Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/December 31, 2017 to January 6, 2018

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First title of 2018

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As we begin 2018, everyone on this list has the honour of being on the first Top 25 Report of the year, which I am sure they were all worried about missing out on. Some of them, will, of course, be the first in their field; so let's have a look at some of those:

For the week of December 31, 2017 to January 6, 2018, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes
1 List of Black Mirror episodes   1,140,937
 
A top two lock-out for the science fiction anthology series, the fourth season of which was released on Netflix on December 29. Created by British comedian Charlie Brooker (pictured), originally for the UK's Channel 4, the darkly satirical series has received positive reviews and acclaim throughout its run, including two wins at the most recent Primetime Emmy Awards.
2 Black Mirror   1,108,250
3 Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon   1,030,843
 
It says a lot for the interest in The Crown that members of the British royal family are still standing near the top of this list a month after the second season of the show was released. HRH The Princess Margaret, played by Vanessa Kirby, is a significant character in the second season, which includes sequences depicting her relationships with a number of men, including the Earl Snowdon, Antony Armstrong-Jones. Come to think of it, that was probably a spoiler. It's been reported that Helena Bonham Carter is lined up to replace Kirby for the next series, as time moves on.
4 Elizabeth II   967,864
 
Elizabeth, Queen of Tuvalu and other places, is, arguably, the major character in the aforementioned Netflix series The Crown. She has been played by Claire Foy to this point, but will be played by Olivia Colman starting with the third season.
5 Logan Paul   967,194
 
YouTube vlogger Paul caused a storm on December 31 by uploading a video to his YouTube channel depicting the recently deceased corpse of a man who had committed suicide by hanging in the Aokigahara (#7) forest in Japan. After outrage, Paul deleted the video and released an apologetic video, which has currently garnered over 30 million views. A Change.org petition for Paul to delete his YouTube channel currently has more than 300 thousand signatures.
6 Star Wars: The Last Jedi   828,656
 
A fall to sixth for the three-week-topper. The eighth (or ninth, or possibly tenth) in the Star Wars series of historical dramas, The Last Jedi has grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide, and managed to snatch the title of highest-grossing film of 2017 from Beauty and the Beast on December 31. The film has received largely positive reviews from film critics as well, so I expect they'll make a sequel, at some point.
7 Aokigahara   806,130
 
Aokigahara is a forest at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan that has become known as one of the world's most prevalent suicide sites; and was the location where Logan Paul (#5) made his ill-thought-out decision to film and upload a video of a recently deceased person.
8 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh   768,731
 
The husband of Elizabeth II (#4), Prince Philip's presence in the list is doubtless another The Crown effect. Philip, played by former Doctor Who Matt Smith, is naturally a major character in his wife's life story. It's not yet been announced who will replace Smith in the role next season, although I would note that Peter Capaldi has just become available.
9 Michael Wolff (journalist)   664,761
 
Time for the latest episode of what will surely be Netflix's biggest series in 2045, American Politics. Journalist Michael Wolff has published a book, Fire and Fury, which includes unflattering depictions of the first year of President Trump's time in office, including derogatory comments about the Trump family made by former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. Trump has responded by deriding Wolff and Bannon; and insisted that he is a "very stable genius". How will this week's events influence people going forward? My guess is that those who hated Trump before will use this book to justify their hatred, and those who supported Trump before will ignore the book and carry on supporting him.
10 Tiger Zinda Hai   661,595
 
Tiger Zinda Hai, first Indian entry to the list of 2018! The Hindi action thriller (English title: Tiger Is Alive) stars Salman Khan (pictured), Katrina Kaif and Sajjad Delfrooz, and is a follow up to 2012's Ek Tha Tiger. Thus far, the film has grossed more than ₹4 billion (US$63 million) at the box office, currently sitting eighth in the list of highest-grossing Indian films, and I would expect that position to rise before we stop seeing the movie in the Top 25.
11 Jon Gruden   637,296
 
Jon Gruden, one-time Super Bowl winning American football coach, returned to coaching after nine years out, being appointed coach of the Oakland Raiders on January 6. Gruden previously coached the Raiders from 1998 to 2001, before moving to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2002 to 2008, winning the Super Bowl, as mentioned, in 2003, beating the Raiders in that final.
12 Snake Eyes (G.I. Joe)   623,397
 
Did you know that the G.I. Joe action figure Snake Eyes was completely moulded from black plastic, with a face covering mask, to make it cheap for manufacturer Hasbro to produce, not needing to paint it at all? Reddit didn't.
13 Chris Zylka   594,145
 
Actor Chris Zykla, who has appeared in such quality movies as Shark Night, Piranha 3DD, and The Amazing Spider-Man, is engaged to American heiress Paris Hilton, it was revealed this week.
14 Deaths in 2018   581,885
 
New year, new article, same photograph of a skull
15 The Greatest Showman   578,309
 
Hugh Jackman (pictured) stars as circus founder P. T. Barnum in this musical film. The film has received mixed reviews with critics praising the cast, but criticising the artistic licence taken in the telling, with some accusing the film of whitewashing the real Barnum's attitude towards the individuals in his circus. The film launched in fourth in the US box office, and has remained there for two further weeks; despite this it has been nominated for three Golden Globes, including Best Musical/Comedy.
16 P. T. Barnum   568,563
 
The Barnum & Bailey Circus founder is played by Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman. I've told you that already.
17 Bitcoin   554,664
 
The cryptocurrency is currently trading at 1 bitcoin = $16,250, which seems an awful lot for something I'm not one hundred percent convinced anyone actually knows what to do with.
18 Cardi B   552,763   Rapper Belcalis Almanzar, aka Cardi B, features on Bruno Mars's latest single, a remix of his 2016 song "Finesse", which was released on January 4.
19 Tonya Harding   548,748
 
Tonya Harding is an American former figuer skater whose career peaked with a silver medal at the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships, but ended in disgrace after she pled guilty to conspiring to hinder the prosecution of individuals, including her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt, who attacked fellow figure skater and rival Nancy Kerrigan. She was stripped of her 1994 U.S Championships title and banned from all U.S. Figure Skating related events for life. She is the subject of the current film I, Tonya, where she is played by Margot Robbie.
20 UFC 219   543,243
 
The 219th mixed martial arts flagship Ultimate Fighting Championship event, and the last of 2017, was held on December 30 at the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip. Ten fights were held, with the main event being a UFC Women's Featherweight Championship with former bantamweight champion Holly Holm taking on reigning champion Cris Cyborg (pictured). Cyborg won the five-round, full-length fight on a unanimous decision, winning a payout of $500,000 plus a $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus. Holm, for her part, was granted a payout of $300,000 plus the same $50,000. Not a bad night's work then, and all they had to do was be kicked in the head a few times.
21 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle   537,009
 
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the follow up to 1995's Jumanji that absolutely no-one knew they wanted, has been a pleasant surprise for critics and audiences. The cast, led by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan, have been praised by reviewers, and the film has thus far grossed over $519 million worldwide.
22 Ted Kaczynski   507,321
 
Domestic terrorist Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, is the subject of the Discovery Channel miniseries Manhunt: Unabomber, recently released on Netflix
23 Queen Victoria   493,974 This would likely be the continued interest from the other British royal family biopic series starring a former member of the cast of Doctor Who that is going at the moment; Victoria. The Christmas special of the series, starring Jenna Coleman as the Queen, was broadcast in the UK on Christmas Day. The season is set to launch in the US on January 14, so expect to see this article again. Victoria also appears, briefly, in The Greatest Showman (#15), but I think that's unlikely to have had much impact.
24 Bright (film)   480,575
 
Good times to be Professor Netflix, the owner of Netflix, at the moment. They've got Black Mirror, three members of the British royal family, and the Unabomber into this list, and now comes this, an urban fantasy crime film starring Will Smith as a human LAPD police officer who teams up with an orc rookie played by Joel Edgerton. The film received predominately negative reviews, but viewers didn't care, making it Netflix's most viewed original film so far. A sequel has been ordered.
25 "Auld Lang Syne"   460,011
 
Robert Burns's 1788 song is traditionally used to bid farewell to the old year on Hogmanay in Scotland, and the custom has spread to other parts of the British Isles, and then the world. Let's all join hands, and sing.

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?"

I think they should, but that's just me.

Exclusions

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  • 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 agreed consensus, Darth Vader is excluded.
Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.