Summary: The season finale of Game of Thrones ensured that the death-drenched fantasy would retain a grip on the top 25 after last week's gory showpiece; however, this week Westros had to cede territory to the real world, as a number of newsworthy events (storms in the US Midwest, Nelson Mandela's ill health, and in particular the seismic, globally repurcussive scandal of the PRISM surveillance program) sent people here for information. Elsewhere in medialand, it was all change as the top 25 welcomed a new album, new films, new video games and new video game consoles.
For the week of June 9 to 15, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most trafficked pages* were:
It's no surprise that a Google Doodle to celebrate his would-have-been 85th birthday shot the beloved children's author and illustrator right to the top; his Where the Wild Things Are is an institution in the United States, having sold over 10 million copies there (and a further 9 million worldwide) since 1963.
The second attempt to rework the Superman mythos for modern cinema, (after Bryan Singer's reverent but turgid Superman Returns) this film earned $125.1 million over its first weekend, setting a record for the month of June. So DC and WB's massive gamble appears to have paid off. All this bodes well for a future Justice League movie.
The season finale of this take-no-prisoners TV show drew 5.39 million viewers; its highest rating ever. We will see next week if the mere fact of this show ending for a season has managed to diminish people's interest.
One of a new generation of zombie video games, along with The Last of Us and The Walking Dead, that emphasizes stealth, collaboration and conservation of resources over blithely bashing in brains and shooting through skulls. We'll soon see if these games have paid more attention to World War Z than the makers of the World War Z movie.
A series of thunderstorms in the US led to meteorologists employing this term frequently, which in turn led to Americans coming here to find out what it means. For the record, it's a straight-line wind storm.
There is an irony in a Brit playing the greatest of all-American heroes, Superman; that said, Superman isn't technically American either, so it is also oddly fitting.
This rather nasty serial killer, also known as BTK, (that's "bind-torture-kill", in case you assumed it was something cuddly) became a talking point of sorts after a documentary about one of his survivors (called, naturally enough, I Survived BTK) and The Fall, a fictional television series loosely based on his attacks, were released in close proximity to one another.
The 94-year-old father of the new South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize winner and all-round global inspiration was rushed to hospital on June 8 amid serious worries about his health.
This list is derived from the WP:5000 report. It excludes the Wikipedia main page (and "wiki"), non-article pages, and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish. Standard removals this week include:
Cat anatomy: explanation still unknown for its continuing high view counts
G: This, or alternately G-force, frequently appears in the top 25. It is probably due to people typing "G" for "Google" in Google Chrome's search bar and hastily clicking "enter".
Cult: Unknown reasons for periodic spikes in popularity
Melanie Maddison: Why this virtually unknown self-publishing British artist should suddenly be surging into the top 25 has never been determined. Presumably due to a misguided attempt at promotion.
Acoustic Electric Guitar (or, alternately Hollow Body Guitar): This redirect (capitals included) has occasionally appeared in the top 25, probably due to a confused adware bot.
Number of views needed to reach Top 25 this week: 317,177. Last week: 325,607
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