Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/March 22 to 28, 2015

=Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (March 22 to 28, 2015)=

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All over the place:  The Report is more of a mix of random topics than usual this week. The top spot is taken by Bhutanese passport, a Wikipedia article which contained a crazed spoken word version which drew widespread attention. New U.S. presidential hopeful Ted Cruz took the second spot, beating out the departure of a member of One Direction (#3) in the news race for the week. And the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, which was also the most recent most-edited article, took #6.

As prepared by Milowent, for the week of March 22 to 28, 2015, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:


 * {| class="wikitable"

! Rank ! Article ! Class ! Views ! Image ! Notes
 * 1
 * Bhutanese passport
 * Symbol stub class.svg
 * align="right"|1,771,673
 * This otherwise mundane article was vaulted to the top of the chart this week (up from #14 last week) due to the rather unfortunate fact that it included a spoken word version which sounded like many to be a racist impression of Asian-accented English. KnowYourMeme.com explains that the audio was uploaded in June 2013, and got some attention prior to now.  But it only exploded to the extent of reaching our charts this past week, and the audio has now been replaced.  It was all no doubt a "joke", as the original author and audio recorder User:KuchenZimjah also created an draft article (now deleted) called "Maximums Edgar Snobbery" which was absurd.
 * 2
 * Ted Cruz
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|1,161,829
 * Ted_Cruz,_official_portrait,_113th_Congress.jpg
 * Appearing on this chart for the first time, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz announced on March 23 that he would be running for the Republican party nomination for U.S. President in 2016. Cruz, who only joined the Senate in January 2013, is a fairly controversial figure in American politics.  A darling of Tea Party types and a much-disliked scourge of Democrats, Cruz will no doubt be generating more headlines in the future.
 * 3
 * One Direction
 * Symbol support vote.svg
 * align="right"|1,096,203
 * Zayn_Malik_November_2014.jpg
 * The departure of Zayn Malik (pictured) from the massively popular boy band on March 25 caused the celebrity-focused parts of the internet to explode.
 * 4
 * Emmy Noether
 * Symbol support vote.svg
 * align="right"|1,083,073
 * Noether.jpg
 * A Google Doodle on March 23 celebrated the 133th birthday of this influential German mathematician. She has also been described as the most important woman in the history of mathematics.
 * 5
 * Lee Kuan Yew
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|1,025,828
 * Lee_Kuan_Yew.jpg
 * The first Prime Minister of Singapore, recognized as the founding father of modern Singapore, died on March 23.
 * 6
 * Germanwings Flight 9525
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|820,043
 * 320_GERMANWINGS_D-AIPX_147_10_05_14_BCN_RIP_(16730197959).jpg
 * On March 24, 2015, this passenger flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf crashed in the French Alps, after co-pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally descended from the plane's cruising altitude, with the captain locked out of the cockpit. All 150 people aboard the plane were killed.  There have since been almost daily revelations in the German and English press about why Lubitz committed this atrocity.   A number of countries have since issued new regulations requiring two authorized personnel to be present in the cockpit at all times, something already required by U.S. carriers.
 * 7
 * Richard III of England
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|731,452
 * Richard_III_earliest_surviving_portrait.jpg
 * The last English king of the House of Plantagenet died in 1485, but his remains were discovered in 2012. He was reburied on March 26, 2015 at Leicester Cathedral.
 * 8
 * 2015 Cricket World Cup
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|572,776
 * Bellerive oval hobart.jpg
 * Down from 765K views last week, and 923K views the week prior, but holding steady at #8. The tournament concluded on March 29 with Australia winning by 7 wickets over New Zealand.
 * 9
 * Bloodborne
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|566,662
 * PS4-Console-wDS4.jpg
 * This action role-playing PlayStation 4 videogame was released last week, to positive overall reviews.
 * 10
 * Kanye West
 * Symbol support vote.svg
 * align="right"|547,403
 * Kanye West Lollapalooza Chile 2011 2.jpg
 * Yes, "loser.com" still redirects to his Wikipedia page, but the joke is wearing thin as numbers continue to fall.
 * 11
 * Deaths in 2015
 * Symbol list class.svg
 * align="right"|522,468
 * Skullclose.jpg
 * The viewing figures for this article have been remarkably constant; fluctuating week to week between 450 and 550,000, apparently heedless of who actually died.
 * 12
 * WrestleMania 31
 * Symbol_start_class.svg
 * align="right"|521,714
 * Seth_Rollins_WM30.jpg
 * This American professional wrestling event occurred on March 29, 2015. Seth Rollins (picture) won the main event, even though he wasn't an original participant when the match started.  I bet this sort of thing never happens in cricket.
 * 13
 * Stephen Hawking
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|506,633
 * Stephen Hawking.StarChild.jpg
 * The former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, black hole theorist, and latter-day science icon makes his 21st straight appearance in the Top 25 this week. His numbers may finally be in decline; this was lowest-viewed appearance since December, and lower than last week.
 * 14
 * Facebook
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|494,966
 * Ad-tech London 2010 (5).JPG
 * A perennially popular article.
 * 15
 * The Walking Dead (season 5)
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|486,873
 * The Walking Dead 2010 logo.svg
 * The latest episode of this popular TV series premièred on March 22.
 * 16
 * Zayn Malik
 * Symbol start class.svg
 * align="right"|474,923
 * Zayn_Malik_November_2014.jpg
 * See #3.
 * 17
 * Interstellar (film)
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|473,098
 * Black Hole in the universe.jpg
 * In advance of the film's release on video at the end of the month, its screenwriter, Jonathan Nolan, revealed that his original ending had the main character, played by Matthew McConaughey, die. This coincided with the release of Emic, a documentary about life on Earth produced to tie in with Interstellar.
 * 18
 * Robert Durst
 * Symbol start class.svg
 * align="right"|442,953
 * Down from #2 and 1.5 million views last week. It's not often that a film documentary has an impact on an actual murder investigation; Errol Morris's 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line  famously led to the exoneration of Randall Dale Adams, and now, the The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, the new documentary by Andrew Jarecki (Capturing the Friedmans), has provided evidence leading to the re-arrest of Robert Durst, the wealthy son of a real-estate family suspected of, but never convicted for, three murders.  It says something about the inner dynamics of the Durst family that his brother greeted the new evidence by saying he was "relieved" and "grateful" and that, "We hope he will finally be held accountable for all he has done."
 * 19
 * Furious 7
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|435,358
 * PaulWalkerEdit-1.jpg
 * This American action film, which will be the last film appearance of Paul Walker, who died during filming, is set for release on April 3.
 * 20
 * The Flash (2014 TV series)
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|430,920
 * L80385-flash-superhero-logo-1544.png
 * This spinoff from the hit series Arrow marks DC Comics' second attempt to create a TV universe, after the late and much lamented DC Animated Universe.
 * 21
 * The Walking Dead (TV series)
 * Symbol support vote.svg
 * align="right"|423,063
 * The Walking Dead 2010 logo.svg
 * See #15
 * 22
 * Lil' Chris
 * Symbol start class.svg
 * align="right"|417,618
 * This English singer and television personality was found dead at his home on March 24, at the age of 24. The death is not being treated as suspicious, and Chris had struggled with mental health issues in the past.
 * 23
 * Jeremy Clarkson
 * Symbol start class.svg
 * align="right"|417,618
 * Jeremy_Clarkson.jpg
 * The English presenter on Top Gear found out on March 25 that his contract would not be renewed, in the aftermath of an incident in which he had verbally and physically attacked a producer over a dispute at a hotel.
 * 24
 * Google
 * Symbol support vote.svg
 * align="right"|406,537
 * Google 2011 logo.png
 * Always a fairly popular article.
 * 25
 * Amanda Knox
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|404,690
 * David Camm.jpg
 * On March 27, Italy's highest court ruled that Knox and her prior boyfriend were innocent of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher.
 * }
 * 22
 * Lil' Chris
 * Symbol start class.svg
 * align="right"|417,618
 * This English singer and television personality was found dead at his home on March 24, at the age of 24. The death is not being treated as suspicious, and Chris had struggled with mental health issues in the past.
 * 23
 * Jeremy Clarkson
 * Symbol start class.svg
 * align="right"|417,618
 * Jeremy_Clarkson.jpg
 * The English presenter on Top Gear found out on March 25 that his contract would not be renewed, in the aftermath of an incident in which he had verbally and physically attacked a producer over a dispute at a hotel.
 * 24
 * Google
 * Symbol support vote.svg
 * align="right"|406,537
 * Google 2011 logo.png
 * Always a fairly popular article.
 * 25
 * Amanda Knox
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|404,690
 * David Camm.jpg
 * On March 27, Italy's highest court ruled that Knox and her prior boyfriend were innocent of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher.
 * }
 * align="right"|404,690
 * David Camm.jpg
 * On March 27, Italy's highest court ruled that Knox and her prior boyfriend were innocent of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher.
 * }

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 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.

Specific exclusions this week:


 * Breaking Bad: 8.46% mobile, large view spike limited to March 22.
 * Wayne Gretzky: 5.20% mobile, suspicious steady view spike commenced on March 26