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The Top 25 Report

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Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 23 to 29, 2017)

Prepared with commentary by Maplestrip

← Last week's report

Just Another Week of Death, Politics, and Entertainment

This week, we have: two deaths to cancer (#1, #5), a French election (#3, #7, #16, #24), a boxing match (#6, #11), three streamable series (#2, #13, #14), two traditional television series, (#20, #23), two American blockbuster films (#9, #10), and some good old football (#8, #22). Everything seems normal. What feels to me like it is dominating this week (eventhough it only has two entries) is the Indian epic fantasy blockbuster film Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, the second part of an incredibly big-budget and ambitious production. (#4, #19) Indian cinema is always popular on this list, of course, as exemplified by Rajkumar's Google Doodle. (#15)

I'm glad to see some scientific representation on this list. Albert Einstein (#20) is the star of a new television series, which is nice, and Elon Musk (#21) is making headlines for his new audacious plans. Personally, I had hoped that Cassini–Huygens would have made this list, as the spacecraft survived its first pass through Saturn's inner ring last week. Sadly, it's all the way down at #76 on the raw list, and there just aren't that many exclusions this week, eventhough 13 Reasons Why (#2, etc) seems to be getting old to me.

For the week of April 2 to 9, 2017, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Class	Views	Image	Notes
1	Erin Moran		1,809,738		This actress, known from nothing I've ever seen, passed away on April 22 from throat cancer. It's a shame, she was only 56 years old and she was caught by surprise by the disease last year. I hope her legacy will live on through Happy Days and everything else she's played in. I'm surprised to see her make number 1, as I hadn't heard this news before today.
2	13 Reasons Why		1,511,770		This Netflix series based on the novel at #17 still the talk of the internet. 13 Reasons Why has become controversial because of how it sensationalizes suicide. I personally hope the discussion this show prompts will have a bigger impact than its negative effects. Eventhough all of its 13 episodes were released simultaneously on March 31, this show has proven to have a lot of staying power. I can't imagine it staying up here for long, however, unless they are somehow planning a second season.
3	Emmanuel Macron		1,394,300		The first round of the 2017 French presidential election (#7) has gone by and the results are in: François Fillon and Jean-Luc Mélenchon have been overtaken by Macron and Marine Le Pen (#16). I'm happy that the less sensational of the two is more popular here on Wikipedia. All I know about Macron right now is his young age (39) and the name of his party, En Marche!, but I'll be sure to read up on him as well.
4	Baahubali 2: The Conclusion		1,293,123		This Indian epic fantasy film (cast pictured) was released worldwide on April 28, and its placement on this list proves that it really blew up. The sequel to Baahubali: The Beginning (#19), this film of course has the most success in its home country, but Baahubali is also making a lot of money in the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
5	Vinod Khanna		1,233,066		I wrote in my previous Top 25 report that this actor was hospitalized due to severe dehydration, so I suppose it is only fitting that I am the one to report his death as well. It is his actual death this time, as he had apparently been battling bladder cancer for several months now. Khanna was 70 years old when he passed away on April 27.
6	Anthony Joshua		780,896		On April 29, professional boxer Anthony Joshua fought against Wladimir Klitschko (#11). Our article on the match describes it as "a high-drama war that saw both men giving their all." The first four rounds were "close and cautious", the fifth saw Joshua barraging Klitschko down. Angry, Klitschko rose back up and dominated Joshua for the next few rounds, scoring his own knockout in round 6. Eventually, Joshua knocked Klitschko down twice in a row and won the match. This sounds like quite the battle.
7	French presidential election, 2017		764,757		Also quite the battle is the current French election. I was surprised when I found out the election is held in two "rounds". In the first round, nine of the eleven candidates were eliminated. Voting for the second round will start on May 6. This is where I would give my own political opinions, but I simply know too little about French politics to give any input. The eleven-paragraph section on something called "Penelopegate" and eight paragraphs of "other incidents" tell me that there's plenty to learn about, however.
8	2017 NFL Draft		764,757		Apparently, the United Statesian sportsballers have been drafted for the new season, and I can't make heads or tails about this list. Is Myles Garrett the number 1 pick? I don't know. I wish there was some prose explaining what all of these numbers mean to the uninitiated.
9	The Fate of the Furious		753,372		I'm trying to find somekind of pattern in the titles of this film series. See, the first film was titled The Fast and the Furious, and this is considered the title of the series. The second film was 2 Fast 2 Furious, which I guess means "too fast to furious"? For the third film, they decided to just use a subtitle like a normal film series would (Tokyo Drift). For the fourth and sixth film, they basically used a different title, going for the "sleak" Fast & Furious. The fifth film is called Fast Five, the seventh film is called Furious 7... I give up.
10	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2		741,152		Oh boy, I'm looking forward to watching this film! The original was really good, so I hope this sequel will be able to recapture that magic. I asked a friend which galaxy the Guardians guard, and the answer I got was a bunch of fictional complexity, so... Milky Way Galaxy pictured.
11	Wladimir Klitschko		725,389		Klitschko may have lost, but he just kept getting up, and that is impressive. A referee had to stop the fight. I actually saw these two men on TV earlier, and I canconfirm that they looked like they had traded some hard-hitting punches.
12	Deaths in 2017		711,416		Wikipedia readers continue to keep an eye on the list of those no longer with us.
13	The Handmaid's Tale		656,424		People were likely looking for the television series rather than the 1985 dystopian novel, as is often the case with new American TV series. Margaret Atwood's novel, set in a near-future New England taken over by a totalitarian theocracy has been adapted as a 10-episode series by Hulu. I'm sure the Christian fundamentalist government will turn out fashionable in the current political climate.
14	Bill Nye		555,634		Talking about the current political climate, America's 1990s "science dad" Bill Nye is saving the world! Or at least, he's trying, talking about climate change, vaccination, and gender identity on his own Netflix series. The reception is lukewarm at best, but it's stirring a lot of discussion. Why doesn't this show work as well as Bill Nye the Science Guy? Maybe it's because of the pop-star correspondents or the policy-based subject matter. Either way, Bill Nye finally has his own fully-produced show again, and he talks about his interests. All of its thirteen episodes were released on April 21.
15	Rajkumar (actor)		550,172		This actor was celebrated with a Google Doodle on his 88th birth anniversary on April 24. The doodle shows Rajkumar acting in a movie, possibly Kasturi Nivasa. His life has been quite a rollercoaster, winning tons of awards and having been kidnapped for 109 days. According to one news article, "[Rajkumar's] death due after a cardiac arrest on April 12, 2006, aged 77, brought Bengaluru to a standstill." May he live on in his work.
16	Marine Le Pen		546,835		The leader of the nationalist and populist party Front National is the Macron's rival for the rest of this election. Nationalism and populism are two things I'm not a fan of, but I appreciate her position on same-sex marriage and abortion. Le Pen temporarily stepped down as leader from Front National to unite voters. We'll see how that goes in a week.
17	Thirteen Reasons Why		539,573		Is the book better than the TV series? I don't know. At least it doesn't graphically depict the suicide of Hannah Baker. Can't wait for the comic series.
18	Donald Trump		522,502		The US president just finished his first 100 days in office, which on its own would drive up a lot of interest, as people are curious what he has achieved in that time. Trump recently briefed the entire United States Senate on what plans the administration has to deal with North Korea. Senators were unimpressed. Trump also presented his tax reform plan, which left the entire nation unimpressed. Opinion polls have been negative lately.
19	Baahubali: The Beginning		505,409		The Baahubali film series is apparently the most expensive cinema project in India to date. Everything about the production of the first film, which came out in 2015, makes it look like the James Cameron's Avatar from India to me, with more artists, visual fidelity, and special effects than ever seen before. The Beginning won enough accolades for it to get its own article. No wonder people felt the need to look it up again.
20	Albert Einstein		493,137		The genius Albert Einstein got his own television series, titled, ahem, Genius. This TV series is well-deserved, and I hope it will teach the masses what E=MC² actually means.
21	Elon Musk		473,606		The younger genius Elon Musk has been sharing his plans to revolutionize transportation and infrastructure, such as with huge underground tunnels and an all-electric semi-truck. These plans sounds overly ambitious: the underground tunnels seem particularly unconvincing. But this guy started SpaceX and PayPal, so if anyone could do it...
22	Lionel Messi		461,664		I asked my father what happened in soccer last week, and apparently, the Messi–Ronaldo rivalry is in full-swing right now. FC Barcelona played against Real Madrid and Messi scored two goals. Twelve years ago today (May 12), Messi scored his first goal for Barcelona: he's come a long way.
23	Murder of Rhys Jones		456,342		The murder of this eleven-year old child has inspired a drama television series, Little Boy Blue. Viewers call it "hard to watch", so I suppose it is a success.
24	Brigitte Macron		436,437		This woman is a French high school teacher and wouldn't be particularly notable if she didn't get Emmanuel Macron (#3) in her class one fateful day. Macron got a divorce in 2006 in order to marry this 23-year younger Inspector of Finances in 2007. Soon, she may be the wife of the French President.
25	Katherine Langford		436,350		I assumed that Hannah Baker, the character Langford plays in 13 Reasons Why (#2) would only appear in flashbacks. Seeing as she dies at the start of the story and all... It seems like this 21-year old Australian star is on the rise.

In other news:

• Aaron Hernandez, the man convicted for the murder of Odin Lloyd, died in his cell on April 19. He came in at 26.
• The survival horror game Outlast 2 just barely missed the top 25, coming in at 27. I'd feel amiss for not mentioning a video game when I can.

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.
• We got all of the exclusions this week! Earth, Darth Vader, XXX, Lali Espósito, you name it.

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

Top 25 20170423