Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/January 28 to February 3, 2018

Prepared with commentary by Serendipodous

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I like pleasure spiked with pain, and music is my aeroplane: Human beings are odd creatures. We are currently living through the safest and most secure era our species has ever experienced, and yet we seem addicted to pain. If we cannot have it ourselves, we seek to feel it vicariously. It's the only explanation I can conceive for this week's list, which is topped by a fake blood sport and riddled with death, depredation, and allegations. Eight people on this list either died horribly and unexpectedly, were accused or accused others of having done unspeakable things, or some combination of the above. Even the

For the week of January 28 to February 3, 2018, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Class	Views	Image	Notes
1	Royal Rumble (2018)		2,135,143		A 50% jump in numbers from last week's no 1, Virginia Woolf. I suppose you could call this a victory for women's progress, since this was the first ever Royal Rumble to feature women on the bill (including winner Asuka (pictured)). Cool. Now all we need to tackle is that 7% representation on US corporate boards. And the 19% representation in the US Congress. And the 31% among college professors, despite earning 60% of all master's degrees. But you know, baby stomps.
2	Joe Kennedy III		1,286,359		In a politics in which style and name recognition, well, trump actual experience, it seems only fitting that the Democrats would drag out the latest member of their razzle dazzle dynasty to counter the President's State of the Union. Who cares if he's only been in politics since 2012, and only out of school since 2010? He just has to flash those Jack pearlies and all's right with the world. Maybe.
3	Padmaavat		1,119,564		India, ya know I love ya but baby you crazy. This historic epic based on the poem Padmavat and starring Deepika Padukone (pictured) was released last week and is already making some big crore in spite of controversy - Padmaavat has been accused of being right wing, anti Muslim, even of endorsing mass immolation - that led to the movie being banned from a few Indian states, riots, firebombing, death threats to the director and cast, and even threats of mass suicide. Despite these handicaps it has managed to earn over ₹2 billion ($31.2 million) in 11 days.
4	Roger Federer		1,111,867		Spillover from last week's win at the Australian Open.
5	Alauddin Khalji		1,071,016		The male focus of the love story behind the film Padmaavat (#3). Betcha didn't know that Aladdin was an actual name.
6	Mark Salling		1,052,219		The actor best known for playing Puck on Glee committed suicide this week awaiting sentencing for possession of child pornography.
7	Bruno Mars		1,052,219		The funkster won six Grammys from six nominations at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards this week, on top of the four he won two years ago. Maybe time to spread the love around?
8	Deaths in 2018		756,173		Numbers remain stable for the lodestone of this list.
9	Rani Padmini		755,032		The legendary 13th– and 14th- century Indian queen (Rani) who is the main character of Padmaavat (#3).
10	Larry Nassar		732,847		Twenty-five years. Twenty-five years before we caught this physician who molested gymnasts in the guise of medical treatment. Twenty-five years. And remember that we're talking about a sport usually contested by teenagers! No wonder the thing that actually led Nassar to be arrested was the FBI discovering he had an extensive child pornography collection and a video of him molesting underage girls. The sentence of 60 years in prison seems too light in retrospect.
11	Cardi B		689,095		The New York rapper, ex-stripper and Instagram celebrity got two nominations at the Grammys this week.
12	Black Panther (film)		603,318		Marvel can't claim to have the first female superhero (in fact, their roster of female superheroes is so obscure they're pushing back Wakanda's solo debut is due to be released on 16 February. Judging by its anticipation level on Rotten Tomatoes , the movie is poised to break box office records.
13	Groundhog Day		590,484		This idiosyncratic North American not-really-holiday (I once tried to explain it to a Chinese exchange student in college and failed) fell, as it always does, on February 2. Thanks to Punxsutawney, home of the world's most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil , who speaks his forecast in Groundhogese into the ear of the chairman of the Groundhog Club Inner Circle, who then translates for the audience. No I did not make that up.
14	Rasual Butler		571,776		After a 14-year-career, this accomplished car accident this week.
15	Douglas Kenney		570,866		A Futile and Stupid Gesture, a biopic of the cofounder of the humour magazine National Lampoon, premiered on Netflix this week, with Will Forte (pictured) in the title role. The film stakes a fairly bold claim about the man's still-unresolved death by suggesting it was suicide rather than accidental.
16	60th Annual Grammy Awards		538,966		Given the current #MeToo tsunami crashing over the American political and cinema scenes, it seems odd that the music industry has managed to brush it off. But it came to a head in a small way this week when Recording Academy's president, Neil Portnow , which told women to "step up", was seen by many as condescending and out of touch, with some calling on him to resign.
17	Queen Victoria		501,869		PBS is still airing Victoria, the British series about the monarch of the Victorian era, currently portrayed by Jenna Coleman (pictured).
18	Andrew Cunanan		501,723		The assassin of #21, Cunanan is investigated thoroughly in the second season of the glove fits , as he was cremated following his death.
19	Tom Brady		501,267		Wikipedia's favourite quarterback returns in the lead up to Most Valuable Player of the season at the age of 40.
20	Natalie Wood		475,366		This beautiful former child actress, perhaps best known as Maria in 48 Hours expose this week. The captain claimed that Wagner drank whisky for an hour after his wife's disappearance, and did not appear concerned. This led the lead in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to declare Wagner a person of interest in the reopened investigation.
21	Gianni Versace		472,693		The legendary fashion designer is the subject of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, the second season of American Crime Story (pictured is his portrayer there, Édgar Ramírez). While the enterprise has not received the approval of Versace's family members, it seems to have riveted the readers of Wikipedia. If it can emulate the quality of its predecessor, we may perhaps truly understand why exactly the assassin (#18) decided to leave the icon on the floor.
22	Rose McGowan		463,385		"It's been a long life", McGowan said in a meetup with fans at Brave, as well as a five-part miniseries, released in the wake of her accusations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein . It's difficult to imagine what she must be going through right now- to have to relive the most intimate and devastating details of your life on a constant basis must be a trial indeed.
23	Donald Glover		459,870		The future Lando Calrissian and Simba got three Grammy Award nominations this week, and also announced that, in light of his higher aspirations, he is retiring his stage name, "Childish Gambino". Good call.
24	Robert Wagner		457,366		The Hart to Hart actor has never escaped the miasma of suspicion that surrounded the death of his wife, Natalie Wood (#20), which has seeped up again in light of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department declaring him a person of interest in the case.
25	Elizabeth II		456,384		The only British monarch to have reigned longer than Victoria (#18) is still holding on due to people binging The Crown on Netflix, where her Majesty is portrayed by an actress with an appropriate middle name: Claire Elizabeth Foy (pictured)