Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/September 3 to 9, 2023

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (September 3 to 9, 2023)

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Rajan51, Ltbdl and Marinette2356.

⭠ Last week's report → Next week's report

Lots of movies and sports plus a few sad moments for September's first full week.

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Jawan (film)	3,905,752	Shah Rukh Khan's Bollywood comeback continues, with another action-packed film that opened to positive reviews. Directed by #22, it is Khan's second film of the year, after Pathaan (which topped this list for three weeks and is the highest-grossing Indian film of 2023 so far) and if the opening day box office numbers are anything to go by, this film looks like it will be just as big, if not bigger.
2	Steve Harwell	2,077,217	The lead singer of Smash Mouth had retired in 2021 due to health issues. Just one day after it was announced he was in hospice care for final-stage liver failure (consequence of years struggling with alcoholism) he died at 56. Even with bad late career moments like being pelted with bread or when Harwell appeared to give a Nazi salute, let's just mourn the death of an All-Star, who got his game on and went to play, and a rock star, who got the show on and got paid. (Only shooting stars break the mould!)
3	Jimmy Buffett	1,713,508	Another singer who died this month (a holdover from last week, as he passed away in the 1st), who had a strong "island escapism" element in both his music and business endeavors (including the Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant, named after one of his songs).
4	Danny Masterson	1,584,143	An actor and Scientologist best known for starring in That '70s Show and The Ranch, who after being convicted in May 2023 of the rape of two women, has now been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. Former co-stars Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis apologized for sending letters in Masterson's defense, saying they never meant to undermine the victims.
5	Burning Man	1,311,197	An annual "week-long large-scale desert campout". On 1 September, heavy rain fell on Nevada and the 2023 edition of the festival was promptly flooded. Thousands were trapped inside the tents and at least one death is connected to the festival. A few who could escape, including Diplo and Chris Rock, had to wander in the mud for miles.
6	Ben Shelton (tennis)	1,161,151	8 months after a surprising quarterfinal run at the Australian Open, this young American reached the semifinals of the US Open, where the legendary Novak Djokovic easily dispatched him and even taunted Shelton by delivering back his "phone hung up" celebration.
7	Coco Gauff	1,157,390	Is it sexist that a male tennis player managed to get more views failing to reach the final than a female one that actually won the title? Maybe, but let's just note that this 19-year-old finally fulfilled the Williams-sized expectations raised on her by winning the women's singles, Gauff's first Grand Slam victory while becoming the first American to win at Flushing Meadows since Sloane Stephens in 2017 (and the first to do so as a teenager since, wouldn't you know, Serena Williams in 1999).
8	2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup	1,100,891	The mobile views for cricket are still too high to enter this list, but basketball hasn't got this problem. In a reminder that the US team needs to bring in their best if they want another gold medal in Paris 2024, they lost to Lithuania in the second round and ultimately got eliminated by Germany (who only has 4 NBA players, including the one in the picture, Dennis Schröder, as opposed to the all 12 in the Americans' case) in the semifinal, setting up a decision of the Germans against Bogdan Bogdanović's Serbia.
9	Deion Sanders	973,437	The only man to play both NFL's Super Bowl and MLB's World Series has had a strong start to his second college football coaching stint, with his Colorado Buffaloes winning the first two games of the season.
10	Deaths in 2023	971,888	For #2: It ain't no joke when a mama's handkerchief is soaked With her tears because her baby's life has been revoked...
11	Bijou Phillips	968,467	The wife of #4.
12	Sophie Turner	940,583	The (blonde) actress best known for playing damaged redhead Sansa Stark and damaging redhead Jean Grey was in the news after her husband Joe Jonas filed for divorce after a marriage of 4 years that led to two daughters. The inevitable speculation by tabloids and people online taking sides to blame one of the two made this writer sigh, and the former couple to issue a statement.
13	One Piece (2023 TV series)	906,508	Netflix didn't inspire anyone with their adaptations of Death Note and Cowboy Bebop, so what a surprise in that their third attempt at a live-action anime adaptation was praised for being fun and faithful, while smashing some viewership records. (Among those pleased were this here writer, who has no interest in anime but decided to take a chance and was amused by the first episode of Monkey D. Luffy's adventures, so he'll certainly watch the other seven.)
14	The Equalizer 3	906,474	Denzel Washington closed off a trilogy of action movies based on an 80s TV show with good reviews and having already made back its $70 million budget. And on this list, Equalizer entered unlike the year's highest-grossing film that it beat to lead the Labor Day box office and the one that will possibly overtake it on this weekend.
15	Smash Mouth	895,663	#2's band, named after an American football strategy and that has been rolling with a new singer ever since his retirement (coincidentally, pictured to the left is the last remaining founding member, bassist Paul De Lisle). Harwell didn't write their hits, done by founding guitarist Greg Camp, and which included that song some people only associate with Shrek and the one quoted at #10 - plus a few covers, including one that was in Shrek too.
16	Aryna Sabalenka	885,422	The winner of 2023's first Grand Slam got to the final of the fourth, lost to #7. In any case, the Belarusian (playing without a flag since last year for something that sadly doesn't end) is about to top the WTA rankings, with Sabalenka expressing disappointment that she wanted her #1 to come from an outright conquering of Iga Swiatek in the final instead of happening because her Polish rival fell earlier.
17	G20	866,869	The Group of 20 economies (19 countries and the EU) held its annual summit in New Delhi beginning on September 9. On Saturday, it got a new member, the African Union, so I guess it is G21 now. However, while most countries sent their leaders to the summit, two did not - Russia and China. Vladimir Putin did not attend last year's summit either, amidst the international fallout following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, while Chinese President Xi Jinping might be skipping it to avoid meeting US President Joe Biden amidst tense relations between the two countries. Or it could be due to tensions with host India over a map involving their border.
18	Jailer (2023 Tamil film)	850,054	The duo of Kollywood and Bollywood action films starring Rajinikanth and Sunny Deol that released a month ago kept going at theatres, despite the arrival of #1, and they will look to keep their spots as the second and third biggest Indian films of 2023 for as long as possible before #1 overtakes them.
19	Gadar 2	720,609
20	US Open (tennis)	707,836	The fourth and last of the yearly tennis Grand Slam tournaments, held in New York City. In 2023, #7 won the women's singles against #16, while the male final is between #24 and Novak Djokovic (and this here writer was happy to see a compatriot win the boys' tournament, and another be a doubles semifinalist).
21	Oppenheimer (film)	697,140	Christopher Nolan's latest film continues to bring audiences to theatres and its Wikipedia page. Last week, it became the third biggest film of 2023 behind a doll in pink and an animated plumber. Fun fact: this makes 2023 the first year since 2001 when the three biggest films of the year are not sequels (2001's top three were movies about a wizard boy, a ring and some monsters). Hopefully, the biopic keeps the spot. It doesn't look like there's any other movie that could take its spot (one that could has superhero fatigue against it), since it will probably make at least another $50 million, although there is one event that has a chance if it is released worldwide, based on its pre-sales.
22	Atlee (director)	645,504	#1 made people curious to know more about its director, who had not directed a Bollywood film before.
23	One Piece	642,812	#13's source material, a manga by Eiichiro Oda that has ran since 1997 (with an anime following just two years later and also ongoing) following Monkey D. Luffy, a pirate who because of a fruit can't swim but has a rubber-like body.
24	Daniil Medvedev	619,611	Like #16, a flagless tennis player (he's Russian) having a good year, having followed a Wimbledon semifinal with #20's final, hoping that he can do a repeat of the 2021 one against the same Novak Djokovic for his second Grand Slam.
25	Timothée Chalamet	604,588	The new Willy Wonka was seen kissing Kylie Jenner at Beyoncé's concert, confirming their relationship, which caused a predictable frenzy.