Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (January 8 to 14, 2017)

Prepared with commentary by Serendipodous.

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A Pat On The Back: Awards are the main theme this week, with the arrival of the 74th Golden Globe Awards, the traditional beginning of Oscar season, and the unexpected (certainly by its recipient) award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama to his Vice President, Joe Biden. Even some longstanding entries, such as Elizabeth II and Donald Trump are tied into the awards given this week. Also, the people of India seem intent on awarding Aamir Khan's Dangal the title of "highest grossing Indian film of all time".

For the week of January 8 to 14, 2017, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Class	Views	Image	Notes
1	La La Land (film)		1,101,692		The acclaimed contemporary musical starring Oscars in March.
2	Ryan Gosling		1,092,495		Surprisingly, this is the universal object of female lust and male envy's first appearance on this list, as he reminded us to our collective chagrin that aside from being infuriatingly handsome he's also a good actor, having won a Golden Globe this week, immediately bolstering his Oscar chances.
3	Meryl Streep		1,002,185		Another surprise first entry for the Greatest Actress Of Her GenerationTM, who used her acceptance of a Golden Globe this week to deliver an eloquent 6-minute takedown of America's soon-to-be President. Needless to say, the Trumposphere was triggered, with some arguing that she had lost all her earned respect. Perhaps among the Trumposphere, but I have to wonder how many of them have ever watched Sophie's Choice anyway.
4	Eva Mendes		894,263		So great was the storm of Gosling worship this week that even his wife was swept up in it.
5	Donald Trump		870,811		Everyone was waiting for Donald Trump's Twitter response to Meryl Streep's speech, and when it came it was surprisingly restrained, arriving as late as 5 AM. He still described her as "a Hillary flunky who lost big" though.
6	Dangal (film)		857,116		Down from #1 and over a million views last week. Bollywood , a world where star power counts for a lot. So it's not surprising that his latest film is already breaking records, having made ₹1.07 billion ($15.78 million) in its first three days.
7	Joe Biden		788,801		The current Vice President of the United States began his tenure as a bit of a punchline, but when he lost his eldest son to brain cancer in 2015 his unflappable grace in the face of tragedy earned him national respect. So perhaps it isn't surprising that Barack Obama's surprise award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to his VP in the closing days of his Presidency, which could have been seen as indulging in political nepotism, appears to have been greeted with universal approval.
8	Emma Stone		749,814		The well-liked actress earned a Golden Globe for her performance in La La Land , placing her at pole position in the Oscar race.
9	Barack Obama		735,915		The man who, for the next 5 days as of this list date, remains the President of the United States, used his final days to award his VP Joe Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom (see above).
10	Elizabeth II		724,759		For the 12th consecutive week, the longest-reigning British monarch in history places on this list thanks to The Crown, the Golden Globe-winning $100 million melodrama about her early years in which she is played by Claire Foy, who this week also won a Golden Globe for her portrayal.
11	74th Golden Globe Awards		720,214		In recent years, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's annual bash has been a less accurate predictor of Oscar wins than in the past, but it still serves as the prototype for the nominations. And with the record breaking trunout for La La Land suggests it may be a win predictor yet again.
12	Presidential Medal of Freedom		716,170		Joe Biden's award of said medal led many to query exactly what it is usually awarded for.
13	List of Sherlock episodes		696,143		The new series of this globally popular Holmes pastiche premiered a week ago
14	Donald Glover		687,497		His double Golden Globe win for both creating and starring in the TV series Atlanta piqued global attention.
15	Deaths in 2017		685,784		Wait... a viewcount below 700,000? Could list's onetime most dependable entry be returning to normal?
16	Casey Affleck		601,473		Despite an Oscar nomination, the brother of Ben has yet to fully emerge from his sibling's shadow. Until now, because his Golden Globe win for Manchester by the Sea has placed him in the front of the pack in the Oscar race.
17	List of highest-grossing Indian films		592,609		The only thing preventing Aamir Khan's film Dangal becoming the highest-grossing film in Indian history is... Aamir Khan's film PK. From the looks of things it's only a matter of time before he dethrones himself.
18	Interstellar (film)		408,606		According to Reddit thread this week, the science advisor on Interstellar spent two weeks convincing FTL travel from the movie, as it violated the laws of physics.
19	Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon		568,015		The only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II, she is portrayed by Vanessa Kirby in The Crown television series.
20	A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV series)		562,108		When the cinematic adaptation of Daniel Handler's children's book series underperformed, many suggested the material was better suited for television. Well now Netflix is giving it a go; releasing 8 episodes, covering the first four books, appropriately, on Friday, January 13.
21	Hawaiian pizza		560,231		According to a Reddit tread, this culinary perversion, in which tinned pineapple replaces the good and wholesome toppings nature intended, was, despite its name tarnishing the blameless culinary reputation of Hawaii, invented in Canada. However, unlike other Canadian comestible atrocities, like poutine, this one could not be contained, is now the most popular pizza topping in Australia. Here's hoping other Australian favourites like Vegemite or the pie floater do not escape their confines.
22	A Series of Unfortunate Events		553,663		Most likely people searching for the TV show, though of course it might have reignited interest in the book series.
23	Carrie Fisher		544,554		It's not enough that 2016 took so many beloved people from us; at times the year seemed to be sadistically toying with us. When we first heard that the onetime Princess Leia had suffered a heart attack on a plane, naturally we feared that 2016 was about to turn its murderous eye onto one of the icons of our childhood. And then she was reported to be in stable condition, and we breathed again. And then, out of the blue, George Michael died. And then she did as well. But, as she said, given enough time, everything becomes funny, so maybe she would have found the humour in this.
24	Bill Werbeniuk		527,194		According to a Reddit thread, this Canadian pool player was a notorious drunkard, once proclaiming after consuming 43 pints in a drinking competition, "I'm away to the bar now for a proper drink".
25	Sherlock (TV series)		521,140		See #13.

• 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.