WP:TOP25

Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (November 17 to 23, 2013)

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Summary: Doctor Who nearly got cancelled in its first week because its premiere was swamped by coverage of the JFK assassination, which happened the same day. Thankfully, producers saw fit to rerun it the next day, which is now its official anniversary date. With the two events locked in tandem forever, their respective 50th anniversaries were bound to compete for our attention. But which would swamp which this time? Well, while the Doctor may have the highest rated individual article, he was crushed in terms of view numbers, as the assassination drew 5 articles into the top 10, totaling nearly 4 million views. And those wishing ill on Doctor Who can relax in the knowledge that its 50th anniversary special was beaten in the ratings by Strictly Come Dancing. In other news, global warming continued to be a hot topic this week, though with interest in Typhoon Haiyan apparently faded, there remains the question of whether the heat is natural or if someone with an agenda is stoking the fire.

For the week of November 17 to 23, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages* were:

Rank	Last	Wks	Article	Class	Views	Notes
1	1	3	Climatic Research Unit email controversy		2,148,412	Despite the typhoon that supposedly triggered its rise having faded from the top 25, this manufactured controversy holds its top position, which raises the question of whether it is the beneficiary of some artificial inflation. In fact, all the global warming articles from last week are roughly in their previous positions, which is odd, and perhaps suspicious. Given that its very presence in the top 25 is questionable, as those involved have repeatedly been found innocent of any wrongdoing, its continued high view count has a bit of a whiff about it regardless. However, not enough to warrant exclusion.
2	-	2	Doctor Who		1,435,415	The longest-running science fiction television series in history celebrated its 50th anniversary with a barreling barrage of coverage; beyond the mandatory feature-length episode (see below), there have been documentaries, radio serials, lost episodes making sudden appearances, even a docudrama about its creation starring David Bradley as William Hartnell. And of course, that surefire guarantor of high Wiki views, an interactive Google Doodle.
3	14	2	John F. Kennedy		1,034,731	The ever-popular, ever-tragic 35th US President surged during the 50th anniversary of his assassination on 22 November. His lack of a Google Doodle is probably the reason he stands below the good Doctor in popularity this week.
4	-	-	Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis		806,828	The epitome of 60s glamour who saw her husband die in front of her got many sympathy votes this week.
5	-	-	Assassination of John F. Kennedy		737,126	Three shots ring out in the Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963, a President dies, and a legend is born. Will there ever be closure? Perhaps, but it seems that, even after 50 years, we haven't been able to put this behind us.
6	21	2	Lee Harvey Oswald		661,246	The assassin of President Kennedy (no, I am NOT going there) of course got attention on the 50th anniversary of his big moment.
7	2	2	Sachin Tendulkar		873,040	The highest scoring international cricketer in history retired last week after a 24-year career, during which he scored 18,426 runs in one day internationals and 15,470 runs in test matches (both all-time records) and was the only person ever to score a hundred hundreds internationally. His fans declare him the God of the religion of cricket; the devout Hindu wishes they would not.
8	-	-	Children's Day		637,074	The day established by the UN to honour the children of the world fell on November 20th and was honoured itself by a Google Doodle. Seriously, if you were going to honour children, don't you think the least you could do would be to give them a day off school?
9	-	-	Jack Ruby		553,276	The assassin of the assassin of President Kennedy (seriously, how often does that happen?) also holds the distinction of having committed a murder on live television. Yeah things got weird that year. And they wonder why people find the whole story a bit strange.
10	5	46	Facebook		509,242	A perennially popular article
11	23	9	United States		488,855	The 3rd most popular Wikipedia article between 2010 and 2012, and a perpetual bubble-under-er. Not really surprising that the country with by far the most English speakers would be the most popular on the English Wikipedia.
12	-	2	Bitcoin		433,272	People just can't stop finding bitcoins. The oddball digital currency that is mostly beloved of child porn addicts, illegal drug consumers and radical libertarians is back in the news this week, for a number of reasons. First, bankers have (prematurely?) suggested it may prove a legitimate competitor to real money; second, another bitcoin "trove" worth USD 6 million was found in a junked hard drive this week; finally, "Bitcoin Black Friday" was declared for the day after Thanksgiving to try and get people to actually spend the frigging things instead of hoarding them. Except that hoarding them is exactly the right thing to do if their value continues to skyrocket as it has done.
13	-	-	Gettysburg Address		420,366	In all the brouhaha about competing anniversaries, the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's 271-word rhetorical masterpiece almost slipped under the radar. Thankfully, the encyclopedia of the people, by the people and for the people, for better or worse, drew nearly half a million views to its featured article on the subject.
14	12	4	Global warming		395,829	Global warming topics are still in the top 25 this week, but there is some suspicion as to why.
15	13	27	List of Bollywood films of 2013	List	373,935	An established staple of the top 25.
16	9	9	Lorde		369,476	The just-turned 17-year-old singer-songwriter from New Zealand released her modestly titled debut album, Pure Heroine, on 27 September.
17	10	49	World War II		363,486	Another perennially popular article. (The 16th most popular article from 2010 to 2012, in fact, see Table 2 here.)
18	7	55	Deaths in 2013	List	346,231	The list of deaths in the current year is always quite a popular article.
19	16	2	Greenhouse gas		342,919	Another climate change-related article
20	-	3	Jennifer Lawrence		341,242	The second instalment of the Oscar-winning actress's blockbuster franchise, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, opened this weekend to a record-breaking $158.1 million.
21	8	8	Eminem		339,172	The rapper's latest album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, was released on November 5.
22	-	-	The Day of the Doctor	Future	336,089	The nostalgia-fest that was the Doctor's 50th anniversary special drew in tens of millions of viewers when it was simulcast around the world in 94 countries, and even drew in a respectable box office gross of $10 million, for the cinemas showing it in 3D.
23	17	2	Climate change		330,684	And the global warming debate rages on, for whatever reason.
24	-	-	The Hunger Games		331,877	This hybrid of Metropolis and Battle Royale has become the least likely young adult hit ever. Thanks to the latest film adaptation (see above) it's been getting some Wikipedia attention.
25	19	6	India		318,711	The second-largest English-speaking population on Earth also made it into the top 25 this week.

Almosts:

Caroline Kennedy (315,062 views); UFC 167 (311,725 views); Copenhagen treaty (307,117 views)

Exclusions:

This list excludes the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages, and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Please keep in mind that the explanations given for these articles' popularity are, fundamentally, guesses. Just because a plausible reason is found for a view spike, that doesn't mean it wasn't due to a bot.

There are a number of articles that reappear frequently in the top 25 for no determined reason, and have been excluded as likely being due to automated views. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish.
- G: This, or alternately G-force, frequently appears in the top 25. It is probably due to people typing "G" for "Google" in Google Chrome's search bar and hastily clicking "enter".
- Lycos: the geriatric web portal seems to be back en vogue, for no apparent reason.
- A rather uncreative bot is spamming this week's list with Trivial Pursuit-esque topic headers: "Human Interest"; "Entertainment Culture"; "Hospitality Recreation"; "Health Medical Pharma" etc. (for some reason, always capitalised- also, whoever created this bot has apparently never heard of the slash).

Specific exclusions this week (if you know a reason for their presence, please post it on the talk page):

Juniper berries: Links to redirects indicate a single point of origin, which suggests either a Reddit thread or a bot. Can't find the Reddit thread
Java: Could be many things; a country, coffee, a programming language, who knows? Certainly doesn't appear to be any rationale for its appearance regardless.
Plastic: Again, this sort of thing is usually due to a Reddit thread. Can't find it.

Notes:

Number of views needed to reach Top 25 this week: 301,164. Last week: 318,711.

The revision of WP:5000 containing the data used to create this list.