Wikipedia:2007 Top 50 Report

THE TOP 50 REPORT – 2007

Annual Top 50 edit

Based on the Zeitgeist data and prepared with commentary by: Kingsif and an anonymous editor *compiled and written in 2021

Commentary

Rank	Article	Image	About
1	George W. Bush		The president is in the midterm period of his second term in office. This year, he managed to facilitate successful nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea and pushed through global warming and immigration protections; however, his approval ratings are low at home (second lowest only to Nixon) and abroad (but Israel likes him more than not). Also this year: he vetoed pulling troops out of Iraq and may have dismissed seven U.S. Attorneys out of process.
2	Deaths in 2007		Now a redirect; page as it existed 2337, 31 December 2007 From the old (Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni - pictured) to the young (Marcheline Bertrand, Ashleigh Aston Moore), lots of famous faces died this year.
3	2007		Disappointingly not the number 1, more people interested in politics and death. Pictured: hidden security at the G8 summit.
4	PlayStation 3		Though this home video game console actually hit the shelves in some countries at the end of last year (it became available in Europe and Oceania this spring), the latest of Sony's PLAYSTATION line is not the only sleek gaming device on this list, and didn't dominate even its own market. It is the first video game console to play new Blu-ray discs, and uses the Spider-Man movies typeface for its logo (indeed, the 40GB version released in November comes bundled with a copy of the latest Spider-Man movie – #50 – on Blu-ray), so it became very popular among 10-year-olds (and apparently our readership). Popular enough that Sony couldn't make enough of them: in the first half of the year, one of the year's biggest non-nuclear scandals hit when the company only had about 1/5 of PS3s they needed for the market on release day.
5	United States		While not all of them, most entries on this list relate to the United States. What is a country if not the sum of its popular culture?
6	Heroes (U.S. TV series)		After getting a Time Person (Cast?) of the Year shout-out (otherwise awarded to You, especially us), the ~~X-Men~~ heroes returned for the second season of TV's biggest sci-fi show since Buffy. Unfortunately, it was cut short because everything was cut short (#38). It also lost the spark of its first season. After the cheerleader (and the world) was saved, there was little else for the heroes to do, so they all had to suppress or lose their powers so that the discoveries of the first season could happen again. Only this time, each hero is paired with their opposite to create slightly different obstacles: a mean cheerleader, an Irish gangster, an empath, power thieves, a false god, and dads. Lots of daddy issues. It's still massively popular, but I can't help but wonder what it would have been like without the writers' strike. A third season, subtitled "Villains", is planned to be what the last 13-or-so episodes of season 2 should have been, as a contained serial with more (duh) villains.
7	United Kingdom		Probably the country from which the second-most readers of the English-language Wikipedia originate.
8	Super Smash Bros. Brawl		This game, first announced in 2005, isn't yet released (2008!) but is already so anticipated it has made it to the top 10! An original game for Nintendo Wii video game console (#11), it will include lots of Nintendo IP characters in a beat 'em up game.
9	IPhone		Apple launched a new mobile cellular phone that is connected with their other products and the internet, and uses touchscreen technology that responds to human touch. Available from June, it became one of the fastest-selling products of the year in the United States and is immensely popular.
10	Britney Spears		(2021 note: if I remember 2007 correctly, it was en vogue to actually be quite mean to Britney about her annus horribilis. I've tried to keep a happy medium between the tone of the time and what is really acceptable, especially following her reclamation this year.) The teen pop idol turned slightly-older pop idol was one of the biggest stories of the year: when gossip hit the broadsheet front page was when Britney had her breakdown. She flipped and tried to shear her head, couldn't even pretend to lip-sync on-stage (#33), and all in all fell from her pop pedestal. Here she is pictured, smiling, driving home from court.
11	Wii		Another late-2006 home video game console release, the Wii is Nintendo's proprietary device. The PLAYSTATION is black, the Wii is white. The PLAYSTATION has an obvious name, the Wii really doesn't (it's "we", like together...) The motion sensor capabilities and proprietary games means the Wii may not beat the PLAYSTATION on this list (or the one for good names), but it does have more popular appeal across generations that other home consoles haven't really tapped into, with Nintendo games targeting different age groups and families specifically.
12	Eminem		The Real Slim Shady has announced a hiatus. Though he says he's always making music, he's taking indefinite time out from his career, presumably because he's still dealing with the murder of his friend Proof.
13	WrestleMania 23		In 2007 wrestling's main event, John Cena retained the title. It also started a weird feud between billionaires Donald Trump and Vince McMahon (who had actual wrestlers fight on their behalf).
14	Harry Potter		In July, the last (#16) of the 7-book series was released, causing more late-night queues than a blockbuster midnight release. Bookstores opened at midnight and were descended upon religiously. The sixth film also began filming in September, and in May a theme park in Orlando was announced. On Wikipedia, there's been a lot of complaints about the quality of its American translation.
15	Adolf Hitler		Besides some rambunctious young-uns using Wikipedia for history homework, this year Germany wondered if it could (presumably retroactively) strip Hitler of citizenship (he wasn't German after all). It's been a hot year for Germany reconsidering Hitler (again) - in January, the first mainstream comedy about him was released in the country.
16	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows		The aforementioned final book in the Harry Potter series. It's a bit of a doorstopper, so no spoilers, but it sold millions in the first hour of sale, and was released at midnight.
17	Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock		Announced early in the year and released at the end, this third game is the first since Activision had to hire a new developer to make the Guitar Hero games. The trademark controllers went wireless for the game, and a special version compatible with the Wii (#11) motion remote was released, too.
18	IPod		Apple announces the launch of the 6th generation iPod Classic.
19	Barack Obama		The Illinois senator announced in May that he would run for president in the next election - if elected, he would be the first black president.
20	The Beatles	image	commentary
21	Cannabis (drug)	image	commentary
22	Borat Sagdiyev	image	commentary
23	Beyoncé	image	commentary
24	Virginia Tech shooting	image	commentary
25	Tony Blair		This year saw the departure of Tony Blair, who had served as the UK Prime Minister since 1997, having won a historic landslide in that year's general election, and won two subsequent elections in 2001 and 2005. He leaves office with his approval ratings significantly lower than they were when he entered office in 1997, largely as a result of his and #1's involvement in the Iraq War. Blair announced he would step down as PM last year and resigned this June, and was succeeded by Gordon Brown (#29), who had served as his chancellor since 1997. I guess things can only get better?
26	Paris Hilton	image	commentary
27	Disappearance of Madeleine McCann	image	commentary
28	Chris Benoit		This Canadian wrestler shocked the wrestling world when he killed his wife and 7-year-old son in a double-murder and suicide.
29	Gordon Brown		The UK's new Prime Minister, succeeding #25. Brown previously served as Blair's chancellor.
30	The Simpsons Movie	image	commentary
31	Albus Dumbledore	image	Harry Potter author JK Rowling outed Dumbledore! A few months after concluding the book series, she said that the beloved wizened professor is gay. Already controversial among conservatives because of the magic, the homosexuality really hasn't helped in that area. Rowling says he may have had a thing with a character called Grindelwald.
32	Halo 3	image	commentary
33	Gimme More	image	commentary
34	Akatsuki (Naruto)	image	commentary
35	WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008	image	commentary
36	England	image	commentary
37	Blackout (Britney Spears album)	image	commentary
38	2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike	image	commentary
39	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	image	commentary
40	Saddam Hussein	image	commentary
41	February 2007 North American blizzard	image	commentary
42	The Departed	image	commentary
43	Avatar: The Last Airbender	image	commentary
44	Global warming	image	commentary
45	79th Academy Awards	image	commentary
46	300 (film)	image	commentary
47	Grand Theft Auto IV	image	commentary
48	World War II	image	There's been no anniversaries so likely related to #15.
49	Transformers (film)	image	commentary
50	Spider-Man 3	image	commentary

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