Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (March 6 to 12, 2016)
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Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States: Based on this chart, you could think this headline will be true someday. Trump has led the chart for two consecutive weeks with over 8 million views each time -- those are very high numbers, well above the average chart topper. In comparison, Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders is only #22, and Hillary Clinton isn't even on the chart (nor are the other Republicans) -- she was #54. Outside of Trumpmania, the death of Nancy Reagan was #4, narrowly beaten by her husband Ronald Reagan (#3). The rest of the Top 10 includes two Reddit-fueled articles, two UFC fighters, one movie (10 Cloverfield Lane, #5), one drug (Meldonium, #2), and International Women's Day (#9).
As prepared by Milowent, for the week of March 6 to 12, 2016, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Donald Trump 8,257,174 Donald Trump's dominance of this chart is fairly incredible at this point, though perhaps not surprising when the front pages of most American news outlets are filled with details of the latest exploits and incidents surrounding the most bizarre U.S. Presidential campaign in history. For the second week, this article has exceeded 8 million views, when typically a mere 1 or 2 million views is more than enough to be number one for a week. Reporting and commentary in the last week noted that Trump won more primaries last week, that a 78-year-old man sucker-punched a protester at a Trump rally (and Trump offered to pay any resulting legal fees), claims that his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski manhandled Breitbart News Network's Michelle Fields at an event, and the cancellation of a rally in Chicago due to protesters. A 1964 ad titled Confessions of a Republican used to defeat Republican nominee Barry Goldwater also has been in the news due to some eerie similarities to Trump's shenanigans. 2 Meldonium 2,108,543 Since January 1, 2016, this drug has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of substances banned from use by athletes. On March 7, 2016, former world number one tennis player Maria Sharapova announced that she had failed a drug test in Australia due to the detection of the substance. 3 Ronald Reagan 1,683,665 The 40th President of the United States died in 2004, but his wife Nancy Reagan (#4) died last week. The two articles were only 10,000 views apart. 4 Nancy Reagan 1,673,052 The wife of Ronald Reagan (#3), she died on March 6, at age 94. Those who remember the Reagan presidency may most remember her founding of the Just Say No (to drugs) campaign in the 1980s. She has been buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, next to her husband. 5 10 Cloverfield Lane 1,208,731 This science fiction thriller, which includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead (pictured) in the cast, was released in North America in 2016, to positive critical reviews. It earned $24.7 million in its opening weekend, putting it second behind Zootopia (#24). 6 Lupe Fuentes 1,020,335 This is all Reddit, who lured in viewers with the headline: "TIL a Puerto Rican man was arrested for watching porno feat Lupe Fuentes, who a pediatrician identified as being underage because of her appearance. The porn star flew there from Spain to show her passport and prove she was 19. The man was in jail for 2 months before that happened." 7 Unfinished portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt 971,792 The circumstances of an unfinished portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt being painted before his death was a popular Reddit "Today I Learned" topic this week. See Unfinished portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt to view the actual photo which is under a "fair use" restriction; I created a very poor facsimile of it (pictured at left) for you to shake your head at disapprovingly. 8 Nate Diaz 937,440 This mixed-martial artist prevailed over Conor McGregor (#10) at UFC 196 (#13) on March 5. 9 International Women's Day 884,610 This day is celebrated annually on March 8, and is an official holiday in a number of countries. It was again celebrated by a Google Doodle. 10 Conor McGregor 817,535 The guy who lost to #8. 11 Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016 815,923 Up from 668,247 views last week. More states hold primaries on March 15, including Ohio and Florida. If Marco Rubio does not win his home state of Florida, it is likely he will drop out. The same narrative is circulating about John Kasich, former Governor of Ohio, if he does not win his home state. 12 Clara Rockmore 761,166 A Google Doodle celebrated the 105th birthday (Rockmore died in 1998) of the virtuoso theremin player on March 9. The mobile viewcount for this article was a quite low 14.51%. Though Google Doodles often have lower mobile view percentages than other popular articles, this is probably due to the fact that the Doodle allows you to take play a virtual theremin. Rockmore is pictured at left with Léon Theremin. 13 UFC 196 731,458 See #8, #10. 14 Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016 700,673 Despite a sweep of wins across the South, Hillary Clinton has yet to secure the prize, with Bernie Sanders (#22) apparently still very much in contention. 15 O. J. Simpson 700,204 Down from 1.3 million views last week. The former football player and Leslie Nielsen costar has become a fixture of this list, thanks to the first season of American Crime Story, the true-crime spinoff of American Horror Story, which focuses on his controversial trial in which he was cleared of murder. 16 Patti Davis 651,502 The daughter of #3 and #4, and sister of #18. 17 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 625,721 Something made this popular, can someone tell me what? 18 Ron Reagan 617,733 The son of #3 and #4, and brother of #16. 19 Deaths in 2016 614,802 The annual list of deaths has always been a fairly consistent visitor to this list, averaging about 500,000 views a week. Since the death of David Bowie, this article's views have jumped on average. 20 House of Cards (U.S. TV series) 600,093 The fourth season of this political thriller series was released in its entirety on Netflix on March 4. 21 House of Cards (season 4) 582,921 See #20. 22 Bernie Sanders 577,849 The candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for U.S. President may be behind Hillary Clinton in delegates, but he easily beats her in traffic this week. Hillary was #54 (339,194 views). 23 Captain America: Civil War 553,053 This superhero film is slated for release in North America on May 6, 2016. This includes Chris Evans (pictured), again playing Captain America. 24 Zootopia 538,586 This animated film was released on March 4 to critical acclaim, and has grossed over $438 million worldwide as of March 13. It easily beat 10 Cloverfield Lane (#5) at the box office last week, but young kids don't use Wikipedia as much as science fiction fans, I suppose. 25 Deadpool (film) 507,394 The Marvel Comics antihero film starring Ryan Reynolds (pictured) was released on February 12 to a stellar reception. Regarded as a risk by its makers 20th Century Fox, the film has earned over $708 million as of March 13.
- Just missing the Top 25 this week: O. J. Simpson murder case (#26); George Martin (#27, the Fifth Beatle, not George R.R. Martin); Miesha Tate (#28); Ted Cruz (#29); The Walking Dead (season 6) (#30).
- Elsewhere on the raw WP:5000: List of The Flash (2014 TV series) episodes (#100, 236,534 views); The Night Manager (miniseries) (#200, 155,611 views); List of The Big Bang Theory episodes (#300, 123,248 views); History of Bălţi (#400, 106,498 views, but 0% mobile, so these are not legitimate human views); X-Men: Apocalypse (#441, 100,070 views, the last article to exceed 100,000 views last week); September 11 attacks (#500, 92,746 views); Vikings (season 4) (#600, 84,784 views); Elizabeth I of England (#701, 77,938 views); Vladimir Putin (#800, 72,404 views); Taiwan (#900, 68,039 views); Calvin Harris (#1000, 63,873 views); Lynyrd Skynyrd (#2000, 43,598 views); Green Day (#3000, 34,681 views); Action Bronson (#4000, 29,282 views); Shark Tank (#5000, 25,796 views)
Exclusions
edit- 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 also exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (~2% or less) or almost all mobile views (~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.