Traffic report
Reality is for losers
English speakers, like most of humanity, are primarily a northern-hemispheric people, and as autumn draws close and the days grow shorter, as a group we tend to huddle around our flickering screens and remember what matters: TV, movies, sports and, of course, crazy doomsday prophecies.
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 September 27 to October 3, 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 Pablo Escobar 
804,426 
The fascination with the Netflix series Narcos continues to keep the Capone of cocaine at the top of this list, despite a near-50% drop in numbers since he first rose to the top on September 5, and a momentary dethronement last week by the far more deserving Pope Francis. 2 The Martian (film) 
607,894 
After a string of relative critical and commercial disappointments, it was looking like 77-year-old director Ridley Scott should consider retirement. But if the man behind scifi masterpieces like Alien and Blade Runner was out to prove he still has his mojo with his latest project - an adaptation of Andy Weir's popular novel about an astronaut stranded on Mars (played by Matt Damon) - he has succeeded. The film has wowed critics (it has a 93% RT rating) and impressed audiences (its $55 million opening gross is a hair less than the very similar Gravity), and no doubt shored up hopes for his upcoming return to his signature franchises. 3 Quantico (TV series) Unassessed 537,354 
It's odd that it's been 24 years since The Silence of the Lambs and yet this is the first TV series about a female inductee at the FBI's eponymous Academy (played by Priyanka Chopra, pictured). This being 21st century American TV, said inductee is now a suspect in a terrorist attack, rather than hunting serial killers, because apparently audiences don't want that. 4 Deaths in 2015 
533,204 
The relatively low viewing figures this week have given this unfailingly constant article (it averages about 450-550 thousand views a week) one of its highest positions on the list ever. 5 Pope Francis
517,325 
The wildly popular Pope's visit to the United States earned him poll position on this list last week, and even with numbers down 60%, His Holiness still draws the interest of Wikipedia's Church Militant. 6 Lunar eclipse
482,132 
Astronomically, lunar eclipses are little more novel than seasons; between two and five can happen in a single year. That said, total lunar eclipses are far less common, and total lunar eclipses during the Moon's perigee (a so-called "supermoon") are uncommoner still. This week's total supermoon eclipse was even more notable since it marked the conclusion of a "tetrad", or four total lunar eclipses in a row with no partials in between. It is often said that the full moon brings out the crazies. This is a myth; however, exceptionally rare astronomical events like this often do bring out crazy people, who then make noises about the end of the world. Such has been the case with this week's event (see below), and it has sadly infected the wider news media. 7 Blood Moon Prophecy 
467,336 
For a people who pride themselves on their optimism, Americans sure are in a hurry for the world to end. For the third time in five years, a kerfuffle has emerged regarding a prophecy of doom, this time from American Pentecostal megachurch pastor John Hagee (pictured), who claims that this week's conclusion of the lunar eclipse tetrad, combined with a recent total solar eclipse, is a sign of the Biblical end times. His appropriation of the term "blood moon" (actually a synonym for a hunter's moon) for a lunar eclipse was likely derived from the Biblical prophecy that the second coming will be heralded by the Sun becoming dark and the moon becoming "as blood", and has, rather unfortunately, been embraced by wider culture. 8 2015 FIBA Asia Championship 
463,055 
The final matches for the Asian basketball tournament were held on October 3, with final victory won by China. Regardless, this is the English-language Wikipedia, and when an event of purely Asian interest appears on this list you can bet India's involved somewhere. And indeed it is: on the same day China competed in the final, India played Qatar for seventh place. Sadly, they lost. 9 Scream Queens (2015 TV series)
434,507 
Ryan Murphy's comedic companion piece to American Horror Story premiered on the Fox Network on September 22. 10 Everest (2015 film)
405,904 
After a striking opening week on IMAX, Universal Pictures historical disaster pic (loosely based on the true-life account Into Thin Air) expanded into 2D theatres last week, leading to a solid but unspectacular $33 million to date. Worldwide the film has done better, generating over $100 million.
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