Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/December 3 to 9, 2017

Prepared with commentary by Stormy clouds

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All in the (Kapoor) family

One often forgets that, behind the United States, the country with the second most English speakers, and thereby a large footprint on the English language Wikipedia, is India. This week, motivated by the death of a Bollywood legend, they came with a vengeance to remind us of that fact. Shashi Kapoor (#1), one of the largest names in Hindi cinema, died, and much of his family, a veritable acting dynasty, appear alongside him on the report, at one point occupying four consecutive slots.

In other news, the British royal family and entertainment are well represented on the list, and Trumpian geopolitics drove interest in Israeli affairs, accounting for entries #5 and #6. All in all, the report is less diverse than most iterations, but no less intriguing.

For the week of December 3 to 9, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Class	Views	Image	Notes
1	Shashi Kapoor		1,578,905		The Indian actor, one of the most prominent figures in Bollywood not named Khan, comprising a corpus in excess of 160 films, died and prompted a surge of interest on Wikipedia in both himself and the acting dynasty that is his family.
2	Bitcoin		1,495,043		Interest in the cryptocurrency has continued, increasing exponentially in tandem with its monetary value. An interesting and live economic study, but its inevitable collapse will leave investors feeling like tulips.
3	August Ames		928,067		The pornographic actress, both bipolar and bisexual, was branded a gay porn. Her underlying depression, coupled with relentless cyberbullying over her accused bigotry, drove her to suicide.
4	Meghan Markle		844,442		The media circus surrounding Miss Markle continued to propel her upwards in the report. Last week, she announced her engagement to Suits actress.
5	Israel		786,817		The eternally controversial state saw itself in the news once again after Donald Trump decided to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (#6), thereby recognising it as the capital of the country. This move incited anger, angst, and anguish in the Middle East – a bombastic idea.
6	Jerusalem		768,238		See above (#5). Purported and claimed ownership over the ancient and religiously significant city is ostensibly the only thing which both Israelis and Palestinians can agree upon.
7	Deaths in 2017		757,450		The list of the deceased remains prevalent and prominent amongst Wikipedians, driven to higher figures by the demise of August Ames (#3).
8	Carol Burnett		696,071		The comedienne returned to the headlines as a special episode of The Carol Burnett Show was aired to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. The extravaganza, loaded with famous and celebrated comedians, drew high viewership figures and prolonged interest on the encyclopedia.
9	A Way Out (video game)		602,146		Star Wars: Battlefront II underperforming significantly. To round off their misery, Josef Fares, director of the upcoming game, arrived at the 2017 Game Awards to rant about EA, the Oscars, and much more in a truly glorious meltdown .
10	Elizabeth II		586,961		There are three reasons for the renewed interest in the longest-reigning British monarch of all time: the continued positive sentiments regarding the Meghan Markle (#4), the release of the second season of The Crown on Netflix, and the (presumed) continued and concerted effort to claim victory over Broad City in the "Yas Queen" meme wars.
11	Tommy Wiseau		584,070		Arguably the man who most embodies the idea of accidental brilliance, Wiseau directed and starred in The Room, the best worst film of all time. He is back in the news as a result of The Disaster Artist , a biopic about him and the creation of his magnum opus.
12	Justice League		583,195		Cyborg in the superhero film, whose release has been accompanied by the usual controversy surrounding a DCEU release. It is still drawing both viewers in the auditorium and interest on Wikipedia.
13	UFC 218		526,148		I am not a massive fan of the kicky-punchy thingy, but apparently José Aldo lost emphatically at the recent meeting of the "sport". It is a tad too brutalist for my likings, and some of the most prominent stars are irritating.
14	Tim Conway		525,412		Conway appeared alongside Carol Burnett (#8) on the anniversary edition of her eponymous sketch comedy show, a precursor to SNL, which he appeared on for eleven seasons.
15	Kunal Kapoor (actor)		509,864		The Kapoor invasion is reinstigated – Kunal is the son of Shashi Kapoor (#1). He is also an actor of some stature of his own accord, and is a key component of the "first family of Bollywood".
16	Jennifer Kendal		490,578		The English actress, who died in 1984, returned to encyclopedic significance following the death of her husband, Shashi (#1), whom she met and married while participating in a production of The Tempest by the Bard.
17	Karan Kapoor		484,491		Arguably the least prominent participant in the acting dynasty, Karan is the grandson of Raj (pictured) second son of Shashi (#1) and Jennifer (#16) Kapoor. He never found the same level of success as his family members, hence his diminished level of fame relative to them.
18	Kapoor family		479,454		The greatest proof of all time that people do click through on the hyperlinks, the death of Shashi (#1) drove many a Wikipedian to research his wife and children, who collectively have been labelled "the first family of Bollywood".
19	The Room (film)		456,947		"I did not hit her. It's not true. It's bullshit. I did not hit her." These lines, unequivocally the most eloquent and elegant ever penned, appear in this superb cinematic masterpiece, which has renewed fame due to James Franco's appearance as its creator, Tommy Wiseau (#11) in The Disaster Artist.
20	Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon		456,947		The deceased sister of Queen Elizabeth II (#10) appears prominently in the second series of past experiences are anything to go by, nothing whets the appetite for the acquisition of knowledge on Wikipedia like a binge watching session on Netflix .
21	Johnny Hallyday		452,875		Hallyday, a giant of la musique over in France, passed away this week. With over 75 million record sales, and an outpouring of emotion in L'Hexagone it is little surprise that his death attracted ample attention over here on en.wiki.
22	Tonya Harding		434,599		The infamous ice skater is the subject of I, Tonya, a biopic about her criminal assault on Nancy Kerrigan, where she is portrayed by Margot Robbie (pictured).
23	Saoirse Ronan		429,651		The Irish actress, whose name is notoriously difficult to pronounce for non-Hibernophones, hosted SNL last week. She drew the ire of her compatriots over a skit regarding Aer Lingus, the national airline of Ireland. The sketch, which incorporated many stereotypes and painted the airline as archaic and antiquated, prompted a Presidential response .
24	Sanjana Kapoor		423,510		The daughter of Shashi (#1), Sanjana hit the headlines as a result of his death. The surge of interest in Bollywood affairs is testament to the prominence of India on the English Wikipedia.
25	Al Franken		421,642		The comedian-cum-politician resigned from his position as United States senator for Minnesota following accusations of sexual misconduct levied against him. Fear not, for if polls are accurate, the Senate will soon have an accused paedophile in office.

Exclusions

• 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.

Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.