The last report of 2021 offers a sad return of concerns regarding the pandemic, and all the distractions we find to forget COVID is still out there (including two Marvel Cinematic Universe productions).
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| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralf Rangnick |  | 1,673,772 |  | Manchester United has targeted this German coach, who was director of sports and development forLokomotiv Moscow, but as manager had most recently earned some energy drink money coachingRB Leipzig. Given Rangnick's hiring started just as speculation, our editors here kept any mention of it off his article until the club itself announced the deal. |
| 2 | Murder of Ahmaud Arbery |  | 1,109,677[1] | In February 2020, Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was tragically murdered by three White men (Gregory McMichael, his son Travis, and William Bryan). On November 24, the three were convicted offelony murder,aggravatedassault,false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment, while Travis (the one who killed Arbery) was additionally found guilty ofmalice murder. All three face a mandatory sentence oflife imprisonment. | |
| 3 | Adele | | 1,025,642 | .jpg) | Adele'snewest album continues to sell well in its second week, having already "broke[n] theApple Music record for the most pre-added album" (I'm not 100% sure what this means either) and several other records as it sold over 800,000 copies in the US in the opening week alone. This was also the week in which Adele persuadedSpotify to remove the abillity to shuffle her albums. Apparently her songs tell a story and need to be listened to in order. |
| 4 | Kenosha unrest shooting |  | 1,022,853 | .jpg) | The fallout continues after Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two people during theKenosha unrest in August 2020, was found not guilty on all charges he faced. Protests and riots have occurred throughout America in the days since the verdict, which continues to be celebrated by the right and condemned by the left. |
| 5 | Jonathan Larson | | 1,005,943 |  | The creator of the classic musicalRent is the subject ofLin-Manuel Miranda feature directorial debut,Tick, Tick... Boom! (named afteranother musical of his), in which he is portrayed byAndrew"I'm Totally Not inSpider-Man: No Way Home"Garfield. The film has garnered considerable acclaim, and Garfield is now considered a leading candidate for anAcademy Award for Best Actor nomination. |
| 6 | Stephen Sondheim | | 989,155 |  | One of Broadway's greatest names, creator ofWest Side Story,A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,A Little Night Music,Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street andInto the Woods (and also an Oscar winner forhis work onDick Tracy, plus a mentor to #5), Sondheim died at the age of 91. |
| 7 | Hawkeye (miniseries) | | 804,158 | .jpg) | In spite of the Marvel Cinematic Universe moviesShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings andEternals dropping off the list, the franchise holds on thanks toJeremy Renner as the greatest archerthis side ofKatniss Everdeen,Clint Barton, who has hit Disney+ with a show that likethe greatest Christmas movie is about spending the holidays beating up criminals. And Hawkeye followsthe movie of his friend Natasha by also featuring his successor,Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). |
| 8 | Deaths in 2021 |  | 794,566 |  | And I am not frightened of dying Any time will do, I don't mind Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime |
| 9 | Thanksgiving | | 777,932 |  | It was again time for Americans to reunite for feast, hopefully without COVID spikes. And this year, theensuing shopping sprees could not get enough views for this list. |
| 10 | The Wheel of Time (TV series) | | 669,248 |  | Prime Video's fantasy show adaptingRobert Jordan's book series and starringRosamund Pike keeps on releasing new episodes and getting more views. |
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virgil Abloh | | 1,740,726 | .jpg) | This fashion designer passed away at the age of 41 this week. |
| 2 | Parag Agrawal | | 965,534 |  | Twitter creatorJack Dorsey announced he had resigned and was to be replaced with this Indian-American who had joined the social network as a software engineer. |
| 3 | Ballon d'Or |  | 898,140 | .jpg) | France Football has been quite uncreative in choosing its player of the year since 2008, as besidesLuka Modric once (and a no-show last year for obvious reasons), they always give it toCristiano Ronaldo or 2021 recipientLionel Messi. |
| 4 | Omicron | | 854,968 |  | The 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, whichFuturama fans probably associate withOmicron Persei, land of theOmicronians. It's in the news because ofthe goddamned pandemic, asCOVID's latest variant is named Omicron. |
| 5 | Deaths in 2021 | | 825,904 |  | All things must pass None of life's strings can last So I must be on my way And face another day |
| 6 | Patrizia Reggiani | | 810,798 |  | House of Gucci,Lady Gaga's latest acting foray, oppositeKylo Ren, I mean,Adam Driver, is quite theBad Romance: she married the heir to the Gucci house, who went on to become the majority shareholder, was left without ceremony (he left for a business trip and sent a friend to tell her he wasn't returning), and just one year after they divorced hired someone to kill him. |
| 7 | Maurizio Gucci |  | 757,229 | .jpg) | |
| 8 | Ralf Rangnick | | 730,912 | .jpg) | Manchester United's interim coach started off well, as his first match was a 1-0 win. |
| 9 | Greek alphabet | | 720,921 | -animated.gif) | GivenDelta is the fourth letter here, some would expect the COVID variant that emerged from Africa to be Epsilon. Yet the World Health Organization went for the 15th (#4), because they only name "variants of concern"... and they opted to skipnu andxi to avoid confusion with "new" andthe Chinese surname. |
| 10 | Hawkeye (miniseries) | | 605,500 | .jpg) | Disney+ continues the story of "an orphan raised by carnies fighting witha stick and string from the Paleolithic era" being joined bya rich girl with similar archery skills (and aGolden Retriever who likes pizza) during the holidays. The episode also introducedEcho, who is set to get her own show, and in spite of being deaf (and in the show, an amputee), she can beat up just about everyone. |
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| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bipin Rawat | | 3,257,899 |  | India'sChief of Defence Staff died in a helicopter crash. |
| 2 | Vicky Kaushal |  | 2,161,324 |  | Still in India, these Bollywood stars got married to each other. |
| 3 | Katrina Kaif | | 2,093,227 |  | |
| 4 | Bob Dole | | 1,291,008 |  | This American politician and attorney passed away after a battle with lung cancer. Dole is best known for being the Republican nominee in the 1996 United States presidential election, but lost tothe man who did not have sexual relations. The aforementioned man was one of several politicians to pay tribute to Dole, alongsidetheotherformerpresidents. |
| 5 | Demaryius Thomas | | 1,020,224 |  | A Super Bowl champion who died at just 33 in what was deemed a medical issue, a few months after his retirement. That was a top 5 with a lot of death. Speaking of... |
| 6 | Deaths in 2021 | | 846,643 |  | In homage to #9: Oh, no, no, no |
| 7 | The Power of the Dog (film) | | 598,114 | .jpg) | Netflix released this "gothic Western" whereJane Campion adapted aThomas Savage novel, where in 1920s MontanaBenedict Cumberbatch gets jealous onceKirsten Dunst marries his brother. Well made but slow (though not as much to be outright boring assome other Western),The Power of the Dog already won Best Director at theVenice Film Festival, so the streaming service hopes it can be an awards contender. |
| 8 | Spider-Man: No Way Home | | 595,261 |  | AmazinglyTom Holland has managed not to give away any important plot details, yet. |
| 9 | Michael Nesmith | | 585,054 |  | One ofThe Monkees, a wooly hat icon who also got big bucks fromhis mother inventingLiquid Paper, died at the age of 78. |
| 10 | David Ginola | | 535,853 |  | French |
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| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spider-Man: No Way Home | | 4,812,556 | .jpg) | After months of non-stop theories, the final Marvel Cinematic Universe of the year arrived, with a story reminding us that for all his skillsPeter Parker isvery stupid, as while trying to solve his life he instead makes it absolutely worse, first by causing the sudden appearance of people fromtwo alternate universes (across five movies) that absolutely hate his guts, and then by not thinking "put this thing back where it came from or so help me" and instead deciding to give a second chance to those hostile people. Griping on questionable character decisions apart,No Way Home is still a fun and emotional journey that revels in fanservice for those watching Spider-Man movies ever since 2002. The film already made a killing in advance ticket sales and should make lots of money, as well as attract people to read more about the movie on Wikipedia. |
| 2 | Harnaaz Sandhu | | 1,135,242 | .jpg) | In spite of people who question why beauty pageants are still a thing, every year Miss Universe brings in the views. And this year, the winner came from India, which already shapes this report quite a bit, so lots on visits ensued to learn more on Harnaaz Sandhu, who was bornthe same yearan Indian woman last won (andsecond place in the national pageant became a Bollywood star). |
| 3 | Miss Universe 2021 | | 1,014,261 | ||
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | | 940,584 |  | The2021 Formula One World Championship went down to the wire, the two drivers on equal points heading into the final round. As if that weren't enough, the Championship was decided by a last-lap overtake in controversial circumstances. The result was F1 breaking out of Lewis Hamilton dominance as Dutch wunderkind Max Verstappen, son ofa fellow F1 driver, took home theWorld Drivers' Championship. |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | | 890,938 | .jpg) | |
| 6 | Tom Holland | | 882,885 |  | The star of #1, who became infamous for his loose tongue regarding spoilers. And we're only two months away from seeing Holland asNathan Drake in the video game adaptationUncharted. |
| 7 | The Unforgivable | | 850,950 |  | As if this Netflix movie starringSandra Bullock that certainly won't inspire viral challenges likethe last time around wasn't already badly received, it's splitting Spider-Man and his girl here. |
| 8 | Zendaya | | 842,941 |  | The female lead of #1, who also became the real life girlfriend of #6, likeSpider-Man andGwen Stacy, but notSpider-Man andMary Jane. |
| 9 | Vicky Kaushal | | 840,695 |  | Another Indian in the top 10, namely a Bollywood star – last seen in the biopicSardar Udham – whose views owe to marrying actressKatrina Kaif. |
| 10 | Deaths in 2021 | | 833,280 | .jpg) | We sick an' tired of-a your ism-skism game Dyin' 'n' goin' to heaven in-a Jesus' name, Lord. |
