Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/October 8 to 14, 2017

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (October 8 to 14, 2017)

Prepared with commentary by OZOO

← Last week's report – Next week's report →

Top of the list this week is the American film producer Harvey Weinstein, in the wake of extremely serious allegations of sexual misconduct. The list also has one of the accusers of some of the most serious allegations, Rose McGowan (#8), Weinstein's divorcing wife Georgina Chapman (#4), and Ronan Farrow (#24), the young journalist who reported on the allegations this week.

Second in the list is the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process, which continued this week, and both the upcoming tournament (#10) and the European section of the process (#12) are there. Other sporting (and sports-adjacent) events this week include UFC 216 (#18) and Hell in a Cell (2017) (#13).

From the world of film: Blade Runner 2049 (#4) (also the first film in the series, Blade Runner (#6)), It (#15) and Happy Death Day (#22) are all in the list from those films currently out in cinemas, as is upcoming Indian film Padmavati (#20) – the latter also lifting its subject matter, Rani Padmini (#9). Elsewhere in entertainment, Gal Gadot (#17) and Eminem (#19) both make the list for two different performances over the weekend. The late Tom Petty (#16) is also still in the list.

Politically, there are entries for Catalonia (#14) and Donald Trump (#21). Both Google Doodles and Reddit launch articles – Fridtjof Nansen (#3) and the history of firefighting (#25), respectively. It was also Christopher Columbus (#7) Day and Friday the 13th (#23) for people who like that sort of thing.

For the week of October 8 to 14, 2017, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Views	Notes
1	Harvey Weinstein	4,241,968	On October 10, 2017, journalist Ronan Farrow (#24) reported in The New Yorker significant allegations of sexual misconduct against the prominent American film producer Harvey Weinstein. These significant allegations included a number of allegations of rape. In the wake of the allegations, Weinstein has been fired from his company, The Weinstein Company and expelled from The Academy, and his wife Georgina Chapman (#5) has announced she is to divorce him. Weinstein denies the allegations.
2	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification	1,435,072	Qualification for association football's biggest tournament is almost over, which the European section completing its group phrase and North America, South America and Asia all finishing bar intercontinental play-offs (Oceania has been finished bar play-offs since September). Notable qualifiers from this phase of games include Panama and Iceland qualifying for their debuts; while there was disappointment for expected qualifiers Chile and the United States, with both sides missing out on even a play-off place. The European and intercontinental play-offs, as well as the last African games, will take place around the second weekend of November.
3	Fridtjof Nansen	1,347,178	Fridtjof Nansen was born on 10 October 1861 in what is now Oslo, Norway. In his youth, Nansen was a champion skier, and he led the team that made the first cross-country ski crossing of Greenland; and reached a then-record northern latitude during his North Pole expedition of 1893–96. Later in life, he was influential in the 1905 dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden, and in 1921 was appointed the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, winning the Nobel Peace Prize a year later for his work on behalf of the displaced victims of the First World War and related conflicts. His remarkable life was marked with a Google Doodle on 10 October 2017, the 156th anniversary of his birth.
4	Blade Runner 2049	1,288,676	Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi sequel – starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford (pictured) – has been described by some critics as one of the best sequels ever made, although it was down on expectations for the first weekend US box office – despite topping the list, a result of $32.8m is a disappointment for a film that was projected to gross $43–50m for its opening weekend. High rating here, though.
5	Georgina Chapman	1,221,065	Georgina Chapman, English actress and fashion designer best known as a judge on Project Runway All Stars, left her husband Harvey Weinstein (#1) following this week's allegations of sexual misconduct.
6	Blade Runner	1,010,803	The film to which Blade Runner 2049 (#4) is a sequel to staying high up in the charts. What does that say about the demographics of Wikipedia users vs. the general public, I wonder.
7	Christopher Columbus	819,578	October 12 marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas; and the second Monday in October is observed as Columbus Day. To mark the occasion and remember the explorer, I watched the first two Harry Potter films. It was what he would have wanted.
8	Rose McGowan	759,515	Rose McGowan, actress, accused Harvey Weinstein (#1) of having raped her in a series of posts on Twitter on October 12, also alleging that Amazon Studios had dropped a project she was working on after she complained. On the same day, her Twitter account was suspended for twelve hours, apparently because a Tweet contained a "private phone number"; although many questioned that explanation and suggested McGowan was being silenced.
9	Rani Padmini	711,940	Legendary 13th- and 14th-century Indian queen Padmini will be the subject of the upcoming Indian film Padmavati (#20), a trailer for which was released this week.
10	2018 FIFA World Cup	699,517	The biggest sporting event in the world begins on 14 June 2018, with Germany looking to repeat their victorious performance of four years ago (pictured). The tournament will be held in Russia, the first time the competition has gone to Eastern Europe (/ extreme Northwestern Asia). Teams like Spain and Brazil will be looking to prevent Die Mannschaft repeating their triumph, while the likes of Panama and Saudi Arabia will be looking for good performances that belie their low FIFA rankings.
11	Deaths in 2017	694,225	I've noticed that Mr. Skullington over there is missing his two front teeth. Perhaps he died in a cycling accident? We may never know.
12	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)	690,412	The group phase is over, with nine of the thirteen qualifiers confirmed (not counting Russia, who qualify as hosts.) This was the first World Cup campaign for Gibraltar (2014 team pictured) and Kosovo, although neither side managed to pick up a win. Over the final round of fixtures... look, do I have to talk about this? Some wounds take time to heal.
13	Hell in a Cell (2017)	558,517	The ninth professional wrestling WWE Hell in a Cell event has taken place and, unsurprisingly, it's in the Top 25. The event, held on October 8 at Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, saw Kevin Owens (pictured) defeat Shane McMahon in the titular Hell in a Cell headline event, although apparently it took 39 minutes? That is frankly not good enough, Kevin. We've all got homes to go to.
14	Catalonia	487,392	Carles Puigdemont, President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, signed a declaration of Catalan independence on October 10, an action which has done absolutely nothing to calm tensions in the wake of the Catalan independence referendum, 2017.
15	It (2017 film)	472,773	It has been out in the United States for six weeks, and It is still the second-highest ranking (current) film on our list, as well as being fourth in the weekend box office, fifth in the yearly box-office (US) and ninth in the worldwide box office. All of which means, I've no doubt, the producers will be very happy with It. On a personal level, I can't wait for It to stop being quite so popular; as it can be very difficult to remember if I should be writing about it or It.
16	Tom Petty	453,404	Tom Petty, lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and member of supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, died on October 2, but his popularity is such that he is still making the list.
17	Gal Gadot	441,788	Gal Gadot, who of course currently holds the role of Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe, guest hosted the October 8 episode of Saturday Night Live, promoting the soon-to-be released Justice League film.
18	UFC 216	426,551	The two-hundred-and-sixteenth mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship event has taken place and, unsurprisingly, it's in the Top 25. The event, held on October 7 at T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, saw Tony Ferguson (pictured) defeat Kevin Lee in the headline UFC Lightweight Championship event. Only took him 14 minutes too. Mr. Owens.
19	Eminem	411,625	Eminem – rapper, Oscar winner, owner of a toaster (to be confirmed) – performed a freestyle rap at the 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards on October 6, which brought attention to his article after it was broadcast on October 10. The reason his rap got more attention then anyone else? Why, because the subject was a Mr. Trump (#21) – president, Razzie winner, also owner of a toaster (to be confirmed) – and his reactions to NFL national anthem protests, Hurricane Maria and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
20	Padmavati (film)	402,671	A trailer for the upcoming Indian period drama, starring Deepika Padukone (pictured) as legendary queen Rani Padmini (#9), was released on 9 October, and at time of writing has over 30 million views on YouTube. The film is due for release on 1 December, and would anyone be surprised if it topped this list shortly afterwards?
21	Donald Trump	392,722	It can often be hard to identify the reasons why Mr. Trump's article attracts interest, what with President of the United States being a position that tends to attract the news media, particularly this one. The biggest boost was around 10 October, when according to our (very thorough) timeline article, Mr. Trump met with former secretary of state Henry Kissinger and Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins, although probably not at the same time. Any other reasons why people may have been thinking of Trump at the start of this week are left as an exercise for the reader.
22	Happy Death Day	389,418	~~See #11~~. The much-delayed slasher film (originally announced in 2007, when Megan Fox was due to star in it), was finally released in the US on Friday the 13th October with Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard. Critics have described the film as Groundhog Day meets Scream, and given it a 65% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences saw it in sufficient quantity to make it number one at the US box office, dethroning Blade Runner 2049 (#4).
23	Friday the 13th	381,818	Friday the 13th is regarded as the most unlucky day in Western superstition. October is, of course, the scariest month, what with Hallowe'en and all that. Put them all together, and what do you get? A convenient weekend for producers to release horror films (see above), and a place on the list. The Friday the 13th article is about 100k views up on the last Friday the 13th week in January of this year, possibly due to the aforementioned Hallowe'en season.
24	Ronan Farrow	372,863	Ronan Farrow, journalist son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen – he has been estranged from the latter since Allen's wedding to Soon-Yi Previn, Ronan's adoptive sister – has gained attention this week following The New Yorker's publication of his detailed report into the sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein (#1)
25	History of firefighting	366,728	We close this week with Reddit, learning that the original Roman fire brigade was intended as a money making scheme by Marcus Licinius Crassus, whose "fire brigade" would first negotiate the price of their services with the owner of the burning building, and if no offer could be reached, simply buy the destroyed building and re-build it. Of course two-thirds of Rome did burn down in AD 64, but I'm sure Crassus had nothing to do with it. Particularly since he'd died in 53 BC, which is a good alibi.

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.