Traffic report
Fighting from top to bottom
The charts are led this week by UFC women's champion Ronda Rousey, who won her last match at UFC 190 (#9) in 34 seconds. And at the bottom of the top 10 is Donald Trump, the highly improbable leading candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2016 Presidential elections. Of course, the election is 15 months away, which is light years in politics. The Top 10 also saw two high profile deaths in British singer Cilla Black (#3), and American wrestler Roddy Piper (#8). Aside from American films, and another strong showing from Indian cinema, a few more American debate related topics appear further down the Top 25. (A bonus chart of the candidates ranked by views follows below.)
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.
For the week of August 2 to 8, 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 Ronda Rousey 
2,049,053 
UFC 190 fell on August 1, which was the day before last week's report was published, so the reaction to that match, during which the undefeated UFC women's bantamweight champion beat Bethe Correia in 34 seconds in Correia's home town of Rio de Janeiro, really only came through this week. Still, she managed to get on the list last week too. Apparently Correia had been trash talking Rousey prior to the fight, which strikes me as a rather odd thing to do to someone who a) has never lost a fight and b) won her last fight in 14 seconds, except as a ploy to get better ratings. 2 A. P. J. Abdul Kalam 
933,223 
The sustained surge of views this scientist and reluctant politician received upon his death last week at the age of 83 is merely a reflection of the regard in which he was held by his fellow Indians. A Muslim in a predominantly Hindu country, he rose to the very top of the political ladder, first as a developer of India's missile and nuclear programs, and then as President. Despite adhering to Islam, he considered himself an Indian and drew much inspiration from his country's Hindu heritage. As a result, his one term as President was one of the most popular in his country's history. A lifelong advocate of technology, he believed that India could become a developed country through embracing and expanding its knowledge base. 3 Cilla Black 
796,775 
Topics of purely British interest almost never make the top 25 (Britain's population can't compete with America or India, even if you factor in countries that share its pop culture, like Australia) and when they do they rarely reach this high. So that should tell any non-Brits reading this just how popular Cilla Black, who died this week, was in her home country. A native of Liverpool, she began her career as a singer in the innocent days of early 60s pop and achieved great success thanks to promotion by her fellow Liverpudlians The Beatles. She then became a fixture in British households for almost four decades, hosting a series of variety shows, game shows and hidden camera shows, eventually becoming the highest paid female performer in British television. Part of her appeal was that, unlike many in her position, she never abandoned her Liverpool roots, retaining her accent and mannerisms throughout her career. (This entry summary helpfully provided by Serendipodous, as my vague non-British knowledge of Ms. Black is limited to recalling some Smiths connection or homage to her in the past.) 4 Deadpool
793,190 
The article on this fictional Marvel Comics antihero surged in popularity on August 5 with the debut of a trailer for upcoming film of the same name starring Ryan Reynolds (pictured), which will be released on February 12, 2016, in North America. 5 Fantastic Four (2015 film) 
788,731 
Another Marvel Comics movie, including Miles Teller (pictured) among the top-billed cast, the film premiered in New York on August 4 and was released in theaters on August 7. The film was panned by critics and audiences alike and underperformed at the box office, earning only $25.7 million in North America during its opening weekend. However, a sequel is already scheduled to be released on June 9, 2017. 6 Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
719,059 
Up from #19 and 340,226 views last week. The box office draw of Tom Cruise (pictured) may have flagged of late, but he can always return to his signature franchise, which has yet to let him down. The fifth installment in the Mission: Impossible series was released on July 31 and had a hefty $56 million opening weekend, all but ensuring a part 6. 7 Bajrangi Bhaijaan
686,399 
Down from #4 and 948,650 views last week. Bollywood's Muslim-targeted counterprogramming to the raging box office tsunami of Baahubali: The Beginning, starring Hindu/Muslim superstar Salman Khan (pictured) and opening on Eid weekend, made Rs 200 crore ($31.2 million) in its first nine days, and earned support from legends like Shekhar Kapur. But Khan's tweets in apparent support of Yakub Memon have led to posters for the film being defaced in some areas. 8 Roddy Piper
646,146 
Down from #3 and 1,086,945 views last week. Wikipedia readers love their wrestlers, and so the death of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, world-renowned WWF and WCW heel, at the relatively young age of 61, was bound to stir emotions. In the ring, "Hot Rod" played up his Scottish roots, affecting the rage of a Glaswegian football hooligan and entering to the sound of bagpipes, for which he was named (his real last name, incidentally, was Toombs, which you would think would be a perfectly acceptable wrestling name). 9 UFC 190 
638,825 
See #1. Performing better than UFC 189, which had 557K views when it appeared on the Top 25 a few weeks ago. And for whatever reason UFC 188 didn't make the list at all in June, but UFC 187 did in May. 10 Donald Trump
614,810 
The larger-than-life real estate developer and media personality nicknamed "The Donald" continues to flummox the American media, as Trump stood center stage in the first major Republican candidates debate on August 6, and is the candidate currently ranked highest in the polls. Many thought the questions he received from the Fox News anchors, including Megyn Kelly (#15), were aimed at ending his reign, but subsequent polls suggest his lead is increasing. How do you explain this craziness? Well, first of all, it is almost 15 months until the U.S. presidential election. Outside the focused political media and hard core Republicans, no one cares yet! He won't be the nominee. As seen above, wrestling and UFC is more popular at this point, taking 3 of the top 10 spots. Second, a large core of Republicans fear illegal immigration, because they've been taught to fear it in order to draw votes away from Democratic candidates. Trump's frank talk on this issue (despite veering into likely racism) appeals to that base. Many Americans are simply watching Trump "for the lulz".
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Bonus chart - US Republican Presidential candidates
Rank Candidate Views 1 Donald Trump 614,810 2 Ben Carson 403,620 3 Carly Fiorina 393,404 4 John Kasich 214,815 5 Jeb Bush 204,989 6 Ted Cruz 184,220 7 Marco Rubio 173,578 8 Rand Paul 131,158 9 Chris Christie 86,011 10 Bobby Jindal 66,431 11 Scott Walker 65,585 12 Lindsey Graham 58,671 13 Mike Huckabee 55,729 14 Rick Perry 37,395 15 Rick Santorum 33,657 16 Jim Gilmore 30,236 17 George Pataki 27,769
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I suggest calling Kalam a "former scientist" is not how Wikipedia generally treats such major personages. He holds a large number of honours for his work, and we ought not diminish his stature by saying "former" when he was stricken five minutes into a lecture on climate. Collect (talk) 15:12, 14 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]