Exultations and tribulations

Traffic report

Exultations and tribulations

This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by OZOO (February 24 to March 2), Igordebraga (March 3 to 9 and March 17 to 23), A lad insane, Serendipodous, Od Mishehu and igordebraga (March 10 to 16).

Don't blame me, I voted for Paddington 2 (February 24 to March 2)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (February 24 to March 2, 2019)

This week, the viewers have been mostly focused on the 91st Academy Awards, with sixteen of the twenty-five entries linked, directly or indirectly, to the awards. Best Actor winner Rami Malek tops the charts, while there are also places for the winners of Best Original Song (Lady Gaga, #6), Best Picture (Green Book, #7), Best Actress (Olivia Colman, #9), Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali), Best Foreign Language Film (Roma) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Spike Lee). Five of the eight Best Picture nominees are included in the 25.

Away from the awards, the probably urban legend that is the Momo challenge took the second place, with Netflix's The Umbrella Academy hitting tenth place and the original comic strip, 19th. Former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and current Chelsea F.C. goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga caused difficulties for former and current bosses this week, and both make appearances in the lower reaches of the 25.

For the week of February 24 to March 2, 2019, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Views	About
1	Rami Malek	2,781,135	Rami Malek, who plays Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 91st Academy Awards, wrapping up an awards season that has also seen him win acting awards at the Golden Globes, the SAG awards and the BAFTAs. Malek is the first actor of Egyptian heritage to win the Best Actor Academy Award. His next appearances will be the fourth and final series of Mr. Robot and a voice role as Chee-Chee the gorilla in the talking-animal-athon The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle.
2	Momo Challenge hoax	2,688,438	It is alleged that a number of children and adolescents have received messages on social media, from accounts using a picture of a sculpture entitled Mother Bird, instructing them to perform a series of tasks culminating in suicide. This phenomenon was first noted by YouTuber ReignBot in July of last year, but received an increased level of attention this week after the Police Service of Northern Ireland issued a public warning about the challenge. There are no confirmed occasions of anyone actually being harmed by the challenge, and a number of organisations including NSPCC and the Samaritans say the whole thing is a complete hoax.
3	Freddie Mercury	2,564,597	Played by Academy Award for Best Actor winner Rami Malek (#1) in Bohemian Rhapsody.
4	Bradley Cooper	1,975,800	Despite failing to snatch any of the three awards he was nominated for at the 91st Academy Awards – for producing, starring in, and writing A Star Is Born – Cooper gained attention for a performance of the Best Original Song winning "Shallow" with his ASIB co-star Lady Gaga (#6). Some speculated the duet was an indicator that the two of them were truly in love, but the duo have denied it. And in fairness, they are both actors. Good actors. Oscar-nominated actors.
5	91st Academy Awards	1,882,127	The Oscars were held at the Dolby Theatre (pictured) on February 24th, going hostless for the first time since the 61st Academy Awards in 1989. A viewership of 29.6 million is a 12% increase on last year.
6	Lady Gaga	1,873,614	Gaga picked up the Academy Award for Best Original Song from her second nomination for "Shallow" for the film A Star Is Born, where she was also nominated for Best Actress.
7	Green Book (film)	1,422,196	The Academy Award for Best Picture, Green Book, directed by Peter Farrelly, is inspired by the story of a tour of the Deep South by African-American pianist Don Shirley and his driver and bodyguard Tony Vallelonga; and his named after The Negro Motorist Green Book (pictured), a guidebook for African-American travellers to help them find motels and resturants that would accept them at a time of racial segregation. The acting of stars Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen is seen as the highlight of the movie, but despite the awards, the film has been criticised by some for advancing a white savior narrative in film, and by Don Shirley's relatives, who were not contacted by studio representatives during development.
8	Irina Shayk	1,176,991	Russian supermodel Shayk is the current partner of Bradley Cooper (#4). Not Lady Gaga, no matter what Oscar viewers may try to convince themselves.
9	Olivia Colman	1,143,884	Olivia Colman, who plays Queen Anne in The Favourite, won the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 91st Academy Awards, wrapping up an awards season that has also seen her win acting awards at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs. Her next big role will also see her play a British monarch, as she takes over as Queen Elizabeth II in the next series of Netflix's The Crown, a role which will almost certainly get her back in this list in a couple of months.
10	The Umbrella Academy (TV series)	1,084,605	Netflix's new superhero series, based on the comic book series of the same name. The ensemble cast is led by Ellen Page and Tom Hopper. The series launched on February 15, and has received mostly positive reviews.

Marvelous Musical March (March 3 to 9)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (March 3 to 9, 2019)

In a way it's a week full of music – a techno singer died (#3), Freddie Mercury (#4) and his friends seem to just keep themselves in the Report, those old claims about Michael Jackson resurfaced (#8, #10), a rock star's comic is adapted, R. Kelly's image is still dirty, the Jonas Brothers reunited, and Lady Gaga is still in the spotlight. Gaga also helps a female presence in the week of International Women's Day (#9), where theaters see the release of a powerful superhero once known as Ms. Marvel (#2, #7), Google honors a female mathematician (#5) ... and on less flattering notes, there are entries with women dying or gathering attention for their love lives. Still, the top entry is another death (#1) the same day as that singer, namely of an actor. A TV host revealing an unfavorable diagnosis (#6), a holiday, a hoax and a sports event complete our list.

For the week of March 3 to 9, 2019, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Views	About
1	Luke Perry	5,363,473	Last week, he had a stroke. And now this actor, who rose to fame in Beverly Hills 90210 (which narrowly missed the list at #26) and was part of the Riverdale cast (and was also a young priest in one of my favorite movies, The Fifth Element) died at the age of 52, being survived by a fiancé and two children.
2	Captain Marvel (film)	2,340,178	11 months after the post-credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War, comes the movie where Carol Danvers, a fighter pilot turned space cop, crashes on Earth in the mid-1990s and shows audiences why Nick Fury, who looks straight out of Die Hard with a Vengeance, would ask for her help to stop a giant purple bastard. Light-hearted and fun like most Marvel Cinematic Universe entries, Captain Marvel already got good reviews and opened to a whopping $456 million worldwide, in spite of the badmouthing by men's rights activists who seemingly can't accept any movie starring a strong woman.
3	Keith Flint	1,739,259	Got a lousy haircut, a really stupid haircut! Rave music owes much to The Prodigy and its two singers named Keith, one of whom tragically hung himself at the age of 49.
4	Freddie Mercury	1,402,368	22 straight reports with the King of Queen! "Are you happy, are you satisfied? How long can you stand the heat?"
5	Olga Ladyzhenskaya	1,121,525	Google honored this Russian mathematician who in spite of a tough childhood, owing mostly to her father being jailed and executed by Soviet authorities who accused him of being an “enemy of the state”, became very prolific and recognized in her field.
6	Alex Trebek	1,039,358	The long-tenured Jeopardy! host announced he is battling pancreatic cancer, but will continue on the show.
7	Brie Larson	997,779	Call me Captain Marvel (#2), eternal light These gravely digs of mine Will surely prove a sight.
8	Michael Jackson	981,146	In June, it will be ten years since the shocking and Wiki-breaking death of the King of Pop. And so apparently it's time to again ignore his awesome music and just claim he was a molester, if Leaving Neverland and its claims by Wade Robson (#10) have a say.
9	International Women's Day	973,486	With women still struggling to get properly recognized, this year had many women forgoing being congratulated on March 8. Hope they at least appreciated that in that same day, a woman was shown to be the most powerful being of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (#2).
10	Wade Robson	948,495	In 2005, this choreographer who worked with Britney Spears and NSYNC testified in favor of Michael Jackson (#8), claiming he never abused him during Robson's childhood friendship with MJ. 8 years later, he changed his mind, as documented in Leaving Neverland.

So many reasons for me to run and hide (March 10 to 16)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (March 10 to 16, 2019)

Captain Marvel is in the lead this week, bringing in its star (#4). And while Leaving Neverland has dropped below the top 25, the King of Pop (#10) who is the subject – and even once owed something to the other royal of the Report, the King of Queen (#8) – is still here. There are some major news events making it into the top 25: airplanes crashing (#2, #19), two actresses who were accused of bribing colleges to accept their children (#3, #5), and a politician declaring his candidacy (#6). A Google celebration of a major anniversary this week (#7) completes the list.

For the week of March 10 to 16, 2019, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Views	About
1	Captain Marvel (film)	2,391,725	I'm not sure if it was intended, but it seems the controversy over this film (spearheaded by some fairly innoccuous comments made by star Brie Larson, which were then twisted out of all recognition by Internet trolls) has given it a massive boost in recognition, with this formerly obscure Marvel Comics character seeing her grosses approach the magic $1 billion number. I haven't seen it myself (the trailers didn't wow me) but from all accounts it seems like a fairly bog-standard Marvel origin story, which, had it not received the "attention" it had, likely would have been regarded as such. Sometimes the Streisand effect is the only antidote to Internet vileness.
2	Boeing 737 MAX	2,123,234	The tragic crashes of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 (#20) and Lion Air Flight 610 led to a mass grounding of this aircraft across the world, even, eventually, in the US, home to the company that manufactures them. Boeing later acknowledged that the causes might include a fault in the aircraft's computer system.
3	Lori Loughlin	1,821,735	The first of several articles on this list related to the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal, arrests having been made this week. (would be #79, if the list went that long). This actress and her husband were both arrested on suspicion of having sent $500,000 to the University of Southern California (disguised as a charity donation) so that the admissions committee would be led to believe that their two daughters would be joining the school's women's rowing team. She got nearly double the views as her fellow TV star Felicity Huffman (#5), no doubt due to the cringe-inducing tweets from Youtube star Olivia Jade, Laughlin's silver-spooned spawn whose entry into said college may have been enabled by the bribes. Li'l Liv doesn't seem to have appreciated her mother's efforts, describing her feelings toward the ultra-exclusive college thusly: "I HATE SCHOOL OH MY GODDDDDDD!"; "I'm too tired; my eyes hurt and I don't want to b at school", and the admirably succinct, "It's so hard to try in school when you don't care about anything you're learning". Thing is, Olivia is a Youtube and Instagram celebrity. She's already successful (for a given value of success) and likely didn't benefit at all from her time at college. So why did she need to go?
4	Brie Larson	1,089,646	The star of #1, whose past experiences include dating a superpowered vegan, being kept captive by a rapist (and winning an Oscar for it) and lending a hand to a giant ape. Also the unwitting instigator of a massive Internet backlash thanks to some perhaps ill-judged but ultimately harmless comments.
5	Felicity Huffman	1,084,725	Like #3, another actress suspect in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal (though a much more acclaimed one, holding an Emmy and an Oscar nom to her name), with the accusation being that she paid $15,000 for someone to take the SAT for her daughter.
6	Beto O'Rourke	980,971	An American politician from the Texas Democratic Party and former punk rocker, who announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2020, and raised $6 million in campaign funds in just a few days. Still, the fact that he lost his Texas Senate race to the distinctly un-charismatic Ted Cruz and said, when asked by Vanity Fair why he wanted to be President, "I want to be in it; man, I'm just born to be in it," has led to some backlash from the true opposition, late night comedians.
7	World Wide Web	978,963	30 years ago this week, on March 12th, Sir Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal for "a large hypertext database with typed links", which became the World Wide Web. Without it, there would be no Wikipedia, nor Google, whose homepage Doodle tradition sent droves over to this article. This week, Sir Tim took the opportunity to lament how his dream of free information for all had been hijacked by anonymous trolls.
8	Freddie Mercury	927,775	The King of Queen rocks the list once again this week, for reasons most likely well drilled into your head by now. But just in case they weren't: there was a movie last November. Then it won a few Oscars. Now people are reading the article about the person the film was about.
9	Deaths in 2019	842,579	The ever-morbid inclinations of Wikipedians reveal themselves once again, this week's casualties featuring a cartoonist and a guitarist.
10	Michael Jackson	749,518	In a world rocked by seemingly constant #MeToo accusations, a documentary entitled Leaving Neverland (which has fallen off this list since its release, but its subject remains here) detailing the alleged sexual abuse of two boys by the King of Pop certainly struck a sensitive note, with many rallying behind the film as an accurate portrayal of the effects of sexual abuse, yet still accessible to the outsiders fortunate enough never to have suffered that way. This type of documentary is bound to produce controversy, though, and produce controversy this did: the directors have received death threats from a few overzealous fans, and critics are split between "this was a necessary movie to the #MeToo movement" and "this is far too biased to qualify as a documentary." The Jackson estate has issued an official release condemning the film, citing a lack of independent evidence and the boys' testimony under oath; a month later they sued HBO for a million dollars, citing a contract from 1992. This entire mess shows (to me) that humans are drawn to scandal and controversy, but what's new?

Us and them, and after all we're only Wikipedian Men (March 17 to 23)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (March 17 to 23, 2019)

New movies helming the Top 25 Report, no surprise, as the horror film Us pushes down Captain Marvel, which is still bringing along its leading star (#19), its franchise (#15) and the next movie (#21). Theatrical releases only bring one more entry for an upcoming release (#14), as TV and streaming bring along their movies and limited series, regarding people doing stuff that God only knows it's not what we would choose to do, such as kidnapping (#2), fraud (#6), murder (#10), heist (#17), and self-destructive hedonism (#12, #18, #20, #22, #23). The views go up and down, with returning entries on the terrorist attack in New Zealand (#7, #8, #25) and an aspiring presidential candidate (#13), and in the end it's only round and round for topics such as recent deaths (#9), India (#4, #16), holidays (#5), wrestling (#24), and in the latest months, Freddie Mercury (#11), which will appear on the list no matter what.

Out of the way, it's a busy day, I've got things on my mind. For the week of March 17 to 23, 2019, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Views	About
1	Us (2019 film)	1,632,199	Comedian Jordan Peele is still strong in his shift to horror, following Get Out (whose script won Peele an Oscar) by writing and directing the story of a family being visited by doppelgängers clad in red with murderous intentions. This intriguing premise managed to beat the sophomore slump, earning an impreessive 95% critic approval on Rotten Tomatoes, while attracting droves of filmgoers – including this here writer, who approves the film even if Get Out was better – to make it #1 in the box office with $71 million.
2	Disappearance of Madeleine McCann	1,338,648	In 2007, a British family vacationing in Portugal had three year old daughter Madeleine suddenly vanish from her room. Everything is still unsolved to this day, as detailed by a Netflix eight-part documentary series, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Hope one day this mystery gets a conclusion, instead of finishing the most depressing way possible.
3	Captain Marvel (film)	1,280,692	Us took the top spot of both the U.S. box office and our Report from the 21st Marvel Cinematic Universe film, and first female-fronted. Just like Wonder Woman, it's a period piece centered around a superpowered woman discovering the human world. The success has also been comparable, if not bigger, as the adventures of Carol Danvers should break $1 billion in the worldwide box office very soon.
4	Manohar Parrikar	1,124,518	Been a while since an Indian subject brought so many views, and the cause is a sad one: the Chief Minister of Goa died at the age of 63 from a pancreatic cancer.
5	Saint Patrick's Day	1,024,573	17 March is the feast day of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, leading people all over the world to celebrate the Emerald Isle by overusing the color green and buying some Guinness.
6	Elizabeth Holmes	946,669	HBO released documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, about this entrepreneur who seemed to be the female Steve Jobs in that she emerged from Silicon Valley wearing black turtlenecks and was raising billions for revolutionary technology – only instead of computers, it was health care, with the most lauded breakthrough of Holmes' Theranos being blood tests that only needed very small amounts of blood. But all turned out to be a huge fraud, leading Holmes to lose her money and her reputation, and now she might even be sentenced to jail.
7	Christchurch mosque shootings	910,872	An armed maniac broke into a New Zealand mosque and killed 50 people, showing that for all the bad Muslim extremists have caused, that's no excuse for other followers of this faith to be targeted by White supremacy and Islamophobia. The country's Prime Minister has been praised for how she's handled the aftermath, announcing a period of national mourning, visiting Christchurch to meet first responders and families of the victims, and promising to introduce stronger firearms regulations.
8	Jacinda Ardern	859,105
9	Deaths in 2019	737,293	If we lose love and self respect for each other,this is how we finally die
10	Murder of Dee Dee Blanchard	720,909	Hulu released The Act, where Joey King (pictured) plays Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who back in 2015, along with an online boyfriend, murdered her abusing mother (portrayed by Patricia Arquette), who spent 24 years fabricating illness and disabilities on Gypsy Rose, subjecting her to unnecessary medication and surgery.

Exclusions

These lists exclude 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 Top 25 Report talk page if you wish.

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