| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Gray Man (2022 film) |  | 1,180,156 | _(2).jpg) | FormerMouseketeer andYoung Hercules starRyan Gosling has come a long way and has plenty of momentum to keep going with sequels and spin-offs of his Netfix thriller film already announced. Gosling was also in the news publicizing his role as Ken inGreta Gerwig's Barbie film due for release in July 2023. |
| 2 | Hunter Moore | | 1,048,357 |  | Still on Netflix, but non-fiction, was the miniseriesThe Most Hated Man on the Internet, concerning this guy and his websiteIs Anyone Up?, which became a haven ofrevenge porn. |
| 3 | Deaths in 2022 |  | 950,612 |  | You better watch out Oh, what you wish for It better be worth it So much to die for |
| 4 | Tony Dow | | 931,514 |  | The older brother inLeave It to Beaver, who also worked as a director, sculptor and effects artist, died at the age of 77. |
| 5 | Nope (film) | | 930,777 | .jpg) | Jordan Peele continues to show he's a surprisingly good horror director withNope, although it's not as acclaimed as his previous filmsGet Out andUs. |
| 6 | Droupadi Murmu |  | 885,977 |  | India's new president was elected last week, and sworn in this week, as unlike America India's presidential transition period is only a few days long. |
| 7 | 2022 monkeypox outbreak |  | 852,237 |  | The monkeypox outbreak was declared aPublic Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organisation, which is basically WHO-speak for "a bad thing that is around the world and progressively getting worse". Fortunately, as a disease it is less severe than AIDS, much less transmissive than COVID-19, and it's been around since the 1970s, meaning we know how to treat it and vaccines are available, which was not the case for COVID-19 or AIDS when they first emerged. |
| 8 | Paul Sorvino | | 789,617 |  | A character actor who died at the age of 83, leaving behind an extensive filmography that included works such asGoodfellas,Reds,Law & Order andNixon, as well as three children, including fellow actorsMira Sorvino andMichael Sorvino. |
| 9 | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | | 780,586 | .jpg) | Four months before release a trailer was finally issued for the last Marvel Cinematic Universe movie of 2022, which has the major issue of being a sequel toBlack Panther when lead actorChadwick Boseman died before filming started. Positive reaction to the preview, which included tributes to Boseman and a first look atNamor, shows people are more than willing to return to Wakanda. |
| 10 | 2022 Commonwealth Games | | 676,511 |  | The Olympic Games for former British Empire countries began inBirmingham (the original one, Americans) and has largely gone smoothly so far, except for amajor rail strike. The Games were originally going to be hosted inDurban, but got moved in 2017 due to concerns about financing. |
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games | | 2,807,590 |  | TheCommonwealth's quadrennial sports reunion is ongoing inBirmingham, weirdly only the third time it's been hosted inEngland. India may be a republic, but it is still part of the Commonwealth and by far the largest country in it, and its subpage is naturally the most viewed article of all this week. |
| 2 | 2022 Commonwealth Games | | 2,387,924 |  | |
| 3 | Bill Russell |  | 1,350,667 |  | "The single most devastating force in the history of the game" according to his coach, Russell, who holds the most championships in the history of the NBA as center for the Boston Celtics (the finals MVP award is named after him), died this week at 88. |
| 4 | Taiwan | | 1,273,315 |  | The dispute over thePeople's Republic of China and Taiwan flared up this week as #8 took a visit to Taiwan on her trip to Asia, resulting in live-drill military exercises in the waters around Taiwan and the suspension of citrus fruit, frozen horse mackerel, and chilled white striped hairtail from Taiwan. |
| 5 | Brittney Griner | | 1,058,124 | .jpg) | In February, this U.S. basketball player was arrested at Russian customs after vape cartridges containinghashish oil were found in her luggage (for the record, she says she packed them by accident). This week she was sentenced to 9 years in prison for it. There is a controversial proposal to swap her for Russian arms traffickerViktor Bout. |
| 6 | Hunter Moore | | 1,003,335 | _Love_Hate%2526Mia_Florentine_Weiss%252620192.jpg) | Continuing his place as #2 from last week, release ofThe Most Hated Man on the Internet, a Netflix documentary covering the siteIs Anyone Up? has renewed interest in Hunter Moore, its creator, also predominantly featured in the documentary. |
| 7 | Deaths in 2022 | | 941,381 | _-_Rock_%2526_Roll_Hall_of_Fame_and_Museum%2c_Cleveland_(by_Adam_Jones).jpg) | If I don't meet you no more in this world Then I'll meet ya on the next one And don't be late |
| 8 | Nancy Pelosi |  | 860,035 |  | Pelosi is on a tour of Asia, and caused some controversy, and a mini-crisis when she visited #4. See there for more details. |
| 9 | Prey (2022 film) | | 859,080 | .jpg) | ThePredator is back, even if no one was counting on it afterthe 2018 movie, in thisHulu\Star+ period piece where the alien hunter comes to Earth in the 18th century. A taut and thrilling experience that also has a great performance byAmber Midthunder as theComanche woman trying to prove her worth by facing this extraterrestrial opponent,Prey earned great remarks all around, and in fact has aRotten Tomatoes score higher thanthe Arnie-starring original. |
| 10 | Anne Heche | | 818,734 |  | Actress Anne Heche was involved in a series of car crashes earlier this week that left her severely burned and intubated, dying of her injuries on August 12. |
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anne Heche | | 6,740,122 | _(cropped).jpg) | An actresswho never took off as a leading lady but had a steady line of work that included roles likeWag the Dog andChicago P.D., albeit her public image was more shaped by a relationship withEllen DeGeneres and a subsequent mental breakdown following the break-up, Anne Heche suffered a sequence of two car crashes last week which caused a massive house fire and sent her to intensive care, where she passed away after 6 days at the age of 53. |
| 2 | Olivia Newton-John | | 5,004,161 | .jpg) | Forever known as the star ofGrease, along with scoring quite a few hit songs like "Physical" that made her one of the best-selling musical acts of the 20th century, Olivia Newton-John was an Australian of two other countries (British born, American based) who survived a breast cancer in the 90s but saw it return in a more intense form, having spread to the bones, in 2017, ultimately causing her death at 73. |
| 3 | Salman Rushdie | | 2,562,277 |  | In 1988, the publication of the novelThe Satanic Verses (#8) caused uproar among some in Islam, and theAyatollah Khomeini issued afatwa calling on Muslims to kill its author, Salman Rushdie. 33 years later, a man attempted to follow through on that by stabbing him at a literary event inChautauqua, New York. By all accounts he is recovering from the attack, but will likely suffer permanent damage. |
| 4 | Laal Singh Chaddha | | 1,703,109 |  | The latest Indian film to make a big impact here is a Bollywood remake ofForrest Gump starringAamir Khan (pictured) in the title role, as previously played byTom Hanks. It has not received the acclaim of the film it's based on, and may have to rely on Khan's star power to get it over the line. |
| 5 | The Sandman (TV series) | | 1,612,204 |  | The long-gestating adaptation ofNeil Gaiman's magnum opus (#17) managed to stick the landing gracefully, silencing critics who were concerned that the belovedDC comic was unfilmable. In addition to critical acclaim, it became the topNetflix show in just three days, with 69.5 million viewership hours worldwide. |
| 6 | India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games | | 1,458,127 |  | The Commonwealth Games closed out this week, with the next one to be hosted in regional Victoria. It is of course impossible to sum up everything that happened, so I'll do some blind patriotism and mention that New Zealand did very well. India also did quite well as they tend to, although it wasn't their best medal haul. Congratulations to all the competitors, and we'll see most of you in four years! |
| 7 | 2022 Commonwealth Games | | 1,393,046 | | |
| 8 | The Satanic Verses | | 1,310,550 |  | #3 penned this novel in the late 1980s, which included a sequence based on the life ofMuhammad. After the book was released, some Muslims accused it of blasphemy, resulting in book burnings, bans in multiple countries, the aforementioned fatwa and multiple assassination attempts. The controversy sparked a complex international debate about balancing freedom of expression with religious tolerance, a question that still lingers today. |
| 9 | Prey (2022 film) | | 1,189,306 | .jpg) | With a title that reverses the name of its franchise,Predator, this streaming release with the alien hunter targeting Native Americans and French expeditionaries in the 18th century has been very well received. |
| 10 | Deaths in 2022 | | 1,046,385 | _(14725394406).jpg) | Oh, it gets dark, it gets lonely On the other side from you... |
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anne Heche | | 2,360,311 |  | Actress Anne Heche died near the end of last week, meaning the tail from it was enough for her to top this list two weeks in a row, a rare feat. |
| 2 | Manti Te'o | | 2,089,567 |  | Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist deals with the slightly bizarre story of this NFL linebacker who claimed his girlfriend had died ofleukemia, only for researchers to discover she didn't exist, causing a lot of confusion until it turned out he had beencatfished and had kept up with the lie out of embarrassment. |
| 3 | Laal Singh Chaddha | | 1,697,937 | .jpg) | This Bollywood remake ofForrest Gump has, unlike most ofAamir Khan's films, been a box-office flop. |
| 4 | Salman Rushdie | | 1,441,068 | | Rushdie continues his recovery afterhis an attempt on his life. The suspect, Hadi Matar, has pleaded not guilty to attemptedsecond-degree murder andsecond-degree assault.Iran (the country whose leader issued afatwa for his assassination in 1989) has denied knowledge of the attack, though it was celebrated on state controlled media. Matar's mother, meanwhile, has denounced the attack, and states she never intends to speak to her son again. |
| 5 | Rakesh Jhunjhunwala | | 1,116,027 |  | Splitting author and work is an Indian billionaire who died at 62 of multiple organ failure. |
| 6 | The Satanic Verses | | 959,433 | | The book which led to thefatwa on #4's life.The book is highly controversial, for numerous reasons, with Muslims claiming it to be sacrilegious and blasphemous. The result is that Rushdie spent the better part of a decade in hiding, with the book banned in several countries. The book's Japanese translator and Norwegian publisher were assassinated in 1991 and 1993 respectively. |
| 7 | Deaths in 2022 | | 950,937 | Just yesterday mornin', they let me know you were gone Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song I just can't remember who to send it to... | |
| 8 | Andrew Tate | | 918,043 |  | The "influencer" who is being investigated for possible human trafficking was banned from some platforms after the media picked up he was a misogynist and Facebook and Instagram decided banning him would be good for PR. TikTok has taken some action, but haven't blocked him, presumably because they decided the users they would drive away outweighed the users they would gain. |
| 9 | The Sandman (TV series) | | 905,666 | _cosplay_(13955404944).jpg) | A magician captures the Lord of Dreams (he was afterDeath, but that's not important). After (although it's an obvious plot development,spoiler alert) he escapes, he must re-build his kingdom, recapture his stolen artifacts, and bring a Nightmare under control. |
| 10 | Elvis Presley | | 870,060 |  | It's been 45 years since the King of Rock n' Roll was found dead inGraceland. There's evena fairly good biopic in theaters to celebrate him. |
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes/about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | House of the Dragon | | 2,221,973 |  | Game of Thrones ended in such a frustrating way that it basically vanished from public discussion since 2019 (not helped bythe source material seeming far from finished). But HBO was still intent on delivering more from Westeros, starting with this prequel show focusing on the incestuous dragonriders of House Targaryen. The premiere episode had good reviews and actually drew quite a crowd to both TV and HBO Max, so maybe interest in this world hadn't fully vanished. |
| 2 | Manti Te'o | | 1,898,909 | | Interest in this linebacker increased last week with the release ofUntold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist, the sixth installment in the "Untold" series. It deals with the slightly bizarre story of how he claimed his girlfriend had died ofleukemia, only for researchers to discover she did not exist, causing a lot of confusion until it turned out he had beencatfished and had kept up with the lie out of embarrassment. |
| 3 | Andrew Tate | | 1,287,357 | | This professional kickboxer turned professional misogynist was banned from TikTok this week, having previously been banned from several other platforms last week. Hopefully interest in him will die down now so we can go back to talking about more fun things like terrible movies anda woman being blown up. |
| 4 | Liger (film) | | 1,118,034 |  | Speaking of terrible movies, here's one from India! |
| 5 | Deaths in 2022 | | 937,429 |  | You are pulled from the wreckage Of your silent reverie You're in the arms of the angel May you find some comfort here |
| 6 | Biagio da Cesena | | 917,397 |  | Thanks toReddit, a case of revenge by art: Biagio was the Papal master of ceremonies to four popes who was opposed to nude art in theSistine Chapel.Michelangelo responded by putting him in a painting, with a snake biting his penis. Real mature. |
| 7 | Anna Mani | | 792,436 | A Google Doodle sent readers to the article of this Indian woman physicist. | |
| 8 | Top Gun: Maverick | | 733,864 |  | After making over $1.4 billion worldwide, Tom Cruise's return as a naval aviator is available as digital rental/purchase, bringing in a new influx of viewers. No word on when it arrives onParamount+ or another streamer yet. |
| 9 | Laal Singh Chaddha | | 712,440 |  | Aamir Khan's latest film, which continues to attract attention despite a lacklustre performance, both critically and commercially. |
| 10 | The Sandman (TV series) | | 698,543 | | The TV/film/webcast/whatever streaming shows are called these days adaptation of the belovedNeil Gaiman comic is still being watched, unsurpising given the acclaim it has received. |
