Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/November 24 to 30, 2024

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (November 24 to 30, 2024)

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, DementiaGaming, Soulbust, Vestrian24Bio, CAWylie and BarntToust.

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We're Off to See the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Wicked (2024 film)	2,285,212	21 years after Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman made a musical doing a revisionist take on the Land of Oz (itself based on the novel at #12) comes a film adaptation — or rather, half of it, with its part II set to release next #14 — directed by Jon M. Chu, and co-written by Holzman. Wicked tells about Elphaba, who later became the Wicked Witch of the West (played by #4) and Galinda, best known as Glinda the Good Witch (#6), before they received a visitor from Kansas (#23). The first part, released last week in the U.S., opened to positive reviews and made $162.9 million worldwide in its opening weekend, thus recovering its $150 million budget.
2	Wicked (musical)	1,974,913
3	Gladiator II	1,441,383	In the United States, the above movie opened opposite a very different competitor, an unexpected sequel to Gladiator where the now grown child from the first movie follows the same journey of being attacked by the Romans, enslaved and joining blood sports, and the contrast was compared to Barbenheimer, with Gladiator II protagonist Paul Mescal encouraging a double feature to what he described as "Glicked". Even if its opening weekend was half of its competitor, $55 million is still a respectable number, and added to international totals Gladiator II has passed $300 million after 3 weekends playing worldwide.
4	Cynthia Erivo	1,278,829	This British actress and singer first appeared in some of her country's television series in 2011. Two years later, she starred in an Off West End production of The Color Purple musical and made her Broadway debut in its revival in 2015 (and won a Tony Award). Many stage and screen appearances later, she stars in #1 as Elphaba, alongside #6.
5	Moana 2	1,029,002	The ego of a former wrestler was part of the reason this film was made; his ego will continue to manifest itself in Hollywood with a planned live-action Moana reboot. Despite the ego-presence, it can hardly be claimed that Moana was a bad movie, and neither is this one (granted, the original is better, and the music has the harkening absence of the great wordsmith songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda), which even if it started as a Disney+ miniseries that ended up promoted to a theatrical feature, is a far cry from the shoddy direct-to-video sequels Disney used to make for their animated classics. Nevertheless, Moana 2 is expected to make a splash at the box office.
6	Ariana Grande	991,041	In 1998, a young Boca Raton girl was hit by a puck in a Florida Panthers game. 17 years later, she was the main attraction at the same arena, following an acting stint on Nickelodeon and two studio albums. And now this year is glorious for both parties, with the Panthers having won the Stanley Cup and Ariana Grande-Butera (which is how she's credited on #1; she normally drops the latter part of her surname, leaving only the ironic one meaning "big" when Grande's fairly short) having an acclaimed performance as Glinda the Good Witch that is even considered a possible Academy Award nominee.
7	Deaths in 2024	990,059	Let's quote the above: I only wanna die alive Never by the hands of a broken heart...
8	2024 United States presidential election	837,220	This is what happens when you put together a felon, a woman that cackles like a witch, and a conspiracy theorist with a dead worm in his brain, and make them run for president. Luckily the dead-worm guy survived the unstoppable occult force perpetrated by the Illuminati that killed his daddy and his uncle. And by the way, what happened to the unstoppable occult force perpetrated by the Native Americans? Shouldn’t the Gipper, foreign country invader Jr. and the current president all have died in office under very mysterious circumstances?
9	International Society for Krishna Consciousness	819,731	This could be excluded on the mobile view percentage below, but there seems to be a reason for inclusion: a monk of this group commonly known internationally as "Hare Krishnas" (who in India itself are referred to as ISKCON) was arrested in Bangladesh, and a protest of his supporters evolved into a conflict with security forces, during which a lawyer was murdered. ISKCON denied direct involvement with the death, but there were even requests to ban the organization from Bangladesh.
10	Killing of JonBenét Ramsey	773,420	Why is this article on the list? One word: documentary. It’s a pretty-well known fact that most of the entries on Top 25 make it here because a documentary on the tax-avoiding employee-poaching streaming service known as Netflix. JonBenét Ramsey, a child beauty pageant, was found dead in the basement of the house she lived in on Christmas Day in 1996. It’s a pretty long and drawn-out murder case that I’m not going to explain into detail when there is a new documentary waiting for you on Netflix to watch yourself. Funny enough, my parents are watching this documentary right now in the living room! My mom is explaining the whole documentary to my dad because he won’t listen to the show.
11	Gladiator (2000 film)	733,012	This is Sparta!!! Oops, wrong movie (and city, this is Rome!)… "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next." There. This movie has a much better and more seasoned director than the guy who made 300, and it shows, because Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, got an 80% percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and is a landmark in 21st century film history. The reason it’s on the list is because of the sequel up there at #3, making viewers remember how it’s a damn good movie.
12	Wicked (Maguire novel)	723,949	In 1995, Gregory Maguire wrote a revisionist take on the Wicked Witch of the West, reimagining the Oz villain as Elphaba, a person targeted by prejudice and propaganda. Stephen Schwartz read it on his vacation and made a Broadway musical out of it (#2), that has gotten a film adaptation (#1). Maguire also decided to make sequels, starting with The Wicked Years tetralogy with books about Elphaba's children and the Cowardly Lion.
13	Empress Elisabeth of Austria	692,714	Back to Netflix with the recently released second season of The Empress, a German show telling the story of this famed royal known affectionately as "Sissi".
14	Thanksgiving	654,197	While there is of course always criticism with the holiday, Thanksgiving was celebrated this past Thursday in the United States. It again receives a pageview boost as a result (though less so than last year).
15	Richard Coles	649,550	What happens when you mix together a writer, radio presenter and a priest? You get a Communard! And the dance version of "Don't Leave Me This Way", which slaps by the way. While remaining relevant in his broadcasting career, it has kept Coles in the spotlight, leading to his appearance in the latest season of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
16	Arcane (TV series)	574,902	Everyone who has watched this show has told me to watch it and honestly, I might have to give it a go as its animation looks gorgeous and the widespread consensus is that its story elements match its great visuals. Its season (and series) finale wrapped up this past Sunday, while its lead Hailee Steinfeld (who was just engaged this past week as well) was just kept out of the Top 25 (432,136 pageviews this week).
17	Elon Musk	570,573	Trump's (#24) pick to co-lead Trump's planned DOGE advisory board along with Vivek Ramaswamy and also one of the wealthiest persons in the world has been around the news since he endorsed Trump for the 2024 elections (#8). Last week, he expressed his support to delete the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
18	Chuck Woolery	543,828	This game show host, who most notably hosted the original 1975-1981 run of Wheel of Fortune, died in his home on November 23 at the age of 83.
19	Jonathan Bailey	531,764	#1 has this British actor with an extensive stage career and a role on Bridgerton (and who next year will face dinosaurs in Jurassic World Rebirth) as Fiyero, a rebellious prince interested in both Galinda and Elphaba. #2 made some changes to the character compared to #12, so in Wicked Part Two instead of discovering Fiyero has a wife and son, he'll become a familiar face.
20	GNX (album)	528,434	MUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!!! The damn near battle cry midway through "tv off" on Kendrick Lamar's sixth studio album, which dropped as a surprise, cemented what is being widely viewed as a much-deserved victory lap for the rapper. And indeed, the album is goated.
21	Shaboozey	509,491	A tradition of #14 is an NFL game featuring the ever-suffering Detroit Lions (who were able to snap a Thanksgiving losing streak dating back 7 years). This year's edition had as the half-time attraction this rapper and singer, whose single "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" set some records on the Billboard charts.
22	Survivor Series: WarGames (2024)	500,347	Five wrestling matches were featured by WWE on November 30, bookended by steel-cage matches between the women and men from both Raw and SmackDown brands, respectively, resulting in CM Punk (pictured) assisting The Bloodline, managed by his former manager Paul Heyman.
23	The Wizard of Oz	494,775	One more trip where we started, Somewhere Over the Rainbow in the Land of Oz. L. Frank Baum wrote 14 books, and there were multiple adaptations, but most of the populace knows the universe through this 1939 musical film where Dorothy Gale leaves her sepia-colored farmlife for the Technicolor wonders of Oz. #1 already introduced her three companions and the second part of #12 to be covered in Wicked Part Two goes into the story of this movie, only of course now treating the Wicked Witch of the West as a heroine.
24	Donald Trump	472,803	President-elect Trump has been in the news lately in the past few weeks, mostly due to him making some questionable choices about selecting the members of his cabinet for his second term. His choices range from downright baffling to examples of bona fide crazy lunatics (besides the alleged couch-shaboinker who's his upcoming #2). The highlights (aren't they all?) have everyone you'd've never thought conceivable, from half of the former couple that founded the modern WWE to a guy surrounded by so much controversy that he had to decline the position bestowed unto him. After all that, last week Trump announced that he will impose 100% tarriff on the nine BRICS nations (which should now be renamed BRICSIEEUAE for convenience). And now, he wants to annex the land of maple syrup and moose?
25	Franz Joseph I of Austria	467,188	The second season of The Empress released last week, rekindling interest in the emperor and his wife (#13).