NFL after being hired as the head coach for the Los Angeles Chargers, which he previously played for two seasons when it was known as the San Diego Chargers.
23	96th Academy Awards	702,817	The Oscar noms are out, with the most recognized being Oppenheimer (13), #17 (11), and Killers of the Flower Moon (10). Barbie is also up for Best Picture and seven more nods, surprising with America Ferrera running for Supporting Actress (her monologues on women's struggles must've impressed the Academy) but causing much uproar by not having Greta Gerwig for Best Director and Margot Robbie for Best Actress, which was stated to downright reinforce the film's messages regarding the patriarchy and misogyny.
24	True Detective (season 4)	689,734	HBO returned with True Detective, an anthology following a different crime story every season, this time with a female showrunner and two women detectives as the protagonists, played by the ever-reliable Jodie Foster (whose work in Nyad scored her a Supporting Actress nod in the above) and boxer-turned-actress Kali Reis.
25	Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom	677,587	Finishing off both this list and the DC Extended Universe, the return of Arthur Curry managed to surpass the $400 million mark, which would be impressive for a production that didn't follow a billion dollar movie or cost about half of that, and numbers probably won't grow enough to result in much profit. In any case, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hit video on demand to let more people say goodbye to the franchise and Jason Momoa as the Atlantean superhero (many hope the actor will return in the rebooted DC Universe as the sociopathic Lobo), and soon it'll be added to HBO Max (sorry, just Max doesn't have the same ring).