The Top 25 Report
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (10 to 16 January 2016) edit
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Summary: The ancient fable of the Danse Macabre is there to remind us that, rich or poor, emperor or fool, we must all take the final dance. And there will only be one partner. Death is the great equalizer; the one event we must all share. With so many on the programme in the last few weeks, not only the iconic David Bowie but Alan Rickman, Lemmy, Natalie Cole, René Angélil and subsequently, The Eagles's Glenn Frey, this list, on which Death has always been a welcome guest, has taken on the pall of the dance itself. Bereavement is also often seen as a shared emotion; justifiably or not, we seek to share in the grief of others as if it were our own, whether it be Celine Dion, who lost two loved ones in the space of three days, or Iman, who lost a husband, or Duncan Jones, who lost a father. We feel the need to work through the grief of loss by understanding, and remembering. In lighter news, the runup to the Oscars commenced in earnest this week, with the Golden Globes and the announcement of the nominations, readers began to speculate over who would ultimately win.
As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of 10 to 16 January 2016, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 David Bowie 
11,772,266 
Contrary to popular belief, chameleons do not change colour to match their surroundings; they change colour to reflect their mood and their relationships with others. From the moment that David Robert Jones adopted the pseudonym David Bowie, he proved himself chameleonic in the true sense. His career was a kaleidoscope of reinventions; not just of music and appearance but of persona, profession and gender identity, each time anticipating the reactions of his audience, and usually forcing them to catch up with him. Fiercely intelligent and unafraid to show it, he also anticipated the effects of technological change, releasing Space Oddity five days before the launch of Apollo 11, and using the Internet to interact with fans years before the age of social media. His work as an actor also frequently ran leaps ahead of audiences, whether as an alien in Nicolas Roeg's initially ill-regarded but now lauded The Man Who Fell To Earth, or as Jareth the Goblin King in Jim Henson's Labyrinth, a critical bomb that would go on to become a fixture of children's video libraries, and earn him an entire new generation of fans. But his death this week at the age of 69 may prove his greatest leap ahead yet; while ill with cancer for the preceding 18 months, he refused to publicise his condition and instead used his last time on Earth to compose Blackstar, one of his best reviewed albums in decades. Just as Bowie lived as art, he died as art, and the video for "Lazarus", the second single from Blackstar, which featured a suddenly aged Bowie blindfolded on a hospital bed, would become an epitaph to the world. Once again, we had to catch up with him, and the shock of his unexpected death shivered across his pan-generational fanbase, pushing Blackstar to #1 in the US album chart, astoundingly for the first time, and giving him not only the highest single-day tally of YouTube VEVO views ever recorded, but also, incidentally, the first ever eight-figure weekly Wikipedia viewcount. 2 Alan Rickman 
4,863,327 
This week saw the unexpected passing of two beloved British cultural icons, and had Alan Rickman died at any other time, he doubtless would have claimed the top spot. While Rickman may not have had Bowie's cross-generational hold (he came to stardom relatively late in life, at 42, as Die Hard villain Hans Gruber) his performance as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series made him an unlikely sex god to a million Millennial fangirls. His height (he was 1.85 m tall), aquiline features and distinctive voice (a low, deep rumble often compared to the purr of a cat) made him perhaps the most natural British villain since Christopher Lee, though he always insisted he didn't play villains, but "very interesting people". A true romantic in real life (he remained with his childhood sweetheart until his death) he seldom got the chance to play such roles on film, though he did in such films as Truly, Madly, Deeply and Sense and Sensibility. 3 Iman (model)
2,515,227 
Rock stars aren't exactly known for successful, stable romantic relationships, and yet this Somali model was by all accounts happily married to David Bowie for nearly 25 years. 4 The Revenant (2015 film)
2,186,969 
Alejandro González Iñárritu's Western survival epic starring Leonardo di Caprio (pictured) has earned nearly $100 million in its first 12 days of wide release, and has scored 12 Oscar nominations. 5 Duncan Jones 
1,939,421 
How do you rebel when your dad's David Bowie? Well if you're Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones and your dad insists on calling you "Zowie Bowie", you stick to the most determinedly normal parts of your name and become a successful mainstream Hollywood filmmaker. Already lauded for his thoughtful science fiction story Moon, Jones will release the biggest film of his career this year, the adaptation of the massively popular video game franchise Warcraft. While there is never an opportune time to lose a loved one, for Jones, it's hard to imagine a less opportune time than now. 6 Steven Avery
1,535,415 Down from #1 and 2 million views last week. Avery is an American prisoner who is the subject of the popular new Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer which was released on December 18. (Episode 1 is available free on YouTube.) Avery served 18 years in prison, from 1985–2003, after being framed by the local police for a sexual assault he plainly did not commit. During his subsequent civil lawsuit for compensation, during a period of explosive depositions, he was charged with the murder of a local photographer, and later convicted. I am in the midst of watching this show and highly recommend it, as does a large swath of the internet. Interestingly, his Wikipedia article was created on November 11, 2005, a few days after his arrest for the murder charge. 7 Charles Perrault
1,320,925 
Under the name Mother Goose, Perrault was the originator of the most popular versions of fairy tales like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Red Riding Hood. He got a well-deserved Google Doodle for his 388th birthday on 12 January. 8 Star Wars: The Force Awakens
1,254,180 
The reignition of the Star Wars franchise crossed the elite $1 billion worldwide milestone this week. 9 Leonardo DiCaprio 
1,224,706 After pushing himself about as far as he can reasonably be expected to go in The Revenant (see #4), the popular actor is building up steam for an Oscar win after a Golden Globe and a handful of critics' awards. 10 Angie Bowie
1,169,212 In a strange quirk of fate that could only happen nowadays, David Bowie's first wife and mother of Duncan Jones (see #5) heard of her ex-husband's death while on the current series of Celebrity Big Brother. 11 Making a Murderer
1,041,161 
See #6. 12 Joaquín Guzmán 
947,045 
This ruthless narco-trafficker, boss of the Sinaloa cartel and reportedly the world's 14th richest man is back on the list after a six-month absence, thanks to his bloody recapture on 8 January. In 2001, he became an enduring folk hero and the subject of a hundred "narcocorridos" (folk songs glorying the deeds of the great drug lords) after he escaped from a top-security prison. He was on the lam for 13 years before his recapture in 2014. On 11 July 2015, he escaped his prison cell through a tunnel under the shower; by sheer coincidence the only blind spot for the surveillance cameras. If, at this point, you're having flashbacks to The Shawshank Redemption, ditch them: the tunnel was professionally constructed, contained electric lighting, was 1.7 metres tall and 1.5 km long, and included a motorcycle. And no one noticed it being built. Apparently. Despite being a wanted fugitive, he later found time to openly gloat about his trafficking achievements to Sean Penn in an interview for Rolling Stone. On 8 January, his residence was raided by a team of marines. Five gunmen were killed and one marine was wounded. And, despite eventually being captured anyway, Guzmán still managed to escape through a tunnel. 13 Blackstar (David Bowie album)
946,242 
The final album by David Bowie, an oblique meditation on his own mortality, became his first #1 album in the US. 14 Powerball
927,105 
Even those like myself who consider lotteries a tax on stupid people pricked up their ears at the most recent US Powerball, which generated the largest pot in history at nearly $1.6 billion. Given that chances of winning are about 1 in 292 million, even a five-way split would be worth $2 spent. On 13 January the winners were announced, with the pot split 3 ways. 15 Hugh Glass
772,601 
The 18th century American outlaw whose story of survival and revenge became the basis for The Revenant (see #4) and the character played by Leonardo di Caprio (see #9) 16 Celine Dion
738,469 
As if bereavement were not already the theme this week, the beloved Canadian singer saw her husband, René Angélil, and her older brother, Daniel Dion, die within three days of each other. Some journos actually asked her if she planned to sing at the funerals. She said no. 17 Deaths in 2016 
732,001 
The annual list of deaths is usually fairly consistent, but this week saw a 50% spike in views. Apparently death is on people's minds. 18 David Bowie discography
687,736 Bowie's career spanned six decades, and his death triggered retrospection over his vast body of work. 19 88th Academy Awards
652,935 
The nominations for Hollywood's annual backslapfest were announced on 14 January. The Revenant leads the pack with 12 nominations, with Mad Max: Fury Road a surprise runner up with 10. 20 Room (2015 film)
609,886 
This intense drama about a woman trapped for years in the basement of her rapist's house is gaining attention thanks to increasing Oscar buzz for its star, Brie Larson (pictured) 21 Sylvester Stallone
599,401 
Buoyed by his Golden Globe win for his signature role as Rocky Balboa in Creed, Stallone is eyeing a possible Oscar win. 22 Supersonic Low Altitude Missile
599,384 
As learned in a Reddit thread this week, in 1955 the US military conceived of SLAM, a nuclear-powered ramjet that would remain airborne for months, sickening all in its path with leaked neutrons, before delivering a payload of 17 nuclear warheads at its final target. Thankfully, this delightful piece of technology was rendered obsolete by ICBMs and low altitude radar before it got off the drawing board. 23 René Angélil
573,218 
The husband and former manager of Celine Dion (see #16) died this week of throat cancer. 24 Lemmy
572,788 
After falling off the list last week, the lead singer of Motörhead returns, his death now seeming like an augur of things to come. 25 73rd Golden Globe Awards
568,448 
The annual Oscars warmup was held on 10 January at the Beverly Hilton in California (pictured).
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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 also exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (~2% or less) or almost all mobile views (~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.