Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/June 30 to July 6, 2019

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Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (June 30 to July 6, 2019)[edit]

Prepared with commentary by Stormy clouds

Last week's report | Next week's report

Crown thy Good with Sisterhood[edit]

O beautiful 'momgst factual sites,
For endless waves of FA's,
For series, movies, tragedies,
A catch-all knowledge place,
Wikipedia, Wikipedia,
How trivial your readers have been,
Why are we here, if these should be,
The most read articles of the past week.

For the week of June 30 to July 6, 2019, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank Article Class Views Image About
1 Spider-Man: Far From Home 1,908,257
The man who can do whatever a spider can came swinging back onto cinema screens for the first time in four days, as the web-slinging teenager takes a trip to my side of the pond. The film is highly enjoyable, especially after they drop the villainous illusion, and acts as a worthy bookend, at least in my opinion, to the bombast and spectacle of #8. If you think that this is the last entry on the report from the Spider-Verse, your tingle may be broken.
2 Stranger Things (season 3) 1,348,233
Competing for the attention of our eyeballs with #1 is the return of Netflix's (arguably biggest) original series, which sees the return of nosebleed Jean Grey, Toothless the (Dungeon and) Dragon, and beep beep Richie, as they battle both monstrous entities from the Upside Down and their hormones. If you were concerned that the new season would abandon the near-intoxicating nostalgia of its predecessors, the fact that much of the season involves the characters going to the mall should alleviate your fears.
3 Cori Gauff 1,200,886
Over on the grass courts of the All England Club, Wimbledon is underway, meaning that the world gets to pretend it cares about tennis for a fortnight. A story of actual intrigue, alongside the Williams-Murray partnership and the continued resurgence of Rafa and Roger, was that of Cori Gauff, the second youngest player in the history of the tournament at only 15 years of age, who drew attention for her nonchalance as she felled Venus Williams in the first round, going on to reach the final 16.
4 Stranger Things 1,066,290
As an author of the Top 25 Report, I am often very bored at having to come up with novel commentary for the ceaseless plethora of Netflix Originals, many of which (I'm (not) looking at you, Sandy) are not very good, to be diplomatic about affairs. However, I am a big fan of most of Stranger Things, with its superb theme, likable cast, and a highly bingeable story evocative of the work of two Stephens. Gauging from what I have seen of the new season (#2), released on America's birthday, the Duffer brothers have kept up the good work.
5 2019 Cricket World Cup 1,038,856
It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming... Football Cricket's coming home.
Yes, it would appear that neither Finch nor Kohli (to the doubtless despair of much of our readership) will be able to prevent Ireland's greatest cricketer from lifting the World Cup on home(?) soil, with only the world's most forgettable nation left standing in his way.
6 Midsommar (film) 1,019,055
The newest horror film from Ari Aster, director of the critically acclaimed and audience maligned Hereditary was released during the week, courting the lucrative audience segment of arachnophobes who are OK with brutalistic pagan rituals. It is an admittedly niche market. As someone who vehemently dislikes the jump-scare riddled tedium of contemporary horror, I appreciate Aster's efforts, but as someone who found much of Hereditary to be more hilariously absurdist than abjectly horrifying, I think I will give this one a miss.
7 Tyler Skaggs 975,817
A sadder entry now, as an Angel ascended at the age of 29. Skaggs, a pitcher for the non-dodging LA outfit, was preparing to face some walkers when he was found unresponsive in his hotel, leading to an outpouring of grief and morbid interest in the player from fans of America's game.
8 Avengers: Endgame 875,684
You knew this would be here, with the re-release hyping up and subsequently underwhelming MCU fans worldwide, and with the gap between the top two entries on #12 drawing tantalisingly closer - this film, this box office juggernaut so large that the industry is still reeling, just has to be on the report. It is inevitable.
9 Kabir Singh 795,093
With their enjoyment and anticipation for #5 tarnished by kiwis, our Indian contingent went back to frantically researching the newest Bollywood hit. This time, it is Sandeep Vanga's remake of his own Telugu film that has caught their attention. The massive hit is produced by T-Series, and has been critically maligned despite its status as number one. Sound familiar?
10 Alex Morgan 762,853
Many historians cite the spilling of tea as a moment where Anglo-American relations seriously deteriorated. In Parc Olympique Lyonnais last week, star-spangled soccer starlet, having slotted the ball beyond the English keeper, popped out her pinky and triggered another breakdown between the two allies, leading to some stunningly bad takes (including from another Morgan). I'll go to the hilt for the World Cup winner, because our freedom to mock Britain must be preserved, now more than ever.
11 Chernobyl disaster 757,486
What can be said about Chernobyl that hasn't been extensively covered by either the HBO miniseries or any report published in the copious aeons since its first episode? Not a whole pile, but I feel there is a silver lining to the disaster that is often neglected, albeit a very costly one. Since the overnight evacuation of all bar the samosely, wildlife has been afforded the opportunity to flourish, unperturbed by humanity, leading to some incredible images taken by drones.
12 List of highest-grossing films 724,932
It is still Avatar. See you again next week, when the gap will be teasingly smaller, but it will still be Avatar. Unless you adjust for inflation, in which case Cameron's achievements are blown away.
13 Deaths in 2019 718,689
The list of those we lost, buoyed by its permanent front page link, remains on the report, as Wikipedians travel in endless scores to see who is crossing the Styx, a list this week topped by the tragic passing of #7.
14 Kamala Harris 714,024
The core of the report is constituted by three very US-centric articles, appropriately for the week that was in it. The first of the trio is Kamala Harris, a senatorial donkey currently contesting the primary, with some degree of success in preliminary debates. Harris is a vocal critic of the present occupant of her desired property, meaning that she would likely get along swimmingly with #16, Megan Rapinoe. Rapinoe, one of the co-captains (ugh) of the US women's football team, has distracted from her brilliant exploits on the field (which saw her claim a Golden Ball and Boot) with a series of controversial comments regarding the Donald. Both women have been outspoken at times, and come under fire from conservative corners of the media, but their respective achievements, on Capitol Hill and the penalty area, are undeniable, as is their right to criticize and court controversy, a right fought for some twelve score and three years ago.
15 Independence Day (United States) 646,728
16 Megan Rapinoe 628,119
17 Toy Story 4 623,894
The ostensible conclusion to the saga of Woody and Buzz Lightyear came out nine years ago (my age is becoming a depressing motif of this report), but there is too much money at stake for Pixar to not go back to the well, so here we are, with a sequel that no one asked for in a summer full of them, and another to financially underperform relative to expectations. I haven't seen it, but am reliably informed of its excellence by scores of children.
18 Lil Nas X 622,785
Things I don't care about. But some music listeners do, and apparently one of those two took his horse down the old town road and came out of the closet.
19 Billie Eilish 620,986
20 Kawhi Leonard 583,169
Another recent staple of the report, ever since his brilliance in the NBA Finals which saw him lead the Raptors to their first title. The two time NBA Finals MVP remained in the public consciousness as he prepared, and underwent, a big money move to the Los Angeles Clippers.
21 Millie Bobby Brown 574,220
In as many words, this English Eggo aficionado is quite hilarious.
22 Zendaya 554,073
I am old enough to remember trips to the cinema to watch the Raimi trilogy, when the denizens of Wikipedia would investigate the BLP's of Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire. I am old enough to remember when Andrew Garfield was all the rage, and Shailene Woodley was waiting in the wings for Gwen Stacy to fall. I am old enough to remember the introduction of Peter Parker to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the furore when Zendaya was cast as Mary Jane Watson, and then declared not to be MJ, and then declared to be MJ again. (Granted, that wasn't very long ago, and should provide some solace to Halle Bailey). The current starring duo of Sony's superhero sensation is, fittingly, united on the report, as they are on the screen in #1 as high school sweethearts.
23 Tom Holland (actor) 539,353
24 Betsy Ross flag 526,233
How does a highly trained underpaid army looking to retain power, somehow defeat an Orange footballing shower?
How do they emerge victorious from French quagmires, leave the football field waving Betsy Ross' flag higher?
Turns out they have a secret weapon, a lesbian you know and love whose unafraid to net it.
She's constantly confusing, confounding the defence men, everyone give it up for America's favourite pacy winging woman.
25 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup 512,215
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (June 30 to July 6, 2019)
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (June 30 to July 6, 2019)

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