Round Two
Casual viewers may think I've posted the same list twice. But no, readers just happen to be really interested in May 2's Big Fight. In fact, last week was just the weigh-in and the trash talk. This week, the numbers actually increased. Other refugees from last week include Avengers: Age of Ultron, which continues its triumph at the box office, and Vision, arguably the team's most interesting new member. Annual returnees Cinco de Mayo and Mothers Day made their scheduled appearances as expected.
For the full top-25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation of any exclusions. For a list of the most edited articles of the week, see here.
As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of May 3 to 9, 2015, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 
3,224,988 
Apparently, Wikipedia viewers weren't done with the "fight of the century", as it remained the most viewed topic for the second week running, with its declared victor rising to the top spot. Indeed, his numbers have only increased since last week, indicating we may just be topping the hill. 2 Cinco de Mayo 
2,573,768 
For the third year running, one of the most self-explanatory article spikes on Wikipedia ever occurred, conveniently, on May 5. This celebration of Mexican-American culture (originally meant to commemorate a Mexican victory over the French) had more than double the views of last year. 3 Manny Pacquiao
2,383,123 
Numbers have, however, slightly fallen for the current Filipino Congressman and boxing's only octuple champion, who suffered a fairly noble defeat to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. during the "fight of the century" on May 2. Just goes to show that in sport, winning is everything. 4 Nellie Bly
2,096,193 
The barnstorming journalist, who beat Phileas Fogg by travelling around the world in 72 days and then faked insanity and got herself committed so she could uncover maltreatment of the mentally ill, got a Google Doodle on her 151st birthday on May 5. 5 Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao
2,074,940 Numbers are down but still robust for the "fight of the century" that took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Pay-per-view receipts are currently expected to hit $500 million worldwide. 6 Avengers: Age of Ultron
1,990,691 
The latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe premièred in Hollywood on April 13, and went on wide release on May 1. By its second weekend, it was down 60% but still massive enough to drain grosses from its competitors. Not that that its only real competition, the abysmally reviewed Hot Pursuit, needed any help to flop. 7 Vision (Marvel Comics)
740,608 
Numbers have more than doubled for the sentient AI and foil for the villainous Ultron, who became the breakout star of The Avengers: Age of Ultron and allowed actor Paul Bettany (pictured) to finally step out of the voice-only shadows of his J.A.R.V.I.S. character into full acting. 8 Achim Leistner 
732,005 
The Australian/German optician with an almost superhuman touch sense is able to handcraft spheres to a level of perfection beyond those of any machine. This was noted in a Reddit thread this week, though a surprisingly short one, given the views. 9 List of highest-grossing films 
724,579 
With Furious 7 already in the increasingly inclusive $1 billion worldwide club, and Age of Ultron likely to reach it next week, it's not surprising Wikipedia viewers are interested in tracking their progress. 10 Mother's Day
723,932 
The second Sunday in May (that's May 10 to all you ingrates who forgot) is far and away the most popular time of year to celebrate Mother's Day, and, even as the day fell, panicked college students in all participating countries rushed to their computers to see if they'd blown it.
Discuss this story
I never knew that Boxing was so popular, I thought it was just an American thing, but $500 million from payper-view? WOW. I've seen the new Avengers movie in theaters, a small one, there was about 20 other people there. It is a great movie. Lightspeed2012 05:34, 16 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
- I recall my mothers comment on boxing low these many years ago; when asked if she was going to watch the "big fight" at the time she replied, "Why would I pay to watch two grown men beat each other up when I can watch my kids beat each other up for free?" That is advice I've taken to heart over the years. TomStar81 (Talk) 06:34, 16 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
- Like football and Formula 1 racing, I think interest in boxing is very international and isn't a strictly American thing at all. I'm not sure how the pay per view was handled overseas though. If the charges were high, that could explain a lot of people coming to Wikipedia to learn more about the fight. Liz Read! Talk! 20:22, 17 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Reading the Wikipedia page on Cinco de Mayo has been part of Internet culture for a surprising 6 years now... Shii (tock) 21:06, 16 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]