Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/March 3 to 9, 2013

=Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (March 3-March 9 2013)= ← Last week's report – Next week's report →

Summary: A slow week, deducible from the low number of highest views (1.56 million, down from 1.85 million last week), and the predominance of perennially popular articles (World War II, Deaths in 2013) as well as articles on popular websites (Google, Facebook, Youtube), popular films (Oz the Great and Powerful, Argo), popular television shows (The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones) and popular video games (Tomb Raider, SimCity - though the latter's notoriety was likely aided by a disastrous launch week). The bizarre story of a man who died when his bed fell into a sinkhole in Florida made sinkholes a popular topic this week, while the Death of Hugo Chavez gained him the number 2 slot. The wrestler Paul Bearer also gained views by dying, and the rise of Oz the Great and Powerful allowed Mila Kunis to usurp Jennifer Lawrence's throne as Wikipedia's most popular actress, though time will tell if she can retain her crown. The Harlem Shake phenomenon continued its surprisingly slow decline, from four entries two weeks ago, to three last week, to two now.

For the week of March 3 to March 9, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most trafficked pages* were:


 * {| class="wikitable"

! Rank ! Last ! Wks ! Article ! Views ! Notes
 * 1
 * Miriam Makeba
 * align="right"|1,586,203
 * Miriam Makeba 2011.jpg This popular South African singer was the subject of a Google Doodle on what would have been her 81st birthday (March 4)
 * 2
 * Hugo Chávez
 * align="right"|1,517,150
 * Chavez-WSF2005.jpg The death of the controversial Venezuelan President on March 5 led to much media coverage of his life and potential legacy.
 * 3
 * 6
 * 3
 * Harlem Shake (meme)
 * align="right"|1,068,726
 * The latest internet craze continues to rank very high, see also #22
 * 4
 * International Women's Day
 * align="right"|945,552
 * Frauentag 1914 Heraus mit dem Frauenwahlrecht.jpg This international celebration was held on March 8, and was commemorated with a Google Doodle.
 * 5
 * 11
 * 9
 * Facebook
 * align="right"|630,535
 * A perennially favorite article.
 * 6
 * 12
 * 4
 * The Walking Dead (TV series)
 * align="right"|602,426
 * The American television series, currently airing in third season, is enjoying increasing popularity.
 * 7
 * Oz the Great and Powerful
 * align="right"|583,438
 * Released on March 8, the Wizard of Oz prequel had the biggest opening weekend of 2013 so far, at $79.1 million
 * 8
 * 3
 * 3
 * Argo (2012 film)
 * align="right"|518,045
 * Won the Academy Award for Best Picture on February 24.
 * 9
 * Mila Kunis
 * align="right"|517,565
 * Mila Kunis (7587117206).jpg Popular actress broke into the top 25 on the back of Oz the Great and Powerful, in which she has a major role.
 * 10
 * Sinkhole
 * align="right"|492,148
 * Sink hole.jpg This geological phenomenon became global news on March 1, as a man in Florida fell to his death in his bed after a sinkhole opened beneath his room.
 * 11
 * 22
 * 4
 * The Walking Dead (season 3)
 * align="right"|477,098
 * See #6 above.
 * 12
 * Paul Bearer
 * align="right"|475,714
 * PaulBearerCage.jpg A professional wrestler who died on March 5.
 * 13
 * Macklemore
 * align="right"|451,197
 * Macklemore The Heist Tour 1 cropped.jpg Popular singer making his debut in the top 25, though nearly always in the top 50
 * 14
 * 19
 * 3
 * Deaths in 2013
 * align="right"|447,085
 * The lists of deaths in the current year is always a quite popular article.
 * 15
 * 24
 * 4
 * Google
 * align="right"|433,511
 * A perennially popular article.
 * 16
 * 21
 * 3
 * World War II
 * align="right"|424,898
 * Another perennially popular article. (The 16th most popular article from 2010-12, in fact, see Table 2 here.)
 * 17
 * SimCity (2013 video game)
 * align="right"|422,421
 * Long-awaited return of the beloved SimCity video game franchise, marred by a spectacularly bad opening week in which always online DRM meant millions of people who had purchased the game could not play it for days.
 * 18
 * 8
 * 3
 * Amazon.com
 * align="right"|719,822
 * The popular online retailer's article has had a rise in page counts since February 13, arguably due to a dispute with US state governments over paying state tax.
 * 19
 * 1
 * 2
 * Jennifer Lawrence
 * align="right"|396,885
 * Jennifer Lawrence at the 83rd Academy Awards crop.jpg The popular actress was the second-youngest to ever win the Academy Award for Best Actress, awarded for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook at the 85th Academy Awards held on February 24, 2013.
 * 20
 * Tomb Raider (2013 video game)
 * align="right"|389,142
 * Long-awaited reboot of the Tomb Raider video game franchise released on March 5
 * 21
 * YouTube
 * align="right"|378,983
 * Another perennially popular article, for the highly popular video-sharing website.
 * 22
 * 9
 * 4
 * Harlem shake
 * align="right"|367,957
 * This is only a brief disambiguation page to help people find Harlem Shake (meme), which is #3 this week.
 * 23
 * Game of Thrones (TV series)
 * align="right"|360,828
 * Popular television series whose third season begins on March 31
 * 24
 * 14
 * 2
 * Nicki Minaj
 * align="right"|353,430
 * American singer and rapper, Minaj has appeared in the Top 25 frequently.
 * 25
 * The Big Bang Theory
 * align="right"|352,391
 * Popular science geek sitcom. A perennially popular article that last entered the top 25 in the week of January 27-February 2.
 * }
 * The popular online retailer's article has had a rise in page counts since February 13, arguably due to a dispute with US state governments over paying state tax.
 * 19
 * 1
 * 2
 * Jennifer Lawrence
 * align="right"|396,885
 * Jennifer Lawrence at the 83rd Academy Awards crop.jpg The popular actress was the second-youngest to ever win the Academy Award for Best Actress, awarded for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook at the 85th Academy Awards held on February 24, 2013.
 * 20
 * Tomb Raider (2013 video game)
 * align="right"|389,142
 * Long-awaited reboot of the Tomb Raider video game franchise released on March 5
 * 21
 * YouTube
 * align="right"|378,983
 * Another perennially popular article, for the highly popular video-sharing website.
 * 22
 * 9
 * 4
 * Harlem shake
 * align="right"|367,957
 * This is only a brief disambiguation page to help people find Harlem Shake (meme), which is #3 this week.
 * 23
 * Game of Thrones (TV series)
 * align="right"|360,828
 * Popular television series whose third season begins on March 31
 * 24
 * 14
 * 2
 * Nicki Minaj
 * align="right"|353,430
 * American singer and rapper, Minaj has appeared in the Top 25 frequently.
 * 25
 * The Big Bang Theory
 * align="right"|352,391
 * Popular science geek sitcom. A perennially popular article that last entered the top 25 in the week of January 27-February 2.
 * }
 * Popular television series whose third season begins on March 31
 * 24
 * 14
 * 2
 * Nicki Minaj
 * align="right"|353,430
 * American singer and rapper, Minaj has appeared in the Top 25 frequently.
 * 25
 * The Big Bang Theory
 * align="right"|352,391
 * Popular science geek sitcom. A perennially popular article that last entered the top 25 in the week of January 27-February 2.
 * }
 * The Big Bang Theory
 * align="right"|352,391
 * Popular science geek sitcom. A perennially popular article that last entered the top 25 in the week of January 27-February 2.
 * }


 * This list is derived from the WP:5000 report. It excludes the Wikipedia main page (and "wiki"), non-article pages, and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Notable removals this week: G-force (607,922 views; this has been in the Top 25 since the list was started at the beginning of the year.  The continuing popularity of this article, which jumped in June 2012, has been without explanation.  Articles on popular scientific concepts get nowhere this level of viewing based on our analysis to date, e.g., Gravitation (49,516 views this week), and therefore we have decided to remove it from the list as most likely caused by non-human views.  Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish); 2012 Summer Olympics (1,087,922 views, over 1 million of which came in an unexplained spike on 6 March 2013); Cat anatomy (562,258 views, explanation still unknown for its continuing high view counts); and Ernst Litfaß (562,192 views; also removed a few weeks ago, is having another unexplained spike in views).  Litfaß (or Litfass) was the German inventor of Advertising columns.  Whether the views are the work of a spambot with a sense of humour is unknown.  The German Wikipedia version saw no view spike, as before.)
 * Number of views needed to reach Top 25 this week: 352,391. Last week: 405,518.
 * Almosts: Arrow (TV series) (337,089 views) James Franco (329,916 views); Saint Patrick's Day (328,981 views)
 * The revision of WP:5000 containing the data used to create list: