Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/August 13 to 19, 2017

WP:25

The Top 25 Report

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (August 13 to 19, 2017)[edit]

Prepared with commentary by igordebraga

← Last week's report – Next week's report →

What do we say to Virginia Nazis? Not today![edit]

Godwin's Law states that any internet discussion that goes on too long will eventually have a Nazi comparison. Well, things have gotten so ugly in America that Godwin himself says there is a valid comparison to be found in the Unite the Right rally (#11), led by white supremacists (#5, #16, #24) and featuring protesters carrying swastika flags and doing the Nazi salute. Understandably, anti-fascism groups (#7) appeared to counterprotest. And it all started because of a threat to remove a statue of General Robert E. Lee (#2), showing the Civil War (#21) he fought is unfortunately resonant today. It even delayed the departure of Steve Bannon (#19) from the White House, before he went back to writing articles for the alt-right (#15) that started the protests in the first place.

Yet, the top entry on the list has the only place that somehow is worse, the world of Game of Thrones - say what you want about the political turmoil, at least there are no zombies or dragons involved - which also takes two other spots in the top 10. Back to Earth, given the Sun continues to shine in spite of so much barbarism, people were fascinated to see it eclipsed by the Moon, leading to three entries about the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017. Another three are due to India, which celebrated 70 years of independence (#13) and is laughing at a toilet-centered comedy (#20), while worried about deaths caused by the Blue Whale game (#3).

The other ten entries are all over the place: keeping up with the ever-present deaths in 2017 list (#10), the UK mourned Bruce Forsyth (#9); people celebrated Elvis Presley (#17) on the 40th anniversary of his death, got scared by Annabelle: Creation (#12) and watched The Defenders save New York (#19) while waiting for some wrestling (#25); and Reddit found out Las Vegas casinos attract more than just tourists.(#23)

For the week of August 13 to 19, 2017, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Views	Notes
1	Game of Thrones (season 7)	1,920,254	It took a while, but Game of Thrones finally took the lead - probably helped by a foreign branch of HBO again leaking the upcoming episode. Season 7 ends this Sunday.
2	Robert E. Lee	1,548,067	General Lee has been dead for nearly 150 years, but clearly still causes a huge impact in his home state of Virginia, as the threat to remove his statue in Charlottesville (pictured) led to an incident (#11) that has a deep presence in this list.
3	Blue Whale (game)	1,245,842	India continues to see deaths caused by this "game", to the point they're trying to ban it. Certainly a better alternative to people following a thing that is intended to end in suicide.
4	Game of Thrones	1,085,929	Latest seasons of the show have been labeled by dissers as fanfic, given it is scheduled to end next year, possibly without the last two A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R. R. Martin (pictured) not having been published. But who can blame the showrunners for not waiting? The fifth novel came out in 2012, and Martin has promised to release the sixth "this year" for two years in a row.
5	Identity Evropa	1,028,668	They say everything old is new again, but why the hell do we need the return of segregationism and fascism? This white supremacist group led the Unite the Right rally (#11), and showed how ugly the alt-right (#15) has become.
6	Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017	860,573	The Sun was eclipsed by the Moon all across the contiguous United States, an event that made for an interesting viewing experience (thought not for me, I live in South America and have to wait two more years).
7	Antifa (United States)	834,331	This anti-fascist movement counterprotested the Unite the Right rally (#11), in actions ranging from attacking the alt-right (#15) with sticks to chants of "punch a Nazi in the mouth" - a tactic that has worked since the 1940s with Captain America.
8	List of Game of Thrones episodes	704,226	See #1, #4. Only seven episodes more to go!
9	Bruce Forsyth	696,615	An English artist that warranted a knighthood for his long and accomplished career spanning 75 years, most notably hosting game shows, Sir Bruce Forsyth died at the age of 89.
10	Deaths in 2017	686,990	The most famous death of the week followed by the ever-present tally of those who left us, quite adequate.
11	Unite the Right rally	677,718	The Ku Klux Klan (#16) protested against the removal of a statue of Civil War (#21) combatant General Lee (#2) in Charlottesville; one month later, there was this rally spearheaded by Identity Evropa (#5) and the worst parts of the alt-right (#15) - the Nazi flag in that picture to the left says everything, and shows why Antifa (#7) saw fit to stand against it. And the Nazis aren't even the most infamous part, as one of the protesters rammed his car against counterprotesters, killing a woman and injuring 19 people.
12	Annabelle: Creation	598,391	The fourth instalment in the The Conjuring series, the prequel to 2014's Annabelle, is out. Directed by David F. Sandberg (pictured) and depicting the origin of the possessed doll Annabelle, the horror film has exceeded the expectations of the critics, being described as that rare thing, a movie which improves upon its predecessor. It also topped the box office, easily recouping its $15 million budget.
13	Independence Day (India)	579,273	Last year, the annual celebration on August 15 missed the list, lost among all Indians wanting to read about their country barely medaling at the Olympics. The holiday returns this year, helped by being the 70th anniversary of India's release from the United Kingdom.
14	List of solar eclipses visible from the United States	547,685	People certainly wanted so confirm how rare the event in #6 was - their next chance is only in 2023!
15	Alt-right	515,523	The alternative right's white nationalism got all over the news after the incidents of Charlottesville (#11). Donald Trump tried to defend them (see #24 for more) by labeling the counterprotesters (#7) as an "alt-left", ignoring that this meant supporting bigoted people who are for all intents Nazis.
16	Ku Klux Klan	508,766	Gone are the good old days where the most infamous white supremacist group could at most be found in a Ramones song. The KKK returned to Charlottesville for the Unite the Right rally (#11), a month after a protest of their own in July regarding the General Lee (#2) statue.
17	Elvis Presley	506,267	Hail to the king, baby! In the 40th anniversary of Elvis's death on August 16, he continues to appeal to music fans everywhere: a re-release of compilation The 50 Greatest Hits nearly dethroned Ed Sheeran in the UK Albums Chart.
18	Steve Bannon	503,162	Bannon helped Donald Trump be elected president, and remained for seven months as Chief Strategist before leaving for his old job, leading the alt-right's (#15) favorite site, Breitbart News. He intended to leave on August 14, but remained for six more days to help handle the fallout of the Charlottesville incidents (#11).
19	The Defenders (miniseries)	500,285	In the Netflix equivalent of The Avengers, four Marvel heroes who received their own webseries teamed up in a show that had all its episodes released on Friday. The placement on this list is even lower than the derided fourth hero, Iron Fist, showing how that show derailed fan expectations: the other three, Daredevil, Jessica Jones (both pictured) and Luke Cage, all entered in #6 or #7 before leading the Top 25 the following week.
20	Toilet: Ek Prem Katha	497,980	While America's theaters had a horror movie about a haunted doll (#12), India watched this satirical comedy about a woman threatening to leave her husband unless he installs a toilet in their home. Open defecation seems to be a big problem there.
21	American Civil War	478,978	General Lee (#2) fought this war between the North and South United States. Let's hope we don't see another one, this time between West and East, I mean, left and right.
22	Solar eclipse	470,849	See #6, #14. In the immortal words of Roger Waters, "Everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon".
23	Luxor Las Vegas	437,458	Reddit discovered the night ecosystem of Las Vegas has been changed because of this hotel's light beam (pictured), that has been described as "the world's largest bug attractor".
24	David Duke	424,967	Once Donald Trump blamed the Charlottesville conflict (#11) on "many sides", Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan (#16) who was among the protesters, thanked the president for unwillingly showing support for their cause and condemning the counterprotestants (#7) - who, again, were fighting actual Nazis, a fact not lost on Captain America himself.
25	SummerSlam (2017)	413,243	WWE's latest pay-per-view pantomime, featuring Brock Lesnar (pictured) defending his title, was to be held on August 21. Expect a higher placement next week.

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 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.