A scream breaks the still of the night

Traffic report

A scream breaks the still of the night

By Igordebraga, Vestrian24Bio, CAWylie, Rahcmander, Ollieisanerd

This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Vestrian24Bio, CAWylie, Ollieisanerd and Rahcmander.

You wanna know about atrocity, atrocity (September 15 to 21)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Lyle and Erik Menendez	3,493,715	Oh look, another case of criminals topping this list after a Netflix show. The Menendez brothers were the sons of an entertainment executive who one day in 1989 decided to repeatedly shoot their parents with 12-gauge shotguns, passed as innocent so they could spent the inherited fortune, but the police eventually caught on, arrested them and their 1996 trial sent them into life sentences. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (#8) tells this story, with Cooper Koch as Lyle and Nicholas Chavez as Erik.
2	Sean Combs	1,507,229	As recently sung by Kesha, "wake up in the morning like fuck P. Diddy!" Last year this rapper's former partner Cassie Ventura filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault (and at a certain point security footage of him beating her in a hotel was leaked), other people took the opportunity to also denounce Combs, in March some properties of his were raided by Homeland Security, and now "Puff Daddy" has been downright indicted by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, with allegations his commercial enterprises were used for felonies of their own. Combs has pled not guilty and was twice denied bail, so he remains in a detention center while awaiting trial.
3	Deaths in 2024	976,004	Don't they ever have to worry? Don't you ever wonder why? It's a part of me that tells you Oh, don't you ever, don't ever say die Never, never, Never Say Die! Again!
4	Tito Jackson	818,581	"—I'm Michael Jackson! You are Toto! —You mean Tito! Toto is what we ate last night for dinner." So, right after a jokey lyric in the obituary comes an addition to it. 15 years after the most famous member left this world, breaking Wikipedia along the way, another of The Jackson 5, who in 2012 reunited under their second name The Jacksons, went to attend the Great Gig in the Sky, namely Tito Jackson, at the age of 70. Along with performing Tito helped push more of the Jackson family onto the music business as his sons formed their own group, 3T.
5	Laura Loomer	700,884	This U.S congressional reject remains in the orbit of politics, namely as an influencer to Donald Trump. On September 12, towards the end of the second presidential debate, Trump made the claim of Haitian immigrants stealing pets in Springfield, Ohio, and eating them. This partly arose from Loomer's perpetuating the rumor in social media.
6	Beetlejuice Beetlejuice	693,903	Like on Stranger Things, Winona Ryder plays a mother who sees her child get dragged onto a separate dimension. Only this time around it's a daughter who goes to the afterlife, forcing Lydia Deetz to get help by summoning Beetlejuice (mwahahaha!), still pining for her after 36 years. Along with Ryder and Michael Keaton, there's also the return of Catherine O'Hara as Lydia's stepmom (but not Jeffrey Jones as her father, who gets a gruesome off-screen death given the actor's criminal record) and most importantly of director Tim Burton, along with the addition of Jenna Ortega as the daughter. Reviewers and audiences alike appreciated how Beetlejuice Beetlejuice retained the same funny and outlandish tone of the original, and the film has led the North American box office for three weeks straight while earning over $300 million worldwide.
7	Shōgun (2024 TV series)	675,653	This FX historical drama set in 17th century Japan garnered much praise earlier this year, and has now followed by converting 18 out of 25 Primetime Emmy nominations, the single most awarded season ever, with the wins including Outstanding Drama Series and Best Actor and Actress in Drama to Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai. This probably speaks well of the incoming seasons based on the rest of the Asian Saga. (and given no other Emmy winners came close to entering this week, Baby Reindeer, which like Shōgun appeared a lot in the Report in the first semester, took home Best Limited or Anthology Series, and Best Comedy went to Hacks, beating The Bear, which even the ceremony's opening monologue questioned whether it's a comedy)
8	Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story	617,889	Season 1 of this Ryan Murphy true crime show sullied our humble list by pasting a cannibal dead for nearly 30 years all over our records page and downright as the most viewed page of the year. So I must express a relief that in spite of providing another #1 subject, this time around the numbers won't go as high as Dahmer's did.
9	The Greatest of All Time	614,818	Kollywood Thalapathy Vijay's penultimate film before he moves onto politics, an action thriller film released two weeks ago and that has shattered many records for a Tamil film already. It has so far grossed over ₹450 crore (US$54 million) and has became the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2024 and the third highest-grossing Indian film of 2024. It also became the third highest-grossing film in Tamil Nadu, the fifth highest-grossing Tamil film in overseas, the fifth highest-grossing Tamil film of all time, the 11th highest-grossing South Indian film of all time and the 29th highest-grossing Indian film of all time. It became the fourth film of the actor to reach the ₹300 crore (US$36 million) mark after Bigil (2019), Varisu (2023) and Leo (2023); the actor also became the only Tamil actor to have three consecutive films to do so. It became the sixth Tamil film to reach the ₹400 crore (US$48 million) mark within 11 days of its release. The actor's last film, tentatively titled Thalapathy 69 has been now officially announced as a political action thriller film and is scheduled to be released in October 2025.
10	Agatha All Along (miniseries)	605,989	The 11th television series in the MCU produced by Marvel Studios, via its new Marvel Television label, had its 2-episode premiere last Wednesday; with new episodes set to premiere every week, and a 2-episode finale on the Devil's Night. It follows up WandaVision, which ended with the villainous witch Agatha Harkness being put under a spell that made her think she was a character in an old sitcom. After 3 years, Agatha, still played with scenery-chewing gusto by Kathryn Hahn, gets her own show, where she is taken out of that spell by a goth kid and decides to recruit a new coven to recover her powers before some old enemies (who in the comics are her grandchildren!) come to confront her.

See into my eyes, you'll find where murder lies (September 22 to 28)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Lyle and Erik Menendez	7,386,763	These American brothers who were convicted in 1996 of the murders of their parents managed to top the list thanks to the second season (#5) of the Netflix biographical anthology series which was based on their life story (and if you click the article you might notice the page name is now spelled without an accent).
2	Maggie Smith	3,006,977	Dame Margaret Natalie Smith died at the age of 89, leaving behind a storied career that included two Oscars (Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite) and memorable roles like a Greek Goddess in Clash of the Titans, an elderly Wendy Darling in Hook, a stern nun in Sister Act, a stern witch in the Harry Potter movies, and a witty countess in Downton Abbey.
3	Sean Combs	1,968,290	Last night, I couldn't even get an answer. Well, the answers regarding the rapper also known as Puff Daddy and (P.) Diddy are turning out to be quite unsavory. His success in music and business (he's possibly a billionaire) led to wild "white parties" full of sex and drugs, and many crimes that sent Combs to court, most notably hundreds of accusations of sexual misconduct. The press and social media are also digging up who used to hang out with Combs.
4	Hassan Nasrallah	1,140,433	The leader of #7, a Lebanese militant group designated as a terrorist organization by many countries, was killed once the group's headquarters were bombed by Israel.
5	Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story	1,034,454	The second season of the American biographical crime drama anthology television series Monster, centers on the 1989 murders of José and Kitty Menendez (portrayed by Javier Bardem, pictured, and Chloë Sevigny), who were killed by their sons, #1 (portrayed by Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez). It premiered last week on Netflix and achieved massive viewership numbers, despite being subject to controversies as well. Which means it's just like season 1 two years ago, only this time the Wikipedia views aren't high enough to revolt the writers of this Report.
6	Deaths in 2024	992,961	Jean, Jean, you're young and alive Come out of your half-dreamed dream And run, if you will, to the top of the hill Open your arms, bonnie Jean
7	Hezbollah	807,182	The Israel–Hamas war is close to completing its first year, to the chagrin of everyone not named Benjamin Netanyahu. The Zionist state took the opportunity to retaliate constant bombings by the militant group ruling over neighbor country Lebanon, with actions like the Lebanon pager explosions and the airstrike that killed #4. The international community fears it will escalate to another major armed conflict as some are already predicting a WW3.
8	Murder of Felicia Gayle	751,513	While a journalist being found dead from 43 stab wounds in her own home in 1998, and her killer (Marcellus Williams) was charged, convicted and sentenced to death in 2001, should be shocking in and of itself, his appeals since then, coupled with DNA evidence supporting his innocence and Gayle's family not wanting him to be executed, did not sway the State of Missouri (state seal shown) from ending his life on September 24.
9	Devara: Part 1	751,115	As two Indian films leave the list, a new one enters. Written and directed by Koratala Siva (pictured), this Tollywood action-drama film starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr in his 30th film as a lead actor was released last Friday. This film also marks Saif Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor and Shruti Marathe's Telugu acting debuts. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics and grossed over ₹250 crore (US$30 million) in just 3 days against a budget of ₹300 crore (US$36 million).
10	Daniel Dubois	677,941	"Are you not entertained?", the IBF heavyweight champion shouted to the crowd of 96,000 at Wembley Stadium, after defeating opponent Anthony Joshua on September 21.

The death call arises, a scream breaks the still of the night (September 29 to October 5)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Lyle and Erik Menendez	4,565,092	These American brothers who were convicted in 1996 of the murders of their parents managed to top the list for the third consecutive week, thanks to a Netflix show based on their lives and crime.
2	Kris Kristofferson	2,788,936	The American country music star and actor died on September 28 aged 88. Kristofferson had hits like "Me and Bobby McGee" (which topped the charts when covered by Janis Joplin), was a member of the country group the Highwaymen, and his acting roles include 1976's A Star Is Born, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Blade and the 2001 Planet of the Apes. His death leaves Willie Nelson as the last surviving member of the Highwaymen.
3	Joker: Folie à Deux	1,771,197	While a HBO Max series based on a Batman villain missed out, a film based on another Batman villain has made it to the list. The 2019 Joker film (which is unrelated to both the old DCEU and the upcoming new Rebooted DCU, thus being labeled as DC Elseworlds) had a sequel greenlit within a month of its release as it made over $1 billion and went on to win two Academy Awards, while also managing to be nominated for Best Picture, the first DC film to do so. The sequel has Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role as Arthur Fleck/Joker along with the addition of Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, and somehow the marketing sold Bonnie & Clyde but the film itself was Chicago, a crime/courtroom musical (except in not being a comedy, in spite of the protagonist being a clown!). Just about every critic questioned what director Todd Phillips was doing, and audiences are also not as enthralled by Folie à Deux, with low expectations for the opening weekend's numbers and thus the possibility of the hefty budget that can be as high as $200 million leading to a big box office bomb.
4	Sean Combs	1,310,093	The rapper who once bragged that "It's All About the Benjamins" now needs to see if his fortune estimated near the billion mark can save him from a long stay in prison – hasn't fully worked yet, he was twice denied bail – for a laundry list of accusations, including sex trafficking, racketeering, and overall creation of a criminal enterprise. In the meantime the public discovers which celebrities used to be friends with "Puffy", and musicians like Kesha, Maren Morris and Joe Jonas are removing references to him from their songs.
5	Devara: Part 1	1,211,130	This Tollywood action-drama film starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr (pictured) in his 30th film as a lead actor was released last week and opened to mixed reviews from critics and has so far grossed over ₹370 crore (US$44 million) against a budget of ₹300 crore (US$36 million).
6	Pete Rose	1,188,107	Pete Rose, who died at 83 and was also known as "Charlie Hustle", was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team for a career that included three World Series titles, most notably two as part of the Cincinnati Reds team nicknamed "Big Red Machine". Yet his legacy was tarnished when in 1989 an investigation discovered Rose, then the coach of the Reds, was betting on the team's own games, leading to a permanent ban from MLB and subsequently being ineligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
7	Deaths in 2024	1,088,743	From #2's work: Yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow's out of sight. Lord, it's bad to be alone. Help Me Make It Through the Night.
8	Jimmy Carter	1,040,620	The 39th American president already became the longest-lived U.S. president in 2019, and now, defying expectations after nearly two years in hospice care, Carter celebrated his 100th birthday on October 1, becoming the first former president to reach the age of 100.
9	Dikembe Mutombo	993,594	A Congolese basketballer who died at the age of 58 of a brain tumor. He had a great proficiency in blocks and rebounds, earning him the nickname "Mount Mutombo" and four NBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards; he only couldn't get a championship ring, at most being in the 2001 NBA Finals as part of the Philadelphia 76ers. Dikembe Mutombo was also known for extensive humanitarian work, including financing a hospital in his hometown of Kinshasa which he named after his mother.
10	John Amos	891,050	This American actor died at age 84 in August, but it wasn't announced until October 1 (even his own daughter didn't know). Amos was famous for portraying the adult Kunta Kinte in the TV miniseries Roots, as well as his role as patriarch James Evans Sr. in the sitcom Good Times, a character which was killed off because of Amos' dissatisfaction with how African Americans were portrayed.

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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