Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/May 24 to 30, 2020

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (May 24 to 30, 2020)
Prepared with commentary by and 

The unfortunate passing of 46-year old George Floyd crashed onto our charts at first place, beating second-placed (and trend-related) Third-degree murder by nearly twice the views. Articles for the deaths of fellow victims of reported police brutality (like that of New York-murdered Eric Garner) also surfaced. And while the article for the COVID-19 pandemic, already diminishing in popularity, was pushed down to sixth, our distractions in these troubled times remain high - including a Space Jam of sorts, given both space topics and Michael Jordan are present (but sadly no Looney Tunes).


 * {| class="wikitable"

! Rank ! Article ! Class ! Views ! Image ! Notes/about
 * 1
 * Death of George Floyd
 * 3,328,657
 * rowspan=2|George_Floyd_Memorial_at_Chicago_Avenue_&_38th_Street_(49952803788).jpg
 * rowspan=2|On May 25th, a 46-year-old man by the name of George Floyd died while in the process of being arrested by officers of the local Minneapolis Police Department. Floyd was of African-American ethnicity. His death may--that's 'may'--have been attributed to Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin, who, according to the article linked to the left, held his knee on Floyd's neck for a whopping eight minutes and 46 seconds. In the aftermath of his death, protests have gone up across the globe, some of them violent. Chauvin was later arrested himself and is now charged for third-degree murder - aka depraved-heart murder, where someone does an act of "depraved indifference" to human life that ends up killing someone else.
 * 2
 * Third-degree murder
 * 1,887,890
 * 3
 * Elon Musk
 * 1,654,330
 * Elon_Musk_Royal_Society.jpg
 * On another note--Elon Musk is most probably doing well because of a) his recently born child, X AE A-Xii Musk (of whom Grimes (#16) is the mother) and b) the recent Demo 2 rocket flight (made possibly by his company SpaceX, ranked here at #13), which sent Americans into space for the first time in just shy of nine years.
 * 4
 * Jeffrey Epstein
 * 1,340,068
 * Epstein_Final_Mugshot.png
 * Jeffrey Epstein was, by profession, a 'financier'--defined in the Oxford Dictionary as 'a person concerned in the management of large amounts of money on behalf of governments or other large organizations'. Unfortunately, he also happens to be known for being rather sexually unrestrained--I've recently found news articles boldly claiming that 130 people have fronted up to say that they're Epstein's biological children. That's rather unsettling, if you ask me. Anyway, the fellows at Netflix have come out with a series on him, titled Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.
 * 5
 * Dominic Cummings
 * 1,299,284
 * Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg
 * This gentleman is currently the chief adviser to British prime minister Boris Johnson. The UK is currently in the process of loosening up lockdowns instigated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * 6
 * COVID-19 pandemic
 * 1,014,054
 * COVID-19_Outbreak_World_Map_per_Capita.svg
 * Oh dear.
 * 7
 * Michael Jordan
 * 962,894
 * Jordan_by_Lipofsky_16577.jpg
 * The Last Dance ended last week, but people still seek the basketball legend covered by said ESPN\Netflix show. Only thing missing for basketball fans is for the NBA is to announce its return - the NHL already did so!
 * 8
 * Jacob Frey
 * 840,724
 * Jacob_Frey_at_Nicollet_Mall_reopening_2017-11-16_-_1.jpg
 * The mayor of Minneapolis, who after seeing his law enforcement cause #1, called for the dismissal of the responsible policemen and specially for Chauvin to be charged for his crimes.
 * 9
 * Deaths in 2020
 * 811,941
 * Human-Skeleton.jpg
 * A lot of people die; unfortunately, 2020 is no exception.
 * 10
 * Murder (United States law)
 * 617,442
 * The_Murder_Of_Agamemnon_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_14994.png
 * It's most probable that the article for murder in the US came up as a result of the (possible) murder of aforementioned George Floyd via police mistreatment.
 * 11
 * Ghislaine Maxwell
 * 598,374
 * Ghislaine_Maxwell.jpg
 * I remember Ghislaine Maxwell from her involvement with #4-ranked Jeffrey Epstein in the Prince Andrew-Virginia Roberts Giuffre nightmare. She has been regarded as once a close associate of Epstein.
 * 12
 * Catherine the Great
 * 583,111
 * Catherine_II_by_J.B.Lampi_(1780s,_Kunsthistorisches_Museum).jpg
 * This Russian leader has been portrayed in the miniseries The Great.
 * 13
 * SpaceX
 * 553,834
 * SpaceX_Demo-2_Launch_(NHQ202005300044)_(cropped).jpg
 * Officially known as 'Space Exploration Technologies Corporation', SpaceX has recently ended a nine-year-long streak of low activity in terms of sending Americans into space with their Demo 2 mission (achieved with their Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon 2 spacecraft, which housed the astronauts - and also happened to be on the last American manned spaceflight since).
 * 14
 * Doja Cat
 * 552,573
 * Doja_Cat_2020_Vogue_Taiwan_01.png
 * An up-and-coming rapper that was targeted by the Internet after the resurfacing of an old song of hers, named after an alt-right term used to ridicule African-American victims of police brutality - see #1 et. al for why it probably happened.
 * 15
 * Uncut Gems
 * 547,940
 * Josh_Safdie_-_2010_(41523623231)_(cropped).jpg
 * Last year, this darkly comical thriller by writer-director Josh Safdie (pictured) pulled off a miracle: an actual good Adam Sandler movie, where he plays a jeweler addicted to gambling - maybe two, if you count a good performance by an athlete (basketballer Kevin Garnett). While already available on Netflix internationally, it only hit the American version of the service last week.
 * 16
 * Grimes (musician)
 * 537,603
 * Grimes_2012_(cropped).jpg
 * Canadian singer specialising in "dream pop, R&B, electronic music, and hip hop", according to her constituent Wikipedia article. She is the wife of entrepreneur Elon Musk (#3), of whom she has recently had a weirdly named child with (X AE A-Xii Musk).
 * 17
 * Ulysses S. Grant
 * 525,443
 * Ulysses_S._Grant_1870-1880.jpg
 * The life of the eighteenth President of the United States, who was also a General during the Civil War, was chronicled by the History Channel in the miniseries Grant.
 * 18
 * Death of Eric Garner
 * 515,598
 * Minneapolis_05-28-20_(49947863697).jpg
 * It's no surprise that the death of a fellow African-American recently has since drawn interest to a more historic death. Eric Garner, another African-American, died through what I'm reasonably sure as police mistreatment. If George Floyd's death really was through asphyxiation (which it probably was), then that would mark another similarity to Garner's passing; I believe Garner died through suffocation caused by a chokehold.
 * 19
 * Death of Breonna Taylor
 * 488,149
 * Louisville_montage.jpg
 * Breonna Taylor (another African-American) was shot by police officers serving Louisville (pictured) a few whiles ago.
 * 20
 * Chromatica
 * 456,523
 * Lady_Gaga_interview_2016.jpg
 * 'Stefani Germanotta, you'll never be famous' was the title of a Facebook group chat run by Lady Gaga's classmates. Unfortunately for them, I think that prediction turned out to be rather off-target. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, otherwise known as Lady Gaga, has recently released a new album, titled Chromatica. Apparently, critical reception has been generally positive. Release was aimed at April the 10th,   but delayed to this month due to, yes, the 6th-placed COVID-19 pandemic.
 * 21
 * Space Force (TV series)
 * 421,658
 * Steve_Carell_November_2014.jpg
 * No, not the new armed forces launched by Donald Trump, but a Netflix series about such an army starring Steve Carell.
 * 22
 * Minneapolis
 * 414,422
 * MinneapolisCollage.jpg
 * This is the city where George Floyd (#1) passed away.
 * 23
 * Hana Kimura
 * 412,062
 * 木村花2019.jpg
 * Hana Kimura, a wrestler, died late May this year. It appears she committed suicide--I don't know for sure. All her Wikipedia page says about it is that she posted 'self-harm' images the morning she died.
 * 24
 * 1992 Los Angeles riots
 * 406,994
 * ANG40InfantryDivisionLosAngelesRiot1992.jpg
 * Unrest arose in Los Angeles after four officers serving the Los Angeles Police Department were released from the scrutiny of the law after reportedly beating up a man named Rodney King (yes, an African-American). We're seeing similar riots to the ones in '92 today.
 * 25
 * Scottie Pippen
 * 404,686
 * Lipofsky_Pippen.jpg
 * And finally, the The Last Dance mindset continues to endure, keeping Michael Jordan (#7) teammate Scottie Pippen on the Top 25.
 * }
 * 19
 * Death of Breonna Taylor
 * 488,149
 * Louisville_montage.jpg
 * Breonna Taylor (another African-American) was shot by police officers serving Louisville (pictured) a few whiles ago.
 * 20
 * Chromatica
 * 456,523
 * Lady_Gaga_interview_2016.jpg
 * 'Stefani Germanotta, you'll never be famous' was the title of a Facebook group chat run by Lady Gaga's classmates. Unfortunately for them, I think that prediction turned out to be rather off-target. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, otherwise known as Lady Gaga, has recently released a new album, titled Chromatica. Apparently, critical reception has been generally positive. Release was aimed at April the 10th,   but delayed to this month due to, yes, the 6th-placed COVID-19 pandemic.
 * 21
 * Space Force (TV series)
 * 421,658
 * Steve_Carell_November_2014.jpg
 * No, not the new armed forces launched by Donald Trump, but a Netflix series about such an army starring Steve Carell.
 * 22
 * Minneapolis
 * 414,422
 * MinneapolisCollage.jpg
 * This is the city where George Floyd (#1) passed away.
 * 23
 * Hana Kimura
 * 412,062
 * 木村花2019.jpg
 * Hana Kimura, a wrestler, died late May this year. It appears she committed suicide--I don't know for sure. All her Wikipedia page says about it is that she posted 'self-harm' images the morning she died.
 * 24
 * 1992 Los Angeles riots
 * 406,994
 * ANG40InfantryDivisionLosAngelesRiot1992.jpg
 * Unrest arose in Los Angeles after four officers serving the Los Angeles Police Department were released from the scrutiny of the law after reportedly beating up a man named Rodney King (yes, an African-American). We're seeing similar riots to the ones in '92 today.
 * 25
 * Scottie Pippen
 * 404,686
 * Lipofsky_Pippen.jpg
 * And finally, the The Last Dance mindset continues to endure, keeping Michael Jordan (#7) teammate Scottie Pippen on the Top 25.
 * }
 * 24
 * 1992 Los Angeles riots
 * 406,994
 * ANG40InfantryDivisionLosAngelesRiot1992.jpg
 * Unrest arose in Los Angeles after four officers serving the Los Angeles Police Department were released from the scrutiny of the law after reportedly beating up a man named Rodney King (yes, an African-American). We're seeing similar riots to the ones in '92 today.
 * 25
 * Scottie Pippen
 * 404,686
 * Lipofsky_Pippen.jpg
 * And finally, the The Last Dance mindset continues to endure, keeping Michael Jordan (#7) teammate Scottie Pippen on the Top 25.
 * }
 * Lipofsky_Pippen.jpg
 * And finally, the The Last Dance mindset continues to endure, keeping Michael Jordan (#7) teammate Scottie Pippen on the Top 25.
 * }

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.