Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-05-14/Traffic report

Eurovision is known for being political, and it was a doozy this week. Anger over Vladimir Putin's anti-gay laws manifested both positively (in the form of victory for Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst) and negatively (the booing of the guileless teenage Russian entrants). In other news, the transition from spring to summer in the Northern Hemisphere meant that TV and movies share roughly equal space. Expect movies to overtake TV sometime near the end of June.

'''For the full top 25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation for any exclusions.'''

For the week of 4 to 10 May, the ten most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages, were:


 * {| class="wikitable"

! Rank ! Article ! Class ! Views ! Image ! Notes
 * 1
 * Audrey Hepburn
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"| 1,617,064
 * Audrey Hepburn screentest in Roman Holiday trailer.jpg
 * The Oscar-winning actress, UN children's ambassador, epitome of 60s style and embodiment of the "gamine" got a Google Doodle on her birthday this week; she would have been 85 if she hadn't died 22 years ago.
 * 2
 * Cinco de Mayo
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|1,192,811
 * BattleofPuebla2.jpg
 * One of the most self-explanatory article spikes on Wikipedia ever, this celebration of Mexican-American culture (originally meant to commemorate a Mexican victory over the French) occurred, conveniently, on May 5.
 * 3
 * Conchita Wurst
 * Symbol start class.svg
 * align="right"|739,352
 * 20140321 Dancing Stars Conchita Wurst 4187.jpg
 * It wouldn't be Eurovision without some unsettling political subtexts, and while Russia's not-quite-invasion of Ukraine may have had less impact than expected (they both gave each other points, albeit not a lot) the same cannot be said for its antediluvian restrictions on the LGBT community, (Eurovision is known as the "gay Superbowl", after all) reaction to which almost certainly played a part in this Austrian drag queen's triumph over bookies' favourite, Sweden's Sanna Nielsen.
 * 4
 * The Amazing Spider-Man 2
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|670,016
 * The Amazing Spider-Man 2 2014-04-05 18-17.png
 * A franchise that no one asked for has proven a bitter pill to swallow, at least in America. While the series's box office numbers as a whole are flat, it has had to rely increasingly on worldwide sales to attain them. The original Spider-Man film in 2002 made half its money at home and half overseas. For the rebooted Amazing Spider-Man, (this film's predecessor) the split was 2-1 for overseas grosses and, while this movie might just attain its series's standard tally of between $700 and $800 million, the overseas share is holding steady at 3-1. This declining domestic interest is even more obvious once inflation is accounted for. How it will affect the franchise's future is uncertain; at least one more sequel and a Venom spinoff are planned, but it's possible later instalments may be retooled to better attract international audiences.
 * 5
 * Mother's Day
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|649,026
 * Mothers Day card.png
 * The second Sunday in May (that's May 11 to all you ingrates who forgot) is far and away the most popular time of year to celebrate Mother's Day, and, even as the day fell, panicked college students in all participating countries rushed to their computers to see if they'd blown it.
 * 6
 * Amazon.com
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|485,896
 * Amazon.com-Logo.svg
 * This article suddenly reappeared in the top 25 after a long absence, but at least it has a reason: Amazon Fire TV; a digital streaming device to watch online content on a HDTV. How it distinguishes itself from the three or four other such devices currently on the market is a matter of some dispute.
 * 7
 * Eurovision Song Contest 2014
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|472,907
 * Eurovision Song Contest 2014 stage (during the jury final).jpg
 * There's always a political undercurrent to Eurovision, but it surfaced pretty nastily this year. Even for such a gay-friendly event, it was perhaps a bit untoward to boo the Russian entry, the winsome, 17-year-old Tolmachevy Sisters, simply for the homophobic decrees of their leader. Still, from the looks of things, they bore the abuse with grace.
 * 8
 * Game of Thrones
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|444,209
 * Game of Thrones 2011 logo.svg
 * New seasons of this immensely popular show always draw people to Wikipedia.
 * 9
 * Deaths in 2014
 * Symbol list class.svg
 * align="right"|396,516
 * Skullclose.jpg
 * The list of deaths in the current year is always a popular article.
 * 10
 * YouTube
 * Symbol support vote.svg
 * align="right"| 363,717
 * YouTube Logo.svg
 * A perennially popular article.
 * }
 * Skullclose.jpg
 * The list of deaths in the current year is always a popular article.
 * 10
 * YouTube
 * Symbol support vote.svg
 * align="right"| 363,717
 * YouTube Logo.svg
 * A perennially popular article.
 * }
 * }