Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/June 4 to 10, 2017

The Top 25 Report

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (June 4 to 10, 2017)[edit]

Prepared with commentary by OZOO

← Last week's report – Next week's report →

Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Lord Buckethead[edit]

No surprise to see the big film of the week topping the list, Gal Gadot the actress coming top over the film, Wonder Woman (#2), in which she stars; with the character herself coming in at #18. New film entry The Mummy comes in at #6, with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion coming in at #20 and #25. Third place is musician Ariana Grande in the wake of her One Love Manchester benefit concert for victims of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing – Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, who also performed at the concert, is #19.

The big political story of the week, at least as far as I and this list are concerned, was the United Kingdom general election, 2017 (#4), which may yet become the United Kingdom general election, June 2017. Jeremy Corbyn (#12) defied the polls (#13) to wipe out the Conservative Party's (#16) majority and leave Prime Minister Theresa May (#16) scrambling for a possible alliance with the Democratic Unionist Party (#5). In international political news, James Comey (#7) appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee to talk about the events leading up to his dismissal, and a host of Gulf states cut off ties with Qatar (#8) triggering a diplomatic crisis.

In the world of sports, three basketball players – LeBron James (#10), Kevin Durant (#11) and Stephen Curry (#22) – are in the list in the wake of the 2017 NBA Finals, James managing to beat the other two on this list even though he was on the losing side while Durant and Curry both won. One of the biggest names in association football, Cristiano Ronaldo (#21), is also here following his side's victorious performance in the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final. Some sad football news, however, with the death of Ivorian international footballer Cheick Tioté (#17) at the age of 30.

Sad news, also, with the death of actor Adam West (#14) on Saturday – a sign of his popularity should be that he is so high in the list despite his death being announced so close to the end of the week. Miscellaneously, this week also saw another wrestling show, Extreme Rules (#23); a Reddit led World War II bagpiper, Bill Millin (#15), and fidget spinners (#24) still being a thing.

For the week of June 4 to 10, 2017, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Views	Notes
1	Gal Gadot	2,281,837	Having made her name playing Gisele Yashar in the The Fast and the Furious franchise, Israeli actress and model Gal Gadot has moved on to playing Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman in the nascent DC Extended Universe. After making her debut in last year's Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice; Gadot returns as Wonder Woman in the eponymous film. And on the subject of that film...
2	Wonder Woman (2017 film)	2,056,307	...it is second in this list. Patty Jenkins (pictured) has directed the fourth film in the DC Extended Universe, and the first superhero movie from a major studio to have a female lead since 2005's Elektra, since when there have been three new Batmen, two new Hulks and two versions of the Fantastic 4, to give you an idea of how long that is in film-making time. The film has thusly obtained some symbolic value as a test of the viability of female led movies in the modern era, and with a US opening weekend at #1 with $103,251,471, it's probably passed.
3	Ariana Grande	1,898,627	Less than two weeks after the Manchester Arena bombing following one of her shows, which caused the deaths of 22 people, Grande returned to Manchester for a benefit concert. The concert – One Love Manchester – held at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, saw a parade of global stars including Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus, mixed with musical legends from Manchester such as Take That and Liam Gallagher (#19). The concert raised over £10 million for the British Red Cross and was the UK's most watched television event of 2017 thus far. Grande's performances received positive reviews, and her song "One Last Time" currently sits second on the UK's Official Singles Chart.
4	United Kingdom general election, 2017	1,151,494	On 18 April 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May (#16) stood outside 10 Downing Street and announced a general election for Thursday 8 June. Calling an election three years early seemed like a good idea – after all, her Conservative Party enjoyed a considerate polling lead over Jeremy Corbyn (#12) and his Labour Party, and a definitive victory would give May a clear signal to carry on her vision of Brexit. Unfortunately, May failed to consider that the British public are not big fans of having their time wasted; and aren't likely to be best pleased when told to have another election. A disastrous campaign for May was followed by an unpleasant election night where she emerged still, theoretically, on top, but with her party unable to form a majority government and likely to have to govern with the help of the Democratic Unionist Party. (#5)
5	Democratic Unionist Party	1,109,971	As the only one of the six other political parties in the House of Commons likely to be willing to ally themselves with the Conservative Party following the general election, the DUP and their leader Arlene Foster (pictured) find themselves in the unusual position of kingmakers. Northern Irish politics rarely impacts on Great Britain (the major British parties rarely stand over there), and so a lot of people will have been scrambling to Wikipedia just to find out what, exactly, a Democratic Unionist Party actually is. They're right-wing, anti-abortion and anti-LGBT. Many of the more moderate members of the Conservative Party have thusly expressed concerns about any potential deals with the DUP, in particular Ruth Davidson, the LGBT leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, whose breakthrough over the election was one of the few highlights for the Tories.
6	The Mummy (2017 film)	1,054,365	A brand-new movie franchise for you to enjoy! I say brand new, it's actually the third version of the The Mummy franchise, and the first in Universal Studios' "Dark Universe" series. The movie stars Tom Cruise (pictured) as the main character, Sofia Boutella as the titular Mummy and Russell Crowe as a most-likely-sequel-setting-up Dr. Jekyll. As mentioned, the film is the first in a new franchise, which has been announced to contain movies based on the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Although seeing as the movie opened in the US with a weekend of $31,668,375, over 10 million dollars less than the 1999 version of the film did (not adjusted for inflation), I wouldn't be sure how much of this franchise will actually show up.
7	James Comey	950,395	The 7th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation – fired on May 7 by Donald Trump, of course – spoke in an open session to the Senate Intelligence Committee about the events leading up to his dismissal, including the investigations into Michael Flynn and Russian interference into last year's election. Comey's testimony was either extremely damning for President Trump or completely exonerated him, depending on what your political position was beforehand.
8	Qatar	890,097	On 5 June, a number of states, prominently Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt, abruptly broke off diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing the country of funding terrorist organisations; triggering the 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis. President Trump has come out in support of breaking relations, which raises questions about the future of such things as the American-used Al Udeid Air Base on Qatar, and Qatar's hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
9	Deaths in 2017	700,203	100,000 views a day this week, as normal. Someone could probably write an interesting study on what time of the day viewers check this page, if they visit more often on weekdays or weekends, if significant deaths in the news influence the views one way or another. Not me of course, someone else.
10	LeBron James	683,937	James – one of the most high-profile active basketball players in the world – was involved this week in the 2017 NBA Finals for his team the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron scored an average of 33.6 points per game over the five-game series, but the Cavaliers were defeated 4-1 by the Golden State Warriors, the second time in three years the Cavaliers have lost in the final to the Warriors, although they did win in the 2016 Final. James is now 3-5 in NBA Finals.
11	Kevin Durant	672,394	Durant – one of the most high-profile active basketball players in the world – was involved this week in the 2017 NBA Finals for his team the Golden State Warriors. Kevin scored an average of 35.2 points per game over the five-game series, and the Warriors were victorious 4-1 over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the second time in three years the Warriors have won in the final to the Cavaliers, although they did lose in the 2016 Final. Durant is now 1-1 in NBA finals, having lost with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012 to LeBron James (#10), and his 2017 performance had him named Most Valuable Player of the finals.
12	Jeremy Corbyn	653,456	A few short weeks ago, Jeremy Corbyn was a joke. A hard-left, unelectable, dinosaur, leading the Labour Party to one of the worst results in its history. Forecasts were for Labour to pick up 220, 200, even 180 seats in the forthcoming general election. But then. But then. It turns out that someone who has been derided as a "lifelong campaigner" is actually quite good at campaigning. When the polls closed and the votes were counted, Labour held 262 seats, a 30-seat improvement on 2015. The result has been hailed as a triumph, and Corbyn's position as leader of his party is secure. The only slight issue is that Labour didn't actually win the election, and Jeremy Corbyn is unlikely to become PM. Still, though.
13	Opinion polling for the United Kingdom general election, 2017	652,739	On the 18th April, the Tories enjoyed 20+ point leads over Labour and were on course for a landslide majority. Well, that went well.
14	Adam West	647,358	American actor Adam West died on June 9 at the age of 88. He is best known for his role as Batman in the 1960s TV series and the 1966 theatrical feature film; but he also had guest roles in shows such as Alias Smith and Jones and Murder, She Wrote; and recurring voice roles as parodies of himself in cartoons like Family Guy and The Fairly OddParents.
15	Bill Millin	641,421	Reddit contributing, as standard. This time, they provide us with the story of Bill Millin, personal piper of Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat. At the age of 21, Millin accompanied Lord Lovat to the D-Day landings in Normandy, and on Lovat's orders, played his bagpipes during the attack. He survived the attack, despite being an unarmed man wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipes, because the German snipers assumed he had gone mad. He died in 2010.
16	Theresa May	633,614	The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom would have woken on 8 June feeling good. Despite a lackluster campaign – criticised for overuse of soundbites, too many U-turns and May's absence from the television debate – the Conservative Party were still well up in most polls, and likely to form a government. May's primary concern would have been how to avoid getting into awkward photographs with her more eccentric Maidenhead rivals – including individuals dressed as El mo, Boss Hogg and Lord Buckethead. On 9 June, with the polls confounded and a hung parliament returned, May's primary concern would have now been how to avoid becoming the UK's shortest serving PM since Bonar Law in 1922. With the help of the Democratic Unionist Party (#5), May appears to be clinging onto 10 Downing Street for now; but I would be amazed if the Tories let her stay until the next election.
17	Cheick Tioté	626,083	Tioté, an Ivorian association footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, died unexpectedly during a training session for his club Beijing Enterprises on June 5, at the age of 30. Tioté played 55 times for Côte d'Ivoire, scoring one goal and winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, while in his club career he won the Dutch league in 2009–10 with FC Twente, and also played for Premier League side Newcastle United, scoring a famous equalizer in a 4–4 draw with Arsenal in 2011.
18	Wonder Woman	625,577	No surprise to see the original character in this chart, given the popularity of her eponymous film (#2).
19	Liam Gallagher	566,567	Liam Gallagher, best known as a member of Beady Eye but also previously a member of Oasis, made an appearance towards the end of the One Love Manchester concert, performing songs "Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Wall of Glass" and "Live Forever", the latter alongside Chris Martin from Coldplay, who Gallagher has previously been critical of. The next day, Liam lashed out at brother, former bandmate, and arch-enemy Noel over his absence from the concert, showing that while some may have been brought together by the concert, you can't expect miracles.
20	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales	561,590	Johnny Depp's fifth turn as Captain Jack Sparrow still has life in it, with viewers defying a 22% Rotten Tomatoes rating to push the film to currently sit fifth in the 2017 worldwide charts. While it has currently made less money that its predecessors, it will likely improve and could well push ahead of them. Which, of course, would justify them making a sixth installment, for a film series that I'm not convinced anyone has actually enjoyed since 2003.
21	Cristiano Ronaldo	550,458	Footballer and famous statue-model Cristiano Ronaldo led his side Real Madrid to the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League Final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on 3 June. Ronaldo scored twice and was voted Man of the Match as Real Madrid triumphed 4–1 over Juventus to become the first side to retain the UEFA Champions League title in the modern era.
22	Stephen Curry	536,024	Stephen Curry, the basketball player regarded by many as the greatest shooter in NBA history, assisted his Golden State Warriors teammates – including the aforementioned Kevin Durant (#11) – in their triumph in the 2017 NBA Finals. And "assisted" is the right word, as Curry was credited with 9.4 assists per game over the 5 match series.
23	Extreme Rules (2017)	530,923	June 4 saw another opportunity for fans of WWE to pay to watch some of the giants of their sport fighting live. This particular event, the ninth under the Extreme Rules title took place at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Amongst the battles, The Miz won the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Neville retained the WWE Cruiserweight Championship and Alexa Bliss retained the WWE Raw Women's Championship. (Incidentally, how do fans keep track of all these Championships? It sounds so exhausting.) In the finale Samoa Joe (pictured) won a "Fatal 5-Way" event to become the #1 contender for the WWE Universal Championship. No doubt the results of that Championship will turn up here sooner or later.
24	Fidget spinner	451,083	Continued popularity for the stress-relieving toy, which are being cited as an aid for individuals with ADHD, but are also being banned by certain schools for being a nuisance. Interestingly, fidget spinners were originally invented in the 1990s. Come to think of it, last year's big summer thing, Pokémon, was also invented in the 1990s. Could Tamagotchis be the next big 90s thing to make a comeback as a summer fad? I will let you know as soon as I finish investing my life savings in Tamagotchi accessories.
25	Baahubali 2: The Conclusion	450,574	And we conclude with Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, and I would not be surprised if this was the conclusion of the film's seven week stay in our charts. Since S. S. Rajamouli's film was released it has become the highest-grossing Indian film of all time, then lost that title to Dangal. It currently sits second with ₹1,652 crore (US$260 million), and may well regain its title when it is released in China later this year.

Exclusions[edit]

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.
Per consensus, Lali Esposito is excluded.

Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.