Over the mountain, kissing silver inlaid clouds

Traffic report

Over the mountain, kissing silver inlaid clouds

By Igordebraga, Bkissin, CAWylie, Rahcmander, and SSSB

This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by Igordebraga (February 8 to 28), Bkissin, CAWylie (February 8 to 14, 22 to 28), Rahcmander (February 8 to 14) and SSSB (February 15 to 21).

Will it be yes or will it be...sorry? (February 8 to 14)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	James Van Der Beek	4,506,315	Launched to fame in the late 90s as the star of Dawson's Creek and Varsity Blues (though this writer is more fond of Van Der Beek playing a quite funny version of himself in Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23), this actor announced in 2024 he was suffering from colorectal cancer, and last November announced he was selling memorabilia to fund his treatment. Now the disease has taken him at a relatively young 48, prompting a creation of a GoFundMe to alleviate the financial condition of his widow and six children, quickly gathering over $2 million.
2	Jeffrey Epstein	3,689,526	On January 30, the government released a large chunk of the Epstein files (#5), only a month and a half after the legal deadline of December 12. On February 11, Attorney General Pam Bondi (#8) testified before Congress about the release of the files.
3	Bad Bunny	3,541,745	This Puerto Rican singer became the first singer to perform the Super Bowl LX halftime show entirely in Spanish. Lady Gaga and fellow Puerto Rican Ricky Martin also performed with Bunny, who ended his concert with a message of unity for the people of America.
4	Ilia Malinin	2,890,414	After being a part of the gold-medalist American team figure skating event in #6, Malinin was heavily favored to win the men's singles gold. He won the short program but placed low in the free-skate segment, placing 8th overall and later acknowledging that mental errors were due to the pressure to perform well.
5	Epstein files	2,717,569	After last week's release of more files, people are looking into who and what is mentioned within them.
6	2026 Winter Olympics	1,652,207	Italy receives the best athletes in ice and snow sports. Norway leads the medal count with the hosts right behind (two of the golds coming from skater Francesca Lollobrigida, who showed she was not brought down by both age and motherhood winning both the 3000m and 5000m events), and the Scandinavians lost one potential gold to Brazil of all places, as Oslo native Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (pictured) changed allegiance to his mother's nation and won the giant slalom, meaning the first medal for any tropical nation was gold!
7	List of Super Bowl halftime shows	1,539,606	#3 did this year's Super Bowl halftime show, and with it came controversy (including right-wingers organizing their own concert in the All-American Halftime Show). However, he is not the first to perform at the Super Bowl, and not the first to attract controversy, as the list here shows (to the left is the victim of one of those, Janet Jackson).
8	Pam Bondi	1,331,956	The United States Attorney General appeared before Congress last week to answer questions on a variety of topics, including #5 and the ongoing issues with the Immigration policy of the second Trump administration and executive overreach.
9	Ghislaine Maxwell	1,235,678	On February 9, the woman serving jail time for sex trafficking young girls for #2 met virtually with a government oversight committee about the recently released, yet highly redacted, Epstein files (#5). Maxwell invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to prevent implicating herself.
10	Super Bowl LX	1,215,698	#3 had a concert at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, and one of The Bay's biggest bands Green Day opened for them with three poignant songs off American Idiot. There were also some guys playing gridiron football, with the Seattle Seahawks making short work of the New England Patriots.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow (February 15 to 21)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Eric Dane	3,941,614	Last year, this actor best known for Grey's Anatomy, along other roles in TV (Charmed, The Last Ship) and movies (X-Men: The Last Stand, Marley & Me, Bad Boys: Ride or Die), announced he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and this week the highly degenerative disease took his life at 53. The day after his death Netflix show Famous Last Words aired the interview Dane recorded with them, and he'll have another posthumous appearance in the return of Euphoria in April.
2	Robert Duvall	3,353,794	A few days before Dane, a much better known actor died of natural causes at 95. Duvall made his film debut in 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird and made his last film appearances 60 years later in Hustle and The Pale Blue Eye, being most memorable for roles exuding either authority or intimidation (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Falling Down, The Judge), though his only Academy Award came from playing an alcoholic country singer in Tender Mercies.
3	Alysa Liu	3,182,294	Liu, an American figure skater, won individual gold for her free skate in the 2026 Olympics (#7), becoming the first American to win an individual medal in figure skating in twenty years. Many on the internet contrasted her representing the United States with fellow Hapa athlete Eileen Gu (#5), who was also born and grew up in the United States, choosing to represent China on the international stage.
4	Jeffrey Epstein	1,818,465	Nearly seven years after his death, the criminal activities of this financier continue to bring a lot of attention, thanks to the disclosure of #10.
5	Eileen Gu	1,566,022	Four years after becoming the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing at just 18, Eileen Gu came close twice in the 2026 Olympics (#7) with silver medals at both the big air and slopestyle. Having already mocked how JD Vance belittled her for competing for the China of her parents rather than the United States where she was born and raised, Gu offered another good soundbite slamming a reporter who asked if the silvers were "gold medals lost" (and one day after the week covered by the Report, she finally got her gold at the half-pipe).
6	Jesse Jackson	1,450,892	The American civil rights leader and ordained Baptist minister seen as an heir apparent to Martin Luther King, Jr. died this week at the age of 84. Following King's 1968 assassination, Jackson was one of the key voices for African-Americans for over 50 years. He ran for president on two occasions, coming up short each time. While not without his own controversies, Jackson was an early supporter of LGBT rights in the United States and against Apartheid in South Africa. The picture to the left shows Jackson in 2012 speaking to the United Nations.
7	2026 Winter Olympics	1,320,314	Italy receives the best of snow and ice sports in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. Norway led the medal count for the fourth straight edition (including six golds by Johannes Høsflot Klæbo!), followed by the United States, the Netherlands and the hosts. The few Russians and Belarusians allowed to compete had only one silver. And two nations got their first medals, Georgia and Brazil of all places, thanks to Norwegian-Brazilian skiier Lucas Pinheiro Braathen.
8	Rebecca Gayheart	1,245,867	#1 was married for 14 years to this model/actress, with whom he had two daughters. Both worked together once in Grey Lady, where he played her widower.
9	Wuthering Heights	1,210,047	Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy I've come home, I'm so cold... Oscar winner Emerald Fennell adapts a classic novel, featuring Margot Robbie as Cathy, Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, and new songs by Charli XCX (so no cover of the Kate Bush song I just quoted). Reviews were mixed praising the great visuals and acting but less lenient on the story changes, and being a romance (even if a tragic one) released on Valentine's Day weekend, it topped the box office, and has already paid for itself with over $150 million worldwide.
10	Epstein files	1,114,838	The Department of Justice did not release everything regarding the investigation on #4, but 3 million pages is still a lot of content!

Razor's edge, to raise the dead (February 21 to 28)

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Johnny Gaudreau	3,081,328	Once the United States men won the Olympic ice hockey tournament, their first title since the 1980 team that pulled off the "Miracle on Ice" (as well as the first with NHL players), Zach Werenski, Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk did a victory lap carrying the US Team jersey of Johnny Gaudreau, who played with Tkachuk in the Calgary Flames and Werenski in the Columbus Blue Jackets and would've certainly made it to Milan had he not died in 2024, being ran over while biking close to his home. Two of the children of "Johnny Hockey" were also brought into the ice for the celebratory team picture.
2	Ali Khamenei	2,806,610	Not to be confused with Khomeini, who he replaced as Iran's Supreme Leader in 1989, Ali Khamenei served as the head of state and political and religious authority in Iran for over 35 years prior to being killed as part of the 2026 Israeli–United States strikes on Iran on February 28.
3	Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes	2,503,340	"El Mencho" (which is now the page's name, moved in the early hours of March) was a Mexican drug lord and head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the most powerful drug cartel in Mexico. The Mexican Army found out Oseguera lived in a upscale gated residential development in Tapalpa and raided the place, and while he attempted to flee was shot by security forces. The cartel responded to the loss of their leader with blockades and attacks across the country.
4	Robert Carradine	1,907,183	One of many actors in the Carradine family – including Robert's father, two brothers and daughter – Robert Carradine started his career working in two Westerns, an episode of Bonanza and co-starring with John Wayne in 1972's The Cowboys, and followed it with projects as varied as Orca, Coming Home, Revenge of the Nerds, and Lizzie McGuire. Already suffering with bipolar disorder, Robert hanged himself at age 71, leaving three movies yet to be released.
5	Jack Hughes	1,732,558	Chosen first overall in the 2019 NHL entry draft, New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes is a rising hockey star, even if he only played in the NHL postseason once. Called in to represent the United States at the Olympics, Hughes already had 3 points and 3 assists before the final against Canada, where he lost multiple teeth to Sam Bennett high-sticking him in the mouth, only to have the last laugh scoring the overtime golden goal. One of his teammates in the victorious team is older brother Quinn Hughes, who everyone expected to join Jack and youngest brother Luke at the Devils only to bolt for Minnesota instead.
6	Alysa Liu	1,622,879	It's no surprise that these two Olympic champions' page visits nearly mirror each other. Liu, with her halo hairstyle, has literally vaulted her way to most medal podiums in every figure skating event she has entered since 2019, lately becoming the first U.S. women's champion in 20 years at the Milan/Cortina games. Gu began skiing at age 3, and nearly 20 years later, embraced her Chinese-American heritage by representing China at the 2022 and 2026 Winter Olympics. She received three medals in separate events at both, with one gold and two silvers at the latter.
7	Eileen Gu	1,238,154
8	Eric Dane	1,106,653	Fans continue to mourn the loss of this actor who died from ALS, with Grey's Anatomy even dedicating a recent episode to his memory.
9	Deaths in 2026	1,062,754	Who care what happens when I die As long as I'm alive, all I wanna do is rock, rock, rock...
10	Jeffrey Epstein	1,054,083	Haunting his former associates almost 7 years after his death.

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.

Most edited articles

For the February 2 – March 2 period, per this database report.

Title	Revisions	Notes
Deaths in 2026	2465	Along with the all the people in the tables above, the deceased of the period included Brad Arnold, Rondale Moore, and Neil Sedaka .
2026 Israeli–United States strikes on Iran	2319	U.S. and Israeli forces launched airstrikes on numerous sites in Iran, targeting the country's nuclear capabilities, military infrastructure and political leadership, as shown in the assassination of Khamenei.
2026 Men's T20 World Cup	1961	India only had two low-placing athletes at the Winter Olympics, but they didn't care as attentions were instead on hosting their favorite sport. Sure enough, the India national cricket team is a finalist against New Zealand.
2026 Gorton and Denton by-election	1483	A by-election for this parliamentary constituency in the Greater Manchester was held following the resignation of Andrew Gwynne, and Hannah Spencer of the Green Party took his spot in the Parliament.
2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting	1373	A trans woman from British Columbia killed her mother and half-brother at their home before going to a secondary school, where she killed six people and injured twenty-seven others before killing herself.
2025 Bondi Beach shooting	908	The deadliest terrorist attack in Australia's history continues to have repercussions, as the only of the two shooters who survived is kept in a supermax prison.
Epstein files	901	In addition to Prince Andrew's well-known association with Epstein (not to mention Trump), there are plenty of other powerful people named or mentioned in the files.
List of people named in the Epstein files	838
2026 Bangladeshi general election	868	A year and a half after the uprising that took down the government, the South Asian country chose new representatives for their parliament and a proposed Senate.
Nile	820	Noleander is taking his time to Walk Like an Egyptian, making the river that was the foundation of their civilization into a Good Article.
United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics	765	Unsurprisingly, the Americans have as strong a showing as they do in the Summer ones. Though in Milan/Cortina they finished second in the medal table to Norway, who are the best performing country in the Winter Olympics (after all the country is cold and full of mountains; though the Norwegians still need to up their game in the most popular winter team sport...).
Ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament	758	The National Hockey League didn't let its players go to Pyeongcheong 2018 and Beijing 2022 (blame COVID for the latter), but the best of the sport returned to the Olympic ice at Milan 2026. The two countries that comprise the NHL naturally made it to the final, even if both were scared in quarterfinals only finished at overtime (Canada against Czechia and the United States with Sweden). The bronze medal game had the Finland who only lost to Canada in the semifinal's closing seconds - courtesy of a line nicknamed "Mach 3", MacKinnon, McDavid and Macklin - beating Slovakia by the same six goals they ceded to the Americans in the semifinal. The gold medal game had the United States breaking a drought that stood since 1980 and making the gold for both genders of hockey go to the same country.
Restore Britain	743	This right-wing political movement and pressure group has transitioned into a full-on political party.
Timeline of the Gaza war (3 October 2025 – present)	736	The ceasefire is still up, but sadly every day there's a report of more Palestinians dying. And if that wasn't enough Israel decided to attack Iran.
Charles Thau	735	A Good Article was gotten out of a Soviet soldier who fought in World War II and is part of a famous picture where the Red Army meets the Western Allies.