Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (August 3 to 9, 2014)
edit← Last week's report – Next week's report →
Summary: It's been a grim few weeks. It says something that formerly arresting crises like the war in Ukraine and Boko Haram, despite still being ongoing, have fallen out of the top 25 to make way for the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak and the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. And now they're joined by the equally if not more intense conflict against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, whose recent targeting of the Yazidis has spurred the usually war-wary Barack Obama to action. Our users largely sought escape through movies, as Hollywood looked set to have one of its most profitable Augusts ever. Guardians of the Galaxy generated a massive amount of interest on the list, as people sought background information on the relatively unknown Marvel property.
As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of August 3 to 9, 2014, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages, were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Ebola virus disease 
2,418,063* 
Since it was discovered in 1976, the Ebola virus has killed 2,541 people. Compare that statistic to those of a certain other African virus discovered 5 years later, and one realises that a mite of perspective is desirable when discussing epidemics. Ebola is not particularly contagious, many of its more horrific effects have been exaggerated (it does not actually liquefy your internal organs) and it isn't even the most fatal viral disease (that would be rabies). But its lack of treatment, rapid onset and associated images of blood and agony have given Ebola the kind of apocalyptic power that dwellers in previous centuries gave to the plague. And all the perspective in the world will not downplay the seriousness of the current outbreak, which is already one of the longest on record, the first to cross borders, and responsible for more than a third of the above deaths. Our viewers have apparently caught the panic bug, as views to this page are up 16% on last week. *Includes hits for the Ebola redirect page.
2 Guardians of the Galaxy (film) 
1,033,416 
Holding steady at #2, this 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics series opened in the U.K. on 31 July and the United States on 1 August. As of 10 August, the film's worldwide earnings are just under $240 million. While aided by a rapturous critical reception (it was the third best-reviewed film of the summer, according to Rotten Tomatoes), it fell a steep 67% at its second weekend at the US box office. It remains to be seen whether strong word of mouth will see it through to the end. 3 John Venn 
769,330 
The English logician and inventor of the Venn diagram got a Google Doodle on his 170th birthday on 4 August. 4 Tomato soup 
727,310 
Not the sort of topic one would expect to be sitting alongside blockbuster films, deadly epidemics and vicious conflicts, but there does seem to be a reason for it: a minor controversy has erupted online over rumours that Campbells' iconic version actually contains animal products, to the point where Campbell's had to issue an official denial this week. 5 Yazidi
481,326 
This fascinating ethno-religious group, neither Christian, Muslim nor Jew, but a separate branch of the Abrahamic tree that blends monotheism with Zoroastrianism and the religions of ancient Mesopotamia, have gained worldwide attention at a moment of particular peril, as they face expulsion from their ancient home in Iraq at the brutal hands of the Islamic State. 6 Deaths in 2014 
386,611 
The list of deaths in the current year is always a popular article. 7 Star-Lord
384,340 
The lead character from Marvel Comics' relatively obscure superhero team, played by Chris Pratt (pictured) in the 2014 film, has been largely unknown to the public at large, at least until the aforementioned film started blasting boxoffice records. leading many to learn of his history for the first time. 8 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014 film)
373,093 
Well, it seems that all the fanboy crying about the trailer aping The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the casting of Megan Fox as April O'Neil, and Michael Bay ruining their childhood was pretty much for show, as the new TMNT movie made $65 million in its opening weekend. Even adjusted for inflation, that's still 70% higher than the Turtles managed in 1990, at the peak of their fame. Doubtless the popularity of Nickelodeon's recent TV reboot helped, but post-GenX nostalgia no doubt played a role as well. 9 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
358,274 
This almost absurdly brutal jihadist group, which proudly posts mass executions it carries out on Twitter, has been disowned even by al-Qaeda. Nonetheless it has managed to carve out a "caliphate" for itself currently about the size of Pennsylvania from what is supposed to be Iraq and Syria. Until now it has met with remarkably little opposition, but now the US is stepping in with airstrikes to help the overburdened Kurds. 10 Facebook
355,751 
A perennially popular article. 11 Tom Waits
343,125 The uber-experimental musician with the famously gruff voice has been consistent in his refusal to allow his songs to be used to sell products, to the point of suing those who do without his permission. However, it was a different lawsuit that got him a Reddit thread this week; he successfully sued the LAPD for wrongful arrest after he stood up to a group of plainclothes police officers who were bullying customers at a restaurant. 12 Kishore Kumar
336,009 The Indian singer, composer, and actor got a Google Doodle for what would have been his 85th birthday on 4 August. 13 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak
335,994 
Following the trend, viewers to this page also increased this week. 14 Kick (2014 film)
330,605 
This Hindi action film starring Salman Khan (pictured) was released on 25 July. The film has received mixed reviews, but has set several domestic box office records. One reviewer at Bollywood Hungama, while noting that Khan's movies are "critic proof", concludes that Kick "is a paisa vasool, seeti-maar entertainer." That means you get your money's worth (paisa vasool), and you'll "blow the whistle"--meaning enthusiastically cheer--(seeti-maar) if you go see it. 15 World War I
312,491 
Last weeks centenary of the commencement of hostilities of what would become the ur-conflict for the bloodiest century in human history continued to draw interest from viewers. 16 Ebola virus
303,422 
This is a separate article from Ebola virus disease (#1), but also up this week. 17 Stephen Hawking
268,908 
The Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, black hole theorist and latter-day science icon got a boost this week with the release the trailer for his upcoming biopic, The Theory of Everything. 18 List of Bollywood films of 2014
264,847 
Not unusual to see this make the Top 25. 19 Google 
261,994 
Always a fairly popular article. 20 Gaza Strip
251,239 
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas, part of a very long and complicated history of conflict, keeps this article on the list for the fourth straight week. 21 Guardians of the Galaxy 244,683 
The disambig leading to the film at #2 is also likely the reason the other eponymous pages are here as well. 22 Guardians of the Galaxy (2008 team)
242,362 
Like this one, which is the inspiration for the current film cast 23 Hamas
238,626 
Still seeing continuing popularity due to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. 24 "The Contest"
238,249 
The Emmy-winning episode of Seinfeld in which the four friends hold a contest to see who could abstain the longest from masturbation became a topic on a Reddit thread this week, noting that the word "masturbation" is never used once in the script. 25 Israel
238,055 
Continued popularity due to the ongoing conflict.
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). Please keep in mind that the explanations given for these articles' popularity are, fundamentally, educated guesses. Just because one can't find a reason for an article to be included doesn't mean there isn't one; conversely, just because a plausible reason is found for a view spike, that doesn't mean it wasn't due to a bot.
- There are a number of articles that reappear frequently in the raw top 25 for no determined reason, and have been excluded as likely being due to automated views. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish.
- Malware. A frequent exclusion.
- Alliteration: 6,585,312 views, surprising and staggering sustained spike starting August 29. Nothing before the jump, nor any jump on de:Alliteration, es:Aliteración, etc. so enough of that.
- Java. Currently under some bot-fuelled spike not seen on other language wikipedias. This is our article on the island, though one might guess the non-human views have something to do with the programming language.
- History of Bălţi. This has been excluded for inexplicable spikes in the past; it's back this week.
- Alive/Alive!: Links to disambigs with no apparent reason for being.
- Ddd: Hello? Spambot here. Just checking in.
- Undefined. A common error message in computing, these are automated visits by a buggy computer program.
- English alphabet and Alphabet. No legitimate reason for recent rise in views, which have continued for a second week.
- Specific exclusions this week
- Bruce Lee: You'd think if there was any topic that would be of honest interest to the kinds of people who get their information from the Internet, it would be him. But, unfortunately, his one-day spike on 3 August did not correspond to any other activity, on this site or others, so it is probably due to artificial views.