If not forKanye West's dubious repeat at #1 due to people's glee at seeing "loser.com" redirect to his Wikipedia page, the2015 Cricket World Cup (#2) would have made the top spot, albeit in a generally slow news week. And news was slow enough that a barrage of light news coverage ofPi Day even broughtPi to #9. The most notable death of the week was popular British authorTerry Pratchett at #3.
For the full top 25 list, seeWP:TOP25. Seethis section for an explanation of any exclusions.
For the week of March 8 to 14, 2015, the ten most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of themost viewed pages, were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kanye West |  | 1,519,364 |  | A big drop from 4.2 million views last week, and though views were on a downward trend the entire week, he still got enough to stay on top of the chart for a second week. Kanye West is, it is fair to say, a polarising figure. His most persistent recent gaffe has been his ill-judged tirade againstBeck, winner of this year's Grammy for album of the year, which has apparently earned him the undying enmity of Beck fans. This enmity has manifested itself in many ways, and the web address "loser.com", which just happens to share a name withBeck's best known single, was recently redirected to his Wikipedia page. This redirect has led, naturally, to a spike in views to said page. Loser.com still redirects to his Wikipedia article as of now. |
| 2 | 2015 Cricket World Cup |  | 923,501 |  | Up from #16 and 465K views last week, as the group stage reached its conclusion. Eight teams have now advanced to the knockout stage. In Pool A, the four advancing teams were New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, while England, Afghanistan, and Scotland were eliminated. From Pool B, India, South Africa, Pakistan, and West Indies advanced, leaving Ireland, Zimbabwe, and United Arab Emirates behind. |
| 3 | Terry Pratchett | | 864,966 |  | Thesecond most-read living British author afterJ.K. Rowling, Pratchett died on March 12 at age 66 fromAlzheimer's disease. He was best known for hisDiscworld series of 40 volumes. His daughterRhianna Pratchett announced his death with a series of tweets, starting with "AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER," using block capitals as a reference to how the character ofDeath speaks in Pratchett's works. |
| 4 | International Women's Day | | 610,668 |  | This celebration falls on March 8 each year, and Google celebrated it once again with aGoogle Doodle. The UN theme for International Women's Day 2015 is "Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!". Governments and activists around the world commemorated the 20th anniversary year of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, an historic roadmap that sets the agenda for realizing women's rights. |
| 5 | Stephen Hawking |  | 606,680 |  | The formerLucasian Professor of Mathematics,black hole theorist and latter-day science icon makes his 19th straight appearance in the Top 25 this week. So, considering this longstanding run by Hawking, you might ask where other outstanding physicists fall on our charts. Well,Albert Einstein was #118 on the rawWP:5000 this week (218K views), andMarie Curie was #1139 (63,449 views).Max Planck doesn't even make the top 5000, and neither doesErwin Schrödinger, though the internet being what it is, hiscat is #3197 (35,626 views). |
| 6 | Daylight saving time |  | 554,687 |  | Not unlike clockwork (or just like clockwork?) this article last seen on theTop 25 in November 2014 returns. Views peaked on March 9, when the United States, Canada, and a few smaller nations made their time switch. |
| 7 | John Cena | | 552,553 |  | The popular American professional wrestler is engaged in a "feud" withAlexander Rusev, who holds the currentWWE United States Championship. The two will next spar atWrestleMania 31 (#20) on March 29. |
| 8 | Deaths in 2015 |  | 505,910 |  | The viewing figures for this article have been remarkably constant; fluctuating week to week between 450 and 550,000, apparently heedless of who actually died. Deaths this week includedSam Simon, co-creator ofThe Simpsons (#26) (March 8); actorWindell Middlebrooks (#24) (March 9);Pulitzer-winning reporterClaude Sitton (March 10); American businesswomanDell Williams, known for founding the first feminist sex-toy business in the United States in 1974 (March 11);Oleksandr Peklushenko, former governor ofZaporizhia Oblast (2011-14) inUkraine, found shot dead (March 12); Romanian Olympic fencerMaria Vicol (March 13); and Argentine actressAna María Giunta (March 14). None of the latter five made theWP:5000. |
| 9 | Pi | | 489,655 |  | Pi Day (#56 raw) falls on March 14, which make sense in countries using the month-day date format like the United States,i.e., 3/14. This year, Pi Day got extra coverage due to both a lack of other news stories, and the fact that 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 a.m. (and also at p.m. in applicable countries) represented the first 10 digits ofπ. It is all rather silly but good-natured (and full of corny jokes like "Never talk to pi. He'll go on forever"). But anything that encourages people to enjoy math (or at least not fear it) must raise the collective intelligence of the world in a positive way. And maybe a few people will even readA History of Pi byPetr Beckmann, a delightfully quirky volume that not only provides math history and formulas, but also bashesAristotle and the Romans. |
| 10 | Fifty Shades of Grey | | 485,465 |  | The release of thefilm adaptation of this onetimeTwilightfanfic continues to draw fans. A big drop from 736,594 views last week, but still enough to make the Top 10 in a slow news week. |
which make sense in countries using the month-day date format like the United States, i.e., 3/14.. A question: Apart from the USA and Belize, are there any other countries that use this date format?Manning (talk)00:43, 23 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Concerning physicists, perhaps worth noting thatIsaac Newton is in the top thousand in the list linked above, andGalileo Galilei the next. AlthoughMax Planck didn’t make the top 5k,h did; likewisethe joule is there to memorialize the absentJames Prescott. (@Manning Bartlett: maybe tryWP:Reference desk/Language.)—Odysseus147903:04, 23 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Bamyers99: if you setUser:DataflowBot/output/Top 20 enwiki articles by edits and editors in past 7 days (id-1) to update on Thursday, I bet they would be more inclined to include it. Also, could you please take the underscores in titles back out?EllenCT (talk)03:21, 23 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
