Wikipedia:Popular pages

"Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Fact. Making it even better? Its public list of stats, shedding light on what the collective world is thinking about." The  popular pages from December 1, 2007, to the present demonstrates human interests during that period. The views data for Wikipedia's first years (2001–2007) is fragmentary and complete data on mobile views is available only since July 1, 2015. This presently (until the age of advanced electronic archeology) precludes the possibility of all-time ranking with the multiyear perspective being the closest we can get to.

The lists below include desktop views since December 1, 2007, and mobile views since July 1, 2015. For consolation, with this data we are very close to the all time ranking and will ever be closer. Wikipedia logged significantly less views before the count started in December 2007. Wikipedia reached the top 10 of Alexa.com in March 2007, only half a year earlier, and before May 2003 Wikipedia had not even been on this list of 3000 websites. Moreover, as views accumulate over time, the pre-2007 views become ever less significant. Even if known, they would not alter either the ranking, or views counted in hundreds of millions.

Being one of the best indicators of "what the collective world is thinking about," the list of most viewed Wikipedia pages receives wide attention in unassociated institutions and external popular media sources. One scholar in 2007 was puzzled why Wikipedia does not offer a "most viewed" or "most popular" feature on its site that can be easily found, as is the case on some contemporary highly visited sites, such as YouTube, Digg or Del.icio.us.

University of Milan created an engine of the complete yearly ranking of all Wikipedia articles for 2014–2021. In 2013 the BBC published an article discussing most searched Wikipedia articles in 2012 in different languages. Other versions of top-lists for shorter periods are regularly published and discussed by external popular media.

The leading page
The undisputed leader is Wikipedia's Main page, with over 46.8 billion views as of January 2022—more than the rest of the Top-100 list combined, including non-ranked pages. For comparison, "Baby Shark", which leads YouTube for the most views on that site has 14.7 billion views. According to its information page, the Main page was created as Wikipedia marked its first year, on January 26, 2002. Most popular pages October 2001, however, states that the Main page had existed and led by wide margin already in October 2001. It is not known which pages had led the ranking during Wikipedia's first months, although by the end of the first month (January 31, 2001) the most viewed page was Usenet cabal.

Among the conventional pages with mostly human intentional views (ranked pages below), the United States probably took the lead in the pre-view-count period (2001–2007), as it can be seen in the October 2001 list and featured strongly in all available monthly reports for 2003 and 2004. Having held the first place until January 20, 2021, the US was surpassed by its former president, Donald Trump. The US regained the leadership in August the same year.

First two decades
By Wikipedia's 20th anniversary (in 2021), it had become clear that the most interesting phenomena for humans are... humans, especially contemporaries and especially when they die.

In total, humans represent over a quarter of all Wikipedia articles. 1,915,609 people out of 6,748,287 articles, 28%. , 66 pages of the top-100 list belong to humans. It was not the case from the beginning. In the October 2001 list, for example, we see one human—the co-founder of Wikipedia Larry Sanger. Within two decades, however, a huge human invasion occurred. Humans came seriously and for long.

Correspondingly, the most interesting object in the Universe for humans is the planet of the humans, provided we disregard Star Wars, Darth Vader and the situation comedy called The Big Bang Theory. Half a millennium after Copernicus and a century after Edwin Hubble, the collective interest remains geocentric.

Top-100 list
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023).

COVID-19 appeared on the all-time list in June 2020; the page did not exist in the beginning of the year. In this respect, COVID-19 is the biggest phenomenon Wikipedia has ever known.

Donald Trump became the first person to reach 200 million views and overall second only after his country. On January 20, 2021, the day he left office, he surpassed the United States for the all-time lead among the ranked pages in what we know as the first change of the leading page. The 2021 storming of the United States Capitol gave him the decisive push. By notable contrast, his predecessor Barack Obama could not reach the US in two terms. Joe Biden debuted on the list on November 12, 2020.

In 2021, Manchester United became the first sports team to enter the list.

In the first trimester of 2022, Vladimir Putin debuted on the list. Among the non-English speaking politicians, he became the first active state leader, the first living political leader, and overall second only to Adolf Hitler. Synchronously, Russia progressed 14 places and Will Smith 12 places.


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Universe
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)


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Earth
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Ranked here are Earth's non-organic phenomena.

Life
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022)

While the interest to Universe is strongly geocentric, the interest to living being is less anthropocentric. Three species are more popular than human, two more share the fifth place with us and animal does better too.

Wars
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)


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Empires and hegemonies
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Ancient Egypt and History of Japan are on the list because originally Egypt and Japan were empires established by King Narmer and the Yamato Dynasty respectively. Sumer and Sparta are on the list as hegemonies. Sparta was the hegemon of the Peloponnesian League: see Spartan hegemony.


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Present countries
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

The list includes current member states of the United Nations.

In 2022, Ukraine debuted on the list, due to that year's invasion, while Russia surpassed Germany and Japan.
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Cities
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)


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Buildings and structures
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

On July 6, 2022, the Georgia Guidestones rose 23 places in the list (rank 33) after its enigmatic explosion. Dismantled the same day, the Guidestones remain here.

On September 8, the same year, Balmoral Castle debuted on the list (rank 81). The Queen's death in the Castle almost doubled its all time views.


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People
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Donald Trump was not in this list in January 2016; however, a year later (upon his inauguration as president), he became the most popular among people. Four years later (upon his second impeachment), his page became the most popular overall.

Singers
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

The list is primarily made of modern-day pop and rap stars with several legends mixed in. Among the names here are Prince and David Bowie who saw many of their page views in 2016 after their deaths.

Actors
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

This list omits actors who are singers in order not to repeat half of the previous table.

Athletes
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Some professional athletes—Bruce Lee, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dwayne Johnson—are classified among actors (above), since their popularity is mostly due to their filmographic performance.

The popularity of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi is more impressive considering the English bias. Both are from non English-speaking countries and Messi never played in the Premier League.


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Political leaders
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Along the rise of Donald Trump, credit for the 2017 performance must be given to Vladimir Putin--he overtook Sarah Palin for the 23rd place. Palin dropped from the list the following year, mainly due to the mighty advance of the British royal family.

Putin himself approached relegation by the fall of 2021. Desperate for views, he launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and left the experts puzzled why did he invade. The results proved to be better than expected. Having logged about 16 million views in the first month of the war, he secured his place on this list for years and reached the general top-100 list above.

Trump's successor, Joe Biden, debuted on the list in October 2020. By the end of the month, he shared the 22nd place with Stalin. In three more days he reached Margaret Thatcher on the 21st rank. The next day, the day of election, Biden added 1.8 million views and equaled another British lady, Elizabeth I, in the top-20. The next day, November 5, he joined his predecessor, FDR, on the 19th place. The day Biden was confirmed President, November 7, he logged 3 million views and the next day 4 million and rose to the 9th place.

Nevertheless, those days Biden was not the most popular. He was outviewed by Kamala Harris. Having logged 3.5 million views on November 7 and 6.5 million the next day, she decisively entered the list (at the expense of Che Guevara) to become the second (after Alexander Hamilton) American on the list who had not served as President. The third became Martin Luther King in March 2022 but did not hold on the list until the end of the year.

The largest gains in 2021 were seen surrounding the British royal family, peaking around the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Even larger gains were seen the next year, peaking around the death of Elizabeth II on September 8th. The Queen saw over 20 million pageviews in the seven days following her death. Earlier in 2022, she had passed Barack Obama for the second place. The September-2022 surge of the royal family caused relegation of Osama bin Laden.

Projecting the trend of the first two decades of Wikipedia (2001–2021) for two more decades, this list would be limited to US Presidents, the British royal family and Hitler.

Pre-modern people
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

This category includes people born before AD 1400 (with the exception of Joan of Arc, born in 1412) who cannot compete with contemporaries figures, like Barack Obama and Michael Jackson.

Originally, the chapter "Political leaders" (above) was titled "Modern political leaders." By 2022, the top-30 modern leaders opened gap over their predecessors and "Modern" was dropped from the title.

The general top-30 list of people (above, now extended to top-100) included 23 living people as of January 2020. This is a feature of the "nascent" Wikipedia. In the course of generations, such top-lists will contain only people who have died, for view-count continues posthumously.

Wikipedia counts 1,915,609 people. Of them, 1,075,990 are living, or 56% i.e. the living outnumber the dead. 213,943 more were living in the Wikipedia period, raising the percentage of this period's people to 67 (two-thirds). 341,079 more were living in the century preceding Wikipedia (1901–2000), raising the percentage of the contemporaries to 85. That is, people who lived at some time from the beginning of history until 1900 – 98% of history - constitute only 15%.

As of 2021, people born since 1960 AD log as many views as people born before, and the year of parity rises every year.


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3rd-millennium people
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Of people born in the 3rd millennium (which is defined here as starting in 2000), the first to receive a personal page in Wikipedia was Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant (born October 25, 2001). Her page was created on August 4, 2003. She was followed by two other princesses later that year: Lady Louise Windsor of Wessex obtained her page on November 26, 2003, at the age of 18 days; the page of Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, was created on December 9, 2003.

Lady Louise Windsor, probably, gained the all-time leadership the following year (2004), as her page was much more viewed during the years we have data (December 2007–present). By the end of 2016, she was 4th in the multiyear list. Lady Louise Windsor was, probably, overcome in 2010 by Willow Smith—the undisputed leader of the 2010s. The page of Willow Smith was created on April 23, 2005 (year and a half after Lady Louise Windsor's). During 2008–2009 the two had similar number of views, while in 2010 Willow Smith counted an extraordinary number of 3,100,000 views. By August 31, 2016, she had total 12 million views, nearly three times more than the closest contender, Jackie Evancho.

In July 2019, Willow Smith was synchronously surpassed by two people, Billie Eilish and Millie Bobby Brown, after leading over 100 months. Billie Eilish was the first to surpass Smith. On 7/24/2019 Millie Bobby Brown passed Billie Eilish in page views, and held the lead until 7/26/2019. She regained the title on 7/29/2019 and held it until 7/31/2019, and Billie EIlish has held it ever since.

The undisputed leader of the year 2019 was Billie Eilish. She began the year on the 22nd place and gained the all-time lead in July. For 2019, she was the most viewed among living people of all ages and her page was 10th in the general ranking.

In the 2010s, the hereditary princes were gradually overtaken by the "princes" of music and movies.

The first sportsperson to make this list was artistic gymnast Laurie Hernandez. She entered the list in August 2016, peaked at the 19th rank by the end of the year and dropped from the list in June 2018. She was followed and surpassed by LaMelo Ball in December 2017. LaMelo was joined and surpassed by his colleague, Zion Williamson, in 2019. Williamson peaked at the 14th rank in March 2021, then the highest for a millennial athlete. The forth athlete and the first footballer on the list became Erling Haaland in 2020, followed by his teammate Jadon Sancho the same year. By the end of 2021, Haaland surpassed Williamson for the most viewed millennial athlete and by the fall of 2022 reached rank 4, the highest ever for the millennial athlete. In September 2021 Emma Raducanu became the first tennis player on the list.

In November 2022, Jenna Ortega debuted on the list and already by the fall of the year reached rank 8.


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Historical most-viewed 3rd-millennium persons
The following table lists the five persons to become Wikipedia's most-viewed millennial person, from August 4, 2003, to the present.

{{legend|#d0f0c0|Current record (⁂)}} {{legend|#d7ccf3|Former record (*)}}


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Sport teams
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023).

The list is overwhelmingly dominated by association football teams. Notable among American sports teams is the Golden State Warriors, whose page views came heavily from 2016 to 2019.

Films and TV series
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023).

TV series clearly has the upper hand to film, for the most part.

Music bands
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023).

Albums
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023).

Singles
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023).

Video games
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Books and book series
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023).

Naruto is classified as a TV series (above) as it is more popular as an anime, and there is no separate page for the manga. Books with film/TV adaptations are listed below, as many of the links below are franchise pages. Note that A Song of Ice and Fire's popularity is considerably outstripped by that of its TV adaptation Game of Thrones.

Science books
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Included in this category is any book basing on observation and presenting thesis.

The five leading books are all about warfare, struggle and power. The next is a relatively benign work telling how to influence people short of killing them. Then is the struggle for survival in which only the fittest survives. And the following is the world where life is nasty, brutish and short.

Pre-modern books and texts
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023).

This list includes books and texts composed before 1500 AD.

It has been widely argued that Bible is the all time best seller, followed by Quran. The perspective below however reveals an ancient text more popular among wikipedia readers.

New World

The New World used to have its representative, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar (2.6 million views). But the world did not end on December 20, 2012, and within several years the disappointing calendar dropped from the list.
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Legendary Creatures
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Ranked here is any creature, either non-human or possessing super-human powers, included in Category:Legendary creatures.

Events
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Ranked here is any event on any scale from the Big Bang until the ultimate fate of the Universe. The list exceeds the standard of 30 pages to include all events more popular than the world creation.

Lists
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2023)

Categories
(July 1, 2015 – January 1, 2023)

Counting views by category is a mission impossible with the present tools. TreeViews – tool for categories - does not work. The account Wikitop – for top 30 most popular articles by categories is suspended. Multiyear ranking of Wikipedia pages views counts only few selected categories of small number of pages. Practically the only helpful tool for categories is Massview and it also has many limitations. It lacks data before July 2015 and does not work for any category exceeding 20,000 pages, or for any period exceeding a year for categories of over 5000 pages.

With unarmed eye we can see that the largest category is Content, followed by Articles, followed by Main topic classifications. And this is how far we can see. Calculating a top-30 list with the available tools would require a collective effort of several generations of Wikipedians.

Excluding subcategories and counting pages only, the top-30 list gives Living people and 29 maintenance categories beginning with Articles with short description (4,624,447 pages, most of the Wikipedia). Excluding maintenance categories, the top-30 list presents films, shows, entertainers, American people of various descents and one oddity: Spoken articles.


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