Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/December 26, 2021 to January 1, 2022

Don't forget to read the 2021 annual top 50 report

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (December 26, 2021 to January 1, 2022)
Prepared with commentary by, , , , and 

It's been sung that nothing changes on New Year's Day, and indeed the biggest factor to this list was one day before, as a beloved actress died.


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! Rank ! Article ! Class ! Views ! Image ! Notes/about
 * 1
 * Betty White
 * 6,250,441
 * Betty White 1988 Emmy Awards (cropped 2).jpg
 * Remember 4 days ago when Betty White was talking about how excited she was to turn 100 in January? I do. TV's queen died on New Year's Eve at the age of 99, of natural causes because, you know, 99, despite feeling in fine fettle just days before. Let's try to recap some of her high points, like when she was on a TV show in the late 1930s, before that industry even existed, and jumped ship to Disney+ in the late 2010s after said industry died. In the 50s she became the first woman to produce a sitcom, creating her own production company (while still living with mom!) and writing her own material. She had four self-titled television shows, some variety and some sitcom. Including one time when a different show she was headlining sucked but she couldn't get out of the contract so she said, well, screw your show, I'll do my own instead. She bonded with Lucille Ball (#13) over being powerful women in a male industry, and popped up on the self-titled shows of other big name women: Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett. And we haven't even hit her heyday. Or, heydays. As the adage goes, Betty White was so old, she was on a show about being old before lots of people were born - The Golden Girls, which won her several of her many Emmy nominations. She also has a Grammy, did you know? White's appearance on The Proposal and kindred-spirit friendship with Ryan Reynolds saw her fight her way back to the relevance she always had, constantly changing with the times to be ahead of the trends in television from its inception, and Hot in Cleveland kept her singing and dancing well into her 90s on TV every week. It may be a shame to remember White for her sprightly granny acts with decades of different roles and a game changing production company before, but how much early and Golden Age TV have any of us watched recently?
 * 2
 * Don't Look Up (2021 film)
 * 2,762,573
 * Comet Crash.jpg
 * An end-of-the-world movie released just in time for New Year, re-igniting all our Y2K fears that maybe midnight on December 31 will be the end this time. I mean, it wasn't, but in some ways it was.
 * 3
 * Spider-Man: No Way Home
 * 2,268,516
 * Spiderman (43172253254).jpg
 * The cinematic event of the season continues to defy the pandemic in its box-office reign, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time. Marvel and Sony are testing the waters to see if they can net a nomination for Best Picture at the 94th Academy Awards, though I personally think the chances are slim given that the Joker isn't in it.
 * 4
 * John Madden
 * 1,994,989
 * The gridiron football video game mogul (who also coached and commented the sport, and promoted big meals) also died just before the turn of the year.
 * 5
 * The Matrix Resurrections
 * 1,514,866
 * The.Matrix.glmatrix.1.png
 * Neo's return after 18 years is the last Warner Bros. movie with a simultaneous HBO Max release. And considering box office struggles (Resurrections opened ahead of The King's Man and American Underdog, but now both movies have surpassed it), it's probably a good call.
 * 6
 * Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll
 * 1,406,909
 * Margaret_Duchess_of_Argyll_crop.jpg
 * This British socialite's divorce was featured in the recent BBC historical minidrama A Very British Scandal, not to be confused with the previous iteration A Very English Scandal. This time Claire Foy stars.
 * 7
 * Encanto (film)
 * 1,212,077
 * Cartagena, Colombia (24341493265).jpg
 * Disney's second animated feature of the year, following a Colombian magic house where most of the residents also received amazing gifts as well - aside from the protagonist - didn't enter the list while it ran in theaters, but the arrival on Disney+ fixed this.
 * 8
 * The Witcher (TV series)
 * 958,673
 * Mural_The_Witcher.jpg
 * The white-haired-one takes Princess Ciri to the fortress of Kaer Morhen where he himself trained to become a witcher.
 * 9
 * Deaths in 2021
 * 936,863
 * 416th_Night_Fighter_Squadron.png
 * And the yearly deceased list completed its existence never missing a week here, with the last one also having the strong additions of #1 and #4. Unsurprisingly, 2021 marked a return of the death list as the most viewed article of year.
 * 10
 * Desmond Tutu
 * 916,529
 * Desmond_Tutu,_1986_Jan_(cropped).jpg
 * The South African archbishop, key in the anti-apartheid movement, also died at the deadend of 2021. What a week. His state funeral was mostly basic - he requested the cheapest coffin available, which he got, and to be aquamated. An environmentally-conscious version of cremation, I read about the process and it sounds super gross but good on him!
 * 11
 * Ghislaine Maxwell
 * 835,867
 * Ghislaine_Maxwell_(cropped).jpg
 * On Wednesday, Jeffrey Epstein's most famous co-conspirator was convicted on five of six charges.
 * 12
 * Andrew Garfield
 * 825,946
 * Andrew Garfield 2014.jpg
 * He has worked with great directors, gotten an Oscar nomination and could aim for another with Tick, Tick... Boom! But for some he's only the second Spider-Man, and audiences everywhere screamed as he donned the suit again in #3.
 * 13
 * Lucille Ball
 * 803,717
 * Lucille Ball - Metro Goldwyn Mayer post card.jpg
 * As if Being the Ricardos already didn't renew attention to the star of I Love Lucy, one of her friends back in the day has died (#1).
 * 14
 * Zendaya
 * 758,072
 * Zendaya for British Vogue in 2021 - 03.jpg
 * rowspan=2|The girlfriend-boyfriend duo appear in #3.
 * 15
 * Tom Holland
 * 751,094
 * Tom Holland (28620384206).jpg
 * 16
 * Pushpa: The Rise
 * 688,017
 * Red_sandalwood_logs_at_kapiltirtham0.jpg
 * A Tollywood action film about wood smugglers that has been pulling in the crore. Alright, we have told you for three weeks straight that the movie is about wood smugglers, what more can we tell you this time? Well, did you know ...that a lawsuit was filed against a song in the film titled "Oo Antava Oo Oo Antava" by a Men's association, according to whom, the song portrayed men as lustful?
 * 17
 * Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll
 * 681,014
 * Just divorced.jpg
 * A very messy divorce from #6 was the subject of the three part series A Very British Scandal, where he is played by Paul Bettany.
 * 18
 * 83 (film)
 * 667,492
 * Kapil Dev at Equation sports auction (cropped).jpg
 * Cricket and Bollywood are said to be the two things that unite India. What happens when both of them come together as in this biopic on India's cricket world cup winning team of 1983? It appears on the WP:TOP25 report! The '83 world cup itself can serve as an epoch, a reference point, for when the cricketing centre of gravity moved from Lord's to the Eden Gardens.
 * 19
 * Boxing Day
 * 662,585
 * Travis head boxing day.jpg
 * A holiday celebrated in the Commonwealth the day after Christmas, where most people go shopping. And, if you are in the cricket playing world you can always be entertained by the Boxing Day Test. This year, England played Australia in the third of the Ashes Test matches. Too bad for them that they were bundled out for 68 runs in what was their lowest test total in Australia since the early 1900s. Why is that relevant? Well, it was the Aussies' Boxing Day gift, wrapped in flannels.
 * 20
 * Jeffrey Epstein
 * 646,818
 * Epstein Noose.png
 * In 2019, Epstein died (or, according to the BBC, "ended up dead") in prison before his trial for running a child sex trafficking ring. This fate was, thankfully, not shared by his partner (#11).
 * 21
 * The Matrix
 * 639,427
 * Choix de la pillule.jpg
 * How #5 started. Something that they constantly remember in the film itself. They even close Resurrections on the same song as the original, albeit with a woman and brass instruments.
 * 22
 * Atrangi Re
 * 639,173
 * Sara Ali Khan snapped at the Reliance Studio for Kedarnath promotions.jpg
 * Woman loves a man. Woman marries a man. Simple premise of this romance drama released on Disney+ Hotstar. The only complication is that the men are two different men leading to a simple geometric shape but a complex relationship story.
 * 22
 * Tobey Maguire
 * 577,930
 * Tobey Maguire (8778332185).jpg
 * This once promising actor hadn't appeared in a movie since The Boss Baby, of all things. At least he came back in proper form in #3 by donning Spider-Man's tights again.
 * 23
 * Allen Ludden
 * 568,121
 * Allen Ludden Betty White 1963.JPG
 * The late husband of #1; a very sweet story discusses White's certainty that, upon her death, she would be finally reunited with him. She outlived him by 40 years. Godspeed, you two.
 * 25
 * James Webb Space Telescope
 * 556,983
 * James_Webb_Space_Telescope_2009_top.jpg
 * In an enhanced inversion of last week, both New Year's Day and New Year's Eve were the first articles off the list, under the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that was sent to space.
 * }
 * Cricket and Bollywood are said to be the two things that unite India. What happens when both of them come together as in this biopic on India's cricket world cup winning team of 1983? It appears on the WP:TOP25 report! The '83 world cup itself can serve as an epoch, a reference point, for when the cricketing centre of gravity moved from Lord's to the Eden Gardens.
 * 19
 * Boxing Day
 * 662,585
 * Travis head boxing day.jpg
 * A holiday celebrated in the Commonwealth the day after Christmas, where most people go shopping. And, if you are in the cricket playing world you can always be entertained by the Boxing Day Test. This year, England played Australia in the third of the Ashes Test matches. Too bad for them that they were bundled out for 68 runs in what was their lowest test total in Australia since the early 1900s. Why is that relevant? Well, it was the Aussies' Boxing Day gift, wrapped in flannels.
 * 20
 * Jeffrey Epstein
 * 646,818
 * Epstein Noose.png
 * In 2019, Epstein died (or, according to the BBC, "ended up dead") in prison before his trial for running a child sex trafficking ring. This fate was, thankfully, not shared by his partner (#11).
 * 21
 * The Matrix
 * 639,427
 * Choix de la pillule.jpg
 * How #5 started. Something that they constantly remember in the film itself. They even close Resurrections on the same song as the original, albeit with a woman and brass instruments.
 * 22
 * Atrangi Re
 * 639,173
 * Sara Ali Khan snapped at the Reliance Studio for Kedarnath promotions.jpg
 * Woman loves a man. Woman marries a man. Simple premise of this romance drama released on Disney+ Hotstar. The only complication is that the men are two different men leading to a simple geometric shape but a complex relationship story.
 * 22
 * Tobey Maguire
 * 577,930
 * Tobey Maguire (8778332185).jpg
 * This once promising actor hadn't appeared in a movie since The Boss Baby, of all things. At least he came back in proper form in #3 by donning Spider-Man's tights again.
 * 23
 * Allen Ludden
 * 568,121
 * Allen Ludden Betty White 1963.JPG
 * The late husband of #1; a very sweet story discusses White's certainty that, upon her death, she would be finally reunited with him. She outlived him by 40 years. Godspeed, you two.
 * 25
 * James Webb Space Telescope
 * 556,983
 * James_Webb_Space_Telescope_2009_top.jpg
 * In an enhanced inversion of last week, both New Year's Day and New Year's Eve were the first articles off the list, under the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that was sent to space.
 * }
 * 23
 * Allen Ludden
 * 568,121
 * Allen Ludden Betty White 1963.JPG
 * The late husband of #1; a very sweet story discusses White's certainty that, upon her death, she would be finally reunited with him. She outlived him by 40 years. Godspeed, you two.
 * 25
 * James Webb Space Telescope
 * 556,983
 * James_Webb_Space_Telescope_2009_top.jpg
 * In an enhanced inversion of last week, both New Year's Day and New Year's Eve were the first articles off the list, under the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that was sent to space.
 * }
 * James_Webb_Space_Telescope_2009_top.jpg
 * In an enhanced inversion of last week, both New Year's Day and New Year's Eve were the first articles off the list, under the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that was sent to space.
 * }