Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/August 5 to 11, 2018

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (August 5 to 11, 2018)
Prepared with commentary by A lad insane and Igordebraga

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

Hitting a (not quite) all-time low
Apparently not all too much happened this week. The lowest entry on this list had 273,062 views. The last time an article with less than 300,000 views made it into the top 25 was in 2015, and even that was higher than this. This is the lowest entry point since 2014.

In other news, surprisingly, there's no Reddit this week. There are two Google Doodles, though, and 4 out of the top 5 articles are death-related. Fairly normal.

For the week of August 5 to 11, 2018, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Rank ! Article ! Class ! Views ! Image ! Notes
 * 1
 * M. Karunanidhi
 * style=text-align:right;|1,428,209
 * Karunanidhi.jpg
 * After a hospitalization last week, this former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu passed away on 7 August after having been ill with age-related issues since October 2016.
 * 2
 * Deaths in 2018
 * style=text-align:right;|749,368
 * Skullclose.jpg
 * Still in the same position from last week. Wikipedians can be morbid (me included), and with the two-and-a-half-year (and counting) string of celebrity deaths that began with Lemmy in December 2015, a lot of us want to make sure no one else has kicked it since the last time we looked. The biggest peaks of views in the yearly death article |Deaths_in_2016|Deaths_in_2017|Deaths_in_2018 occurred in 2016 with the passings of Prince and a cluster in December 2016 spanning several generations, but the views have still been, on average, climbing since 2015. A typical week of views from Deaths in 2018 (this week is pretty normal) is far above a typical week in 2015, and several spots higher in the list.
 * 3
 * Chuckle Brothers
 * style=text-align:right;|606,524
 * Alice 2008 and Chuckle Brothers 028.jpg
 * The older of the two brothers comprising this British children's comedy duo, Barry Elliott, died on Sunday at the age of 73 after having been ill for a while.
 * 4
 * Mission: Impossible - Fallout
 * style=text-align:right;|556,684
 * Paris, Triumphbogen -- 2014 -- 1624.jpg
 * Down from #1 last week. The sixth movie in this iconic franchise was released on July 27. I would make some snarky comment about it, but all I know is the theme, and that's really only because I had to know it. Other than that, I'm not as familiar with the movies as some individuals may be.
 * 5
 * Karunanidhi family
 * style=text-align:right;|522,336
 * Karunanidhi.jpg
 * The death of a prominent individual (in this case, #1 on this list) often pushes articles related to their famous family members into the list. I think the record is 10 articles for a single (celebrity-dense) family, but that may not count as there were two family members.
 * 6
 * Mary G. Ross
 * style=text-align:right;|481,054
 * Mary G. Ross Sculpture 1.jpg
 * The first known female Native American engineer, she was honored by a Google Doodle celebrating what would have been her 110th birthday.
 * Karunanidhi family
 * style=text-align:right;|522,336
 * Karunanidhi.jpg
 * The death of a prominent individual (in this case, #1 on this list) often pushes articles related to their famous family members into the list. I think the record is 10 articles for a single (celebrity-dense) family, but that may not count as there were two family members.
 * 6
 * Mary G. Ross
 * style=text-align:right;|481,054
 * Mary G. Ross Sculpture 1.jpg
 * The first known female Native American engineer, she was honored by a Google Doodle celebrating what would have been her 110th birthday.
 * style=text-align:right;|481,054
 * Mary G. Ross Sculpture 1.jpg
 * The first known female Native American engineer, she was honored by a Google Doodle celebrating what would have been her 110th birthday.


 * 7
 * Avengers: Infinity War
 * style=text-align:right;|477,651
 * WW Chicago 15 Contest - Infinity Gauntlet (21100774415).jpg
 * Up a spot from last week despite being down nearly 100,000 views, and as far as I know, still here for the same reason, namely, that the movie is now out on digital release. Infinity War is also the most viewed article of 2018 so far, with 28 million views.
 * 8
 * The Meg
 * style=text-align:right;|464,653
 * Jason Statham 2014.jpg
 * This science fiction/horror movie about Jason Statham (pictured) fighting a giant shark (#24) was released on Friday. It has a 49% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics describing it as a solid B-movie. It probably won't stay on the list for too long, but you never know.
 * 9
 * UFC 227
 * style=text-align:right;|417,058
 * TJ Dillashaw.png
 * Wikipedians continue to love mixed martial arts. I'm not really into it, personally, but then again, my favorite sport is curling, so I'm probably not from the sports demographic that reads these articles.
 * 10
 * Kepa Arrizabalaga
 * style=text-align:right;|415,724
 * Kepa_Arrizabalaga_(6).jpg
 * This footballer was just signed to play for Chelsea, and he is now the world's most expensive goalkeeper, at €80 million. I don't know too much about British money, but that certainly sounds like a lot.
 * 11
 * Mission: Impossible (film series)
 * style=text-align:right;|399,952
 * Dynamite clipart.jpg
 * Based on an old TV series, the spy film franchise is now into its sixth movie (#4), running for 22 years while continuing to find new borderline suicidal stunts for its main star. Speaking of him...
 * 12
 * Tom Cruise
 * style=text-align:right;|399,117
 * Tom Cruise avp 2014.jpg
 * The star of #4. Down from #4.
 * Mission: Impossible (film series)
 * style=text-align:right;|399,952
 * Dynamite clipart.jpg
 * Based on an old TV series, the spy film franchise is now into its sixth movie (#4), running for 22 years while continuing to find new borderline suicidal stunts for its main star. Speaking of him...
 * 12
 * Tom Cruise
 * style=text-align:right;|399,117
 * Tom Cruise avp 2014.jpg
 * The star of #4. Down from #4.
 * style=text-align:right;|399,117
 * Tom Cruise avp 2014.jpg
 * The star of #4. Down from #4.

If this had been all #9 instead of #4 I would make a comment about Revolution 9, but alas, it is not to be.
 * 13
 * 2018 FIFA World Cup
 * style=text-align:right;|375,619
 * France champion of the Football World Cup Russia 2018.jpg
 * Down almost 50,000 views, yet up a spot. France must be really happy about this. Or people would rather read again about this than check the news.
 * 14
 * Ruby Rose
 * style=text-align:right;|364,064
 * Ruby_Rose_(8192089034).jpg
 * Co-star of #8, but most of the views are probably because this Australian actress will play Batwoman on television. Still, web animation fans might be disappointed this is not the Ruby Rose who wields a huge scythe\rifle.
 * 15
 * List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films
 * style=text-align:right;|338,309
 * Marvel_Cinematic_Universe_logo.png
 * The franchise from #7. Up 7 spots from last week, but down about 70,000 views. (7-7-7? Jackpot!) That seems be a pattern this week.
 * 16
 * 6ix9ine
 * style=text-align:right;|320,285
 * 6ix9ine June 2018 side (cropped).jpg
 * Up 4,000 views, breaking the pattern. Apparently now he's facing jail time for child molestation charges, after having been burglarized a couple of weeks ago.
 * 17
 * Deadpool 2
 * style=text-align:right;|315,826
 * Deadpool 2 Japan Premiere Red Carpet Ryan Reynolds (cropped).jpg
 * The extended cut was just released. There's also a sequel. And this was the sequel. Apparently no popular movies can ever escape sequels. Or TV shows, if Gilligan's Island is anything to go by.
 * 18
 * Dilip Sardesai
 * style=text-align:right;|314,693
 * Historical_cricket_bat_art.jpg
 * Indian cricketer, honored by a Google Doodle on what would have been his 78th birthday.
 * 19
 * List of Bollywood films of 2018
 * style=text-align:right;|313,679
 * Bollywood dance show in Bristol.jpg
 * Same spot as last week. Vishwaroopam II opened this week. This article is pretty popular usually, even if it often misses the list. The list is unusually low-view this week, which is probably why it's here.
 * 20
 * Alex Jones
 * style=text-align:right;|309,420
 * Alex Jones Portrait (cropped).jpg
 * A controversial (and by controversial, I mean really controversial) radio show host who has recently been removed from several media platforms including Spotify, Facebook, and YouTube for ToS violations, including claiming the Parkland (and Sandy Hook) school shooting survivors are crisis actors and encouraging his fans to harass them. His latest antics include trying to publicize the addresses of the Sandy Hook parents, who are suing him for defamation. It's also worth mentioning (in my opinion) that Twitter has said yes, he has violated their rules, but is still allowed to keep his account.
 * 21
 * Kylie Jenner
 * style=text-align:right;|305,986
 * Kylie Jenner2 (cropped).png
 * Her 21st birthday was Friday, and she's in the cover of Forbes, raising discussions on whether someone counts as a self-made woman when she grows up with wealthy parents.
 * 22
 * Thibaut Courtois
 * style=text-align:right;|296,680
 * Courtois 2018 (cropped).jpg
 * As far as I can tell, he was the one that #10 replaced as goalkeeper for Chelsea. This is also the first entry since 2015 to have lower than 300,000 views.
 * 23
 * Travis Scott
 * style=text-align:right;|283,577
 * The rapper boyfriend of #21 has launched his new festival, Astroworld Festival, after his album (also titled Astroworld) was released last Friday.
 * 24
 * Megalodon
 * style=text-align:right;|279,248
 * Megalodon NT.jpg
 * The featured animal in The Meg. And here I was, thinking the list of random extinct creatures I had to learn about in 8th grade science would never come in handy.
 * 25
 * Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
 * style=text-align:right;|273,062
 * Battle of Waterloo 1815.PNG
 * Down 10 spots from last week. No comments, I have too much testosterone to count as part of the target audience.
 * }
 * Thibaut Courtois
 * style=text-align:right;|296,680
 * Courtois 2018 (cropped).jpg
 * As far as I can tell, he was the one that #10 replaced as goalkeeper for Chelsea. This is also the first entry since 2015 to have lower than 300,000 views.
 * 23
 * Travis Scott
 * style=text-align:right;|283,577
 * The rapper boyfriend of #21 has launched his new festival, Astroworld Festival, after his album (also titled Astroworld) was released last Friday.
 * 24
 * Megalodon
 * style=text-align:right;|279,248
 * Megalodon NT.jpg
 * The featured animal in The Meg. And here I was, thinking the list of random extinct creatures I had to learn about in 8th grade science would never come in handy.
 * 25
 * Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
 * style=text-align:right;|273,062
 * Battle of Waterloo 1815.PNG
 * Down 10 spots from last week. No comments, I have too much testosterone to count as part of the target audience.
 * }
 * 25
 * Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
 * style=text-align:right;|273,062
 * Battle of Waterloo 1815.PNG
 * Down 10 spots from last week. No comments, I have too much testosterone to count as part of the target audience.
 * }
 * Down 10 spots from last week. No comments, I have too much testosterone to count as part of the target audience.
 * }



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.


 * BTS (band), artificial boosts - we are onto you, and you will not make the report if you perpetuate this malevolent gaming of the system. Perhaps heed this quote from your band - "Live your life. It’s yours anyway. Don’t try too hard. It’s okay to lose.".


 * Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.