Wikipedia is the best thing ever... Making it even better? Its public list of stats, shedding light on what the collective world is thinking about.[1]
The Popular pages from December 1, 2007, to the present demonstrates human interests during that period. The views data for Wikipedia's first years (2001–2007) is fragmentary and complete data on mobile views is available only since July 1, 2015. This presently (until the age of advanced electronic archeology) precludes the possibility of all-time ranking with the multiyear perspective being the closest we can get to.
The lists below include desktop views since December 1, 2007, and mobile views since July 1, 2015. For consolation, with this data we are very close to the all time ranking and will ever be closer. Wikipedia logged significantly less views before the count started in December 2007. Wikipedia reached the top 10 of Alexa.com in March 2007,[2] only half a year earlier, and before May 2003 Wikipedia had not even been on this list of 3000 websites.[3] Moreover, as views cumulate over time, the pre-2007 views become ever less significant. Even if known, they would not alter either the ranking, or views counted in hundreds of millions.
Being one of the best indicators of "what the collective world is thinking about," the list of most viewed Wikipedia pages receives wide attention in unassociated institutions and external popular media sources. One scholar in 2007 was puzzled why Wikipedia does not offer a “most viewed” or “most popular” feature on its site that can be easily found, as is the case on some contemporary highly visited sites, such as YouTube, Digg or Del.icio.us.[4]
University Degli Studi di Milano created an engine of the complete yearly ranking of all Wikipedia articles for 2014–2020.[5] In 2013, an external media source attempted to determine the 10 most popular Wikipedia pages of all time.[6] The same year the BBC news website published an article discussing most searched Wikipedia articles in 2012 in different languages.[7] Other versions of top-lists for shorter periods are regularly published and discussed by external popular media.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
Sources
Most-viewed pages were detected from earlier lists for shorter periods (named in "See also" and "External links" below) and such engines as Wikitally (existed until 2017) and Massview.[15] Massview counts views by category since July 1, 2015. The number of views for the detected pages were found in Multiyear ranking of Wikipedia pages views.[16] This site gives the approximate number of desktop views since December 1, 2007, and mobile views since July 1, 2015. The site stopped counting by the end of 2019. Views on this site until June 2015 for desktop include bot pageviews, while those July 2015 for both desktop and mobile exclude identifiable bots and spiders (but may still end up counting many views by bots and spiders as legitimate human views). This might explain differences in view numbers between this site and the lists of Andrew West for 2015–2018.[17][18][19][20]
The leading page
The undisputed leader is Wikipedia's Main page, with over 44 billion views as of January 2021 — more than the rest of the Top-100 list combined including non-ranked pages. For comparison, "Baby Shark", which leads YouTube for the most views on that site[21] has over 10 billion views. According to its information page, the Main page was created as Wikipedia marked its first year, on January 26, 2002. Wikipedia:Most popular pages October 2001, however, states that the Main page had existed and led by wide margin already in October 2001. It is not known which pages had led the ranking during Wikipedia's first months, although by the end of the first month (January 31, 2001) the most viewed page was Usenet cabal.[22]
Among the conventional pages with mostly human intentional views (ranked pages below), the United States probably took the lead in the pre-view-count period (2001–2007), as it can be seen in the October 2001 list and featured strongly in all available monthly reports for 2003 and 2004. Having held the first place until January 20, 2021, the US was surpassed by its President, Donald Trump. The US regained the leadership in August the same year.
Early years
In the years 2001–2007, for which only fragmentary data is available (the rank's "prehistory"), three successive waves seem visible. The first dominant group to take interest in Wikipedia seem to be students. The list for October 2001 contains mostly school subjects like mathematics, history, geography, etc. Of these, as of 2021, there is one remnant: the periodic table.
The second wave probably were pages related to the September 11 attacks. They were numerous already in October 2001. The event happened when Wikipedia was only eight months old and these pages probably fast permeated the “all time” list. Of these, as of 2021, there is also one remnant: September 11 attack.
The third wave was sex. Sex-related articles are common in the monthly lists of 2003–2004. Besides Sex, List of sex positions was in the top 10 during 2006–2007. In top 100 pages for this period, 10% pages belong to sexuality (5 times more than to religion).[23][24] In 2019, there were still 5 sex-related articles in the top-100 list, down to 3 in 2020 and down to 2 in 2021.
Two decades after the launch of Wikipedia, however, appeared the main human interest. Certainly it is not studies; nor is it terror and even sex.
First two decades
By Wikipedia’s 20th anniversary (in 2021), it had become clear that the most interesting phenomena for humans are… humans, especially contemporaries and especially when they die.
In total, humans represent over a quarter of all Wikipedia articles.[25] As of January 2021, 63 pages of the top-100 list belong to humans. It was not the case from the beginning. In the October 2001 list, for example, we see one human—the co-founder of Wikipedia Larry Sanger. Within two decades, however, a huge human invasion occurred. Humans came seriously and for long.
Correspondingly, the most interesting object in the Universe for humans is the planet of the humans, provided we disregard Star Wars, Darth Vader and the situation comedy called The Big Bang Theory. Half a millennium after Copernicus and a century after Edwin Hubble, the collective interest remains geocentric.
Top-100 list
(December 1, 2007 – May 1, 2022).
COVID-19 appeared on the all-time list in June 2020; the page did not exist in the beginning of the year. In this respect, COVID-19 is the biggest phenomenon Wikipedia has ever known.
Joe Biden debuted on the list on November 12, 2020. Consolation for Donald Trump, he became the first human to reach 200 million views and overall second only after his country. More consolation for him, on January 20, 2021, he surpassed the United States for the all time lead among the ranked pages in what we know as the first change of the leading page. The 2021 storming of the United States Capitol gave him the decisive push. By notable contrast, his predecessor Barack Obama could not reach the US in two terms.
In 2021, Manchester United became the first sport team to enter the list.
In the first trimester of 2022, Vladimir Putin debuted on the list. Among the non-English speaking politicians, he became the first active state leader, the first living political leader, and overall second only to Hitler. Synchronously Russia progressed 14 places and Will Smith 12 places. It looks as everything aggressive moves up.
- Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Wikipedia special and disambiguation pages and pages with a large percentage of unintentional views are omitted from the ranking.
- ^ a b An artifact that somehow gets logged, sometimes after the data source changed.
- ^ a b c d The consistent popularity of pages like Google, Wiki, YouTube, and Facebook is likely due in part to people accidentally typing these site names into a search engine or address bar when intending to actually visit the sites themselves.[26]
- ^ a b c d A page that logged a large number of automated views.
2020: Event of the year
In 2020 AD, the human penis size descended from the list. Paraphrasing the Book of Samuel,[28] weep ye, daughters of the world, the mighty one has fallen. After nearly two decades, one of the founding members of the top-100 list is no longer with us. A moment of silence.
The fall is part of a broader trend. In 2019, vagina and porn were relegated, while sexual intercourse is expected to follow suit in 2022. Yet, it remains dubious whether the trend represents an improvement in human nature. Among the recent newcomers on the list are Pablo Escobar, Ted Bundy, and Charles Manson. Chronologically, the decline of sex coincides with the count of mobile views.
Countries
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022)
The list includes current member states of the United Nations.
Rank | Page | Views in millions |
---|---|---|
1 | United States | 237 |
2 | India | 151 |
3 | United Kingdom | 133 |
4 | Canada | 106 |
5 | Australia | 100 |
6 | China | 93 |
7 | Japan | 88 |
7 | Germany | 88 |
9 | Russia | 86 |
10 | France | 80 |
11 | Singapore | 74 |
11 | Israel | 74 |
13 | Brazil | 63 |
13 | Philippines | 63 |
15 | Italy | 62 |
15 | New Zealand | 62 |
15 | Pakistan | 62 |
18 | Netherlands | 61 |
19 | Spain | 60 |
20 | Turkey | 58 |
20 | South Africa | 58 |
22 | Mexico | 56 |
22 | Indonesia | 56 |
24 | Switzerland | 54 |
25 | North Korea | 53 |
26 | Sweden | 51 |
27 | Iran | 50 |
28 | Egypt | 48 |
29 | Poland | 46 |
29 | Norway | 46 |
29 | Ireland | 46 |
29 | Iceland | 46 |
29 | Saudi Arabia | 46 |
33-189 | 157 countries | 45-6.2 |
190 | Federated States of Micronesia | 6.0 |
191 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 5.8 |
192 | São Tomé and Príncipe | 5.4 |
193 | Eswatini | 4.6 |
194 | Republic of the Congo | 4.2 |
Cities
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022)
Rank | Page | Continent | Views in millions |
---|---|---|---|
1 | New York City | North America | 88 |
2 | Singapore | Asia | 74 |
3 | London | Europe | 70 |
4 | Hong Kong | Asia | 58 |
5 | Los Angeles | North America | 48 |
5 | Dubai | Asia | 48 |
* | Angelsberg | Europe | 44 |
7 | Washington, D.C. | North America | 43 |
8 | Paris | Europe | 41 |
8 | Chicago | North America | 41 |
10 | Mumbai | Asia | 35 |
11 | San Francisco | North America | 34 |
12 | Rome | Europe | 31 |
13 | Monaco | Europe | 30 |
13 | Toronto | North America | 30 |
15 | Philadelphia | North America | 29 |
15 | Tokyo | Asia | 29 |
17 | Machu Picchu | South America | 28 |
18 | Jerusalem | Asia | 26 |
18 | Amsterdam | Europe | 26 |
18 | Boston | North America | 26 |
21 | Barcelona | Europe | 25 |
21 | Seattle | North America | 25 |
21 | Istanbul | Europe/Asia | 25 |
21 | Berlin | Europe | 25 |
25 | Vatican | Europe | 24 |
25 | Vancouver | North America | 24 |
27 | Shanghai | Asia | 23 |
27 | Pompeii | Europe | 23 |
27 | Venice | Europe | 23 |
27 | Macau | Asia | 23 |
-*Angelsberg is a Luxembourg town of some 300 people. Somehow, it logged 37.0 million views in two months in 2015. That year it was second only to the Main page in the number of views.[29]
Buildings and structures
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022).
-* All BC dates are marked. The rest of dates are AD.
-** A city or former city known mostly for its architecture.
People
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022)
Donald Trump was not in this list in January 2016; however, a year later (upon his inauguration as president), he became the most popular among people. Four years later (upon his impeachment), his page became the most popular overall.
Singers
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022)
The list is primarily made of modern day pop and rap stars with several legends mixed in. Among the names here are Prince and David Bowie who saw many of their page views in 2016 after their deaths.
Rank | Page | Views in millions |
---|---|---|
1 | Michael Jackson | 133 |
2 | Lady Gaga | 124 |
3 | Eminem | 120 |
4 | Justin Bieber | 109 |
5 | Freddie Mercury | 106 |
6 | Taylor Swift | 94 |
7 | Miley Cyrus | 90 |
8 | Lil Wayne | 87 |
8 | Selena Gomez | 87 |
10 | Rihanna | 86 |
10 | Kanye West | 86 |
11 | Tupac Shakur | 83 |
13 | Ariana Grande | 80 |
14 | Jay-Z | 77 |
15 | Nicki Minaj | 75 |
16 | Elvis Presley | 74 |
17 | Katy Perry | 71 |
17 | Madonna | 71 |
19 | Britney Spears | 70 |
19 | Adele | 70 |
21 | Prince | 68 |
21 | David Bowie | 68 |
21 | Jennifer Lopez | 68 |
24 | Demi Lovato | 63 |
25 | Bob Marley | 60 |
26 | Mariah Carey | 59 |
27 | John Lennon | 58 |
27 | Louis Tomlinson | 58 |
29 | Snoop Dogg | 57 |
24 | Bruno Mars | 56 |
Actors
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022)
This list omits actors who are singers in order not to repeat half of the previous table.
Rank | Page | Views in millions |
---|---|---|
1 | Kim Kardashian | 104 |
2 | Dwayne Johnson | 100 |
3 | Johnny Depp | 89 |
4 | Leonardo DiCaprio | 86 |
5 | Angelina Jolie | 83 |
5 | Scarlett Johansson | 83 |
7 | Jennifer Aniston | 79 |
7 | Tom Cruise | 79 |
7 | Arnold Schwarzenegger | 79 |
10 | Keanu Reeves | 78 |
11 | Mila Kunis | 77 |
11 | Meghan Markle | 77 |
13 | Will Smith | 75 |
14 | Bruce Lee | 74 |
15 | Marilyn Monroe | 72 |
16 | Brad Pitt | 71 |
17 | Clint Eastwood | 70 |
18 | Ryan Reynolds | 69 |
18 | Heath Ledger | 69 |
20 | Sylvester Stallone | 67 |
21 | Jennifer Lawrence | 66 |
22 | Emma Watson | 64 |
23 | Mark Wahlberg | 63 |
23 | Robin Williams | 63 |
25 | Megan Fox | 62 |
26 | The Undertaker | 60 |
26 | Tom Hardy | 60 |
28 | Kristen Stewart | 59 |
29 | Natalie Portman | 58 |
30 | Tom Hanks | 57 |
30 | Charlie Sheen | 57 |
30 | Priyanka Chopra | 57 |
30 | Sunny Leone | 57 |
Pornographic actors
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022)
Among musicians and actors there is gender equality in popularity. Sport, politics, crime and history are dominated by males. With the millennial males gradually equaling their female contemporaries, this table remains the only one on this page in which women represent a convincing majority. At least here we see the dream of the Women in Red come true.
Rank* | Page | Views in millions |
---|---|---|
1 | Sunny Leone | 57 |
2 | Mia Khalifa | 45 |
3 | Sasha Grey | 41 |
4 | Jenna Jameson | 30 |
5 | Lisa Ann | 25 |
6 | Chyna | 24 |
7 | Ron Jeremy | 22 |
8 | Tori Black | 16 |
9 | Bree Olson | 15 |
9 | Linda Lovelace | 15 |
9 | Traci Lords | 15 |
12 | Alexis Texas | 14 |
13 | James Deen | 13 |
13 | Janine Lindemulder | 13 |
13 | Stormy Daniels | 13 |
13 | Dita Von Teese | 13 |
13 | Nina Hartley | 13 |
18 | Jesse Jane | 12 |
18 | Tera Patrick | 12 |
18 | Amy Fisher | 12 |
18 | Asa Akira | 12 |
18 | Kayden Kross | 12 |
18 | Riley Reid | 11 |
18 | Julia Ann | 11 |
18 | Jenna Haze | 11 |
26 | Stoya | 10 |
26 | Eva Angelina | 10 |
26 | August Ames | 10 |
28 | Asia Carrera | 9 |
28 | Brandi Love | 9 |
28 | Dani Daniels | 9 |
Athletes
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022)
Some professional athletes—Bruce Lee, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dwayne Johnson—are classified among actors (above), since their popularity is mostly due to their filmographic performance.
- Note
-*Non competitive sport
Modern political leaders
(December 1, 2007 – April 1, 2022)
The list includes political leaders born after AD 1400.
Along the rise of Donald Trump, credit for the 2017 performance must be given to Vladimir Putin--he overtook Sarah Palin for the 23rd place. Palin dropped from the list the following year, mainly due to the mighty advance of the British royal family.
Putin himself approached relegation by the fall of 2021. Desperate for views, he launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and left the experts puzzled why did he invade. The results proved to be better than expected. Having logged about 16 million views in the first month of the war, he secured his place on this list for years and reached the general top-100 list above.
Trump's successor, Joe Biden, debuted on the list in October 2020. By the end of the month, he shared the 22nd place with Stalin. In three more days he reached Margaret on the 21st rank. The next day, the day of election, Biden added 1.8 million views and equaled another British lady, Elizabeth I, in the top-20. The next day, November 5, he joined his predecessor, FDR, on the 19th place. The day Biden was confirmed President, November 7, he logged 3 million views and the next day 4 million and rose to the 9th place.
Nevertheless, those days Biden was not the most popular. He was outviewed by Kamala Harris. Having logged 3.5 million views on November 7 and 6.5 million the next day, she decisively entered the list (at the expense of Che Guevara) to become the second (after Alexander Hamilton) American on the list who is not President. The third became Martin Luther King in March 2022 (at the expense of Osama bin Laden).
The largest gains in 2021 were seen surrounding the British royal family, peaking around the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
In 2022, the Queen passed Barack Obama for the second place.
Projecting the trend of the first two decades of Wikipedia (2001-2021) for two more decades, this list would be limited to US Presidents, the British royal family and Hitler.
Rank | Page | Country | Views in millions |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Donald Trump | United States | 235 |
2 | Elizabeth II | United Kingdom | 160 |
3 | Barack Obama | United States | 158 |
4 | Adolf Hitler | Nazi Germany | 124 |
5 | Abraham Lincoln | United States | 91 |
6 | Joe Biden | United States | 85 |
7 | John F. Kennedy | United States | 84 |
8 | Queen Victoria | United Kingdom | 81 |
9 | Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 80 |
10 | Meghan, Duchess of Sussex | United Kingdom | 76 |
11 | Diana, Princess of Wales | United Kingdom | 75 |
12 | Charles, Prince of Wales | United Kingdom | 74 |
13 | Winston Churchill | United Kingdom | 73 |
14 | Vladimir Putin | Russia | 71 |
15 | Kamala Harris | United States | 69 |
15 | Ronald Reagan | United States | 69 |
17 | George W. Bush | United States | 68 |
17 | Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon | United Kingdom | 68 |
17 | Mahatma Gandhi | India | 68 |
20 | Henry VIII of England | United Kingdom | 65 |
21 | Nelson Mandela | South Africa | 64 |
22 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | United States | 62 |
22 | George VI | United Kingdom | 62 |
22 | George Washington | United States | 61 |
25 | Bill Clinton | United States | 61 |
26 | Elizabeth I | United Kingdom | 57 |
26 | Joseph Stalin | Soviet Union | 57 |
28 | George H. W. Bush | United States | 55 |
29 | Alexander Hamilton | United States | 54 |
30 | Richard Nixon | United States | 53 |
30 | Mary, Queen of Scots | United Kingdom | 53 |
30 | Margaret Thatcher | United Kingdom | 53 |
30 | Martin Luther King | United States | 53 |
Criminals
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022).
Rank* | Page | Views in millions |
---|---|---|
1 | Lil Wayne | 88 |
2 | Tupak Shakur | 83 |
3 | Pablo Escobar | 78 |
4 | Ted Bundy | 76 |
5 | Charles Manson | 63 |
6 | O. J. Simpson | 57 |
6 | Mike Tyson | 57 |
8 | Al Capone | 44 |
9 | Edward Snowden | 41 |
10 | Jeffrey Epstein | 38 |
11 | Ted Kaczynski | 35 |
12 | R. Kelly | 33 |
12 | Ronaldinho | 33 |
12 | Jeffrey Dahmer | 33 |
15 | Bill Cosby | 32 |
15 | John Wayne Gacy | 32 |
15 | Jordan Belfort | 32 |
18 | Roman Polanski | 31 |
19 | Suge Knight | 30 |
20 | Aaron Hernandez | 29 |
21 | Julian Assange | 28 |
22 | Richard Ramirez | 27 |
22 | Zodiac Killer | 27 |
22 | Guy Fawkes | 27 |
22 | 6ix9ine | 27 |
22 | Harvey Weinstein | 27 |
27 | Bonnie and Clyde | 25 |
27 | Richard Branson | 25 |
29 | Jack the Ripper | 23 |
30 | Ron Jeremy | 22 |
30 | Whitey Bulger | 22 |
30 | Tonya Harding | 22 |
30 | Frank Abagnale | 22 |
30 | Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán | 22 |
Pre-modern people
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2021)
This category includes personalities born before AD 1400 (exception is made for Joan of Arc born in 1412) who cannot compete with our contemporaries, like Barack Obama and Michael Jackson. The general top-30 list of people includes 23 living people as of January 2020. This is a feature of the "nascent" Wikipedia. In the course of generations, such top-lists will contain only people passed away, for view-count continues posthumously.
In total, as of October 12, 2019, Wikipedia counts 1,609,522 people.[30] Of them, 929,502 are living,[31] or 57.75% (more than a half). 143,573 more were living in the Wikipedia period,[32] raising the percentage of this period’s people to 66.67 (precisely two-thirds). 341,079 more were living in the century preceeding Wikipedia (1901-2000),[33] raising the percentage of the contemporaries to 87.86. That is, people who lived from the beginning of history until 1900 – 98% of history - constitute only 12.14%.
As of 2021, people born since 1960 AD log as many views as people born before, and the year of parity rises.[34] We are highly tempocentric. Ancestor worship is not our favorite tradition.
Rank | Page | Time | Views in millions |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jesus | 4 BC − 30/33 AD | 55 |
2 | Alexander the Great | 356 – 323 BC | 51 |
3 | Muhammad | 570 – 623 AD | 47 |
4 | Julius Caesar | 100 – 44 BC | 45 |
5 | Genghis Khan | 1162 – 1227 AD | 40 |
6 | Gautama Buddha | 6th – 4th centuries BC | 34 |
7 | Aristotle | 384 – 322 BC | 32 |
8 | Plato | 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC | 28 |
8 | King Arthur** | 5th – 6th centuries AD | 28 |
10 | Joan of Arc | 1412 – 1431 AD | 27 |
11 | Spartacus | 111 – 71 BC | 26 |
11 | Socrates | 470/469 – 399 BC | 26 |
13 | Charlemagne | 742/748 – 814 AD | 24 |
13 | Tutankhamun | c. 1341 – c. 1323 BC | 24 |
13 | Ragnar Lodbrok** | 9th century AD | 24 |
13 | Augustus | 63 BC – AD 14 | 24 |
17 | William Wallace | 1270 – 1305 AD | 22 |
17 | Marco Polo | 1254 – 1324 AD | 22 |
17 | Moses* | 14th – 13th centuries BC | 22 |
20 | Nero | 37 AD – 68 AD | 21 |
21 | Robin Hood** | 12th – 14th centuries AD | 20 |
21 | Caligula | 12 AD – 41 AD | 20 |
21 | Cleopatra | 69 – 30 BC | 20*** |
24 | Alfred the Great | c. 848-899 AD | 19 |
25 | Abraham* | 19th – 17th centuries BC | 17 |
25 | David | 1010 - 970 BC | 17 |
25 | Hannibal | 247 – 183/181 BC | 17 |
25 | Confucius | 551 – 479 BC | 17 |
25 | Henry V of England | 1386 – 1422 AD | 17 |
29 | Marcus Aurelius | 121 - 180 AD | 16 |
29 | William the Conqueror | 11th century AD | 16 |
29 | Richard I of England | 1157 – 1199 AD | 16 |
29 | Pythagoras | 570 – 495 BC | 16 |
29 | Ashoka | 304 – 222 BC | 16 |
29 | Mary Magdalene | 1st century AD | 16 |
29 | Paul the Apostle | c. 5 AD - c. 64/65 AD | 16 |
-*Historicity is unconfirmed by extra-Biblical sources.
-**Historicity is dubious.
-***The number of human mobile views for 2020 and 2021 is unknown. Basing on the previous years, probably 6 million and all time total 26 million.
3rd-millennium people
(December 1, 2007 – April 1, 2022)
Of people born in the 3rd millennium (which is defined here as starting in 2000), the first to receive a personal page in Wikipedia was Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant (born October 25, 2001). Her page was created on August 4, 2003. She was followed by two other princesses later that year: Lady Louise Windsor of Wessex obtained her page on November 26, 2003, at the age of 18 days; the page of Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, was created on December 9, 2003.
Lady Louise Windsor, probably, gained the all-time leadership the following year (2004), as her page was much more viewed during the years we have data (December 2007–present). By the end of 2016, she was 4th in the multiyear list. Lady Louise Windsor was, probably, overcome in 2010 by Willow Smith—the undisputed leader of the 2010s. The page of Willow Smith was created on April 23, 2005 (year and a half after Lady Louise Windsor's). During 2008–2009 the two had similar number of views, while in 2010 Willow Smith counted an extraordinary number of 3,100,000 views.[35] By August 31, 2016, she had total 12 million views, nearly three times more than the closest contender, Jackie Evancho.
In July 2019, Willow Smith was synchronously surpassed by two people, Billie Eilish and Millie Bobby Brown, after leading over 100 months. Billie Eilish was the first to surpass Smith. On 7/24/2019 Millie Bobby Brown passed Billie Eilish in page views, and held the lead until 7/26/2019. She regained the title on 7/29/2019 and held it until 7/31/2019, and Billie EIlish has held it ever since.[36][37]
The undisputed leader of the year 2019 was Billie Eilish. She began the year on the 22nd place and gained the all time lead in July. For 2019, she was the most viewed among living people of all ages and her page was 10th in the general ranking.[38]
In the 2010s, the hereditary princes were gradually overtaken by the "princes" of music and movies.
The first sportsperson to make this list was artistic gymnast Laurie Hernandez. She entered the list in August 2016, peaked at the 19th rank by the end of the year and dropped from the list in June 2018. She was followed and surpassed by LaMelo Ball in December 2017. LaMelo was joined and surpassed by his colleague, Zion Williamson, in 2019. Williamson peaked at the 14th rank in March 2021, then the highest for a millennial athlete. The forth athlete and the first footballer on the list became Erling Haaland in 2020, followed by his teammate Jadon Sancho the same year. By the end of 2021, Haaland surpassed Williamson for the most viewed millennial athlete and by April 2022 shared 12-14th ranks, the highest ever for the category. In September 2021 Emma Raducanu became the first tennis player on the list.
In July 2020, Pop Smoke became the first millennial to enter the list posthumously and the first fatality on the list.
Rank | Page | Views in millions |
---|---|---|
1 | Billie Eilish | 49 |
2 | Millie Bobby Brown | 30 |
3 | Willow Smith | 22 |
4 | Maddie Ziegler | 16 |
4 | Greta Thunberg | 16 |
6 | Jojo Siwa | 16 |
7 | Prince George of Cambridge | 13 |
8 | Lil Pump | 12 |
8 | Bhad Bhabie | 12 |
8 | Noah Cyrus | 12 |
8 | Finn Wolfhard | 12 |
12 | Olivia Rodrigo | 11 |
12 | Erling Haaland | 11 |
12 | Pop Smoke | 11 |
15 | Gaten Matarazzo | 10 |
15 | Charli D'Amelio | 10 |
* | Barron Trump | 9.6 |
17 | Lady Louise Windsor | 9.4 |
18 | LaMelo Ball | 9.2 |
19 | Isabela Moner | 9.0 |
19 | Princess Charlotte of Cambridge | 9.0 |
19 | Zion Williamson | 9.0 |
22 | Jacob Tremblay | 8.6 |
23 | Emma Raducanu | 8.4 |
24 | Jadon Sancho | 8.1 |
25 | Mackenzie Foy | 7.9 |
25 | Mckenna Grace | 7.9 |
27 | Jackie Evancho | 7.3 |
28 | James, Viscount Severn | 7.1 |
28 | Yara Shahidi | 7.1 |
30 | Skai Jackson | 6.5 |
-* Not personal page.
Historical most-viewed 3rd-millennium persons
The following table lists the five persons to become Wikipedia’s most-viewed millennial person, from August 4, 2003 to the present.
Person | Views* | Page creation date | Month achieved | Months held | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant | 1 | Aug 4, 2003 | August 4, 2003 | 4–16** | |||
Lady Louise Windsor | 100,000–200,000** | Nov 26, 2003 | 2004** | 70–84** | |||
Willow Smith | 4,000,000–5,000,000** | Apr 23, 2005 | October – December 2010** | 103–105** | |||
Millie Bobby Brown | 17,300,000 | Jul 22, 2016 | July 2019 | 1*** | |||
Billie Eilish | 17,300,000 | Apr 15, 2017 | July 2019 | 35 | |||
As of 9 June 2022 |
-*The approximate number of views each person had when she became Wikipedia’s most-viewed millennial.
-** Probable estimation.
-***Millie Bobby Brown held the leadership for 4 days in July 2019.[39]
Music bands
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022).
Rank | Page | Views in millions |
---|---|---|
1 | The Beatles | 112 |
2 | One Direction | 61 |
3 | BTS (band) | 57 |
4 | Queen | 53 |
5 | Pink Floyd | 48 |
6 | Metallica | 47 |
7 | Linkin Park | 45 |
8 | Exo (band) | 44 |
9 | Led Zeppelin | 42 |
10 | Red Hot Chili Peppers | 40 |
11 | AC/DC | 39 |
12 | The Rolling Stones | 36 |
13 | Coldplay | 35 |
14 | Daft Punk | 34 |
15 | Slipknot | 33 |
16 | Jonas Brothers | 32 |
16 | Nirvana | 32 |
18 | Green Day | 31 |
18 | Guns N' Roses | 31 |
18 | Fleetwood Mac | 31 |
21 | Bee Gees | 30 |
21 | ABBA | 30 |
21 | Spice Girls | 30 |
24 | Iron Maiden | 29 |
24 | Gorillaz | 29 |
24 | Backstreet Boys | 29 |
27 | Girls' Generation | 28 |
27 | Kiss | 28 |
27 | Foo Fighters | 28 |
30 | N.W.A | 27 |
Sport teams
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022).
The list is overwhelmingly dominated by association football teams. Notable among American sports teams is the Golden State Warriors, whose page views came heavily from 2016–2019.
Rank | Page | Views in millions |
---|---|---|
1 | Manchester United F.C. | 73 |
2 | FC Barcelona | 55 |
3 | Chelsea F.C. | 53 |
4 | Real Madrid C.F. | 51 |
5 | Arsenal F.C. | 50 |
6 | Liverpool F.C. | 49 |
7 | Manchester City F.C. | 37 |
8 | Tottenham Hotspur F.C. | 32 |
9 | England national football team | 30 |
9 | Juventus F.C. | 30 |
11 | Brazil national football team | 29 |
11 | A.C. Milan | 29 |
13 | FC Bayern Munich | 27 |
14 | New England Patriots | 26 |
14 | Germany national football team | 26 |
16 | Paris Saint-Germain F.C. | 24 |
16 | Los Angeles Lakers | 24 |
18 | Argentina national football team | 22 |
18 | Spain national football team | 22 |
20 | Golden State Warriors | 21 |
20 | Borussia Dortmund | 21 |
20 | France national football team | 21 |
23 | Italy national football team | 19 |
24 | Leicester F.C. | 18 |
24 | Green Bay Packers | 18 |
24 | Newcastle United F.C. | 18 |
24 | West Ham United F.C. | 18 |
24 | Inter Milan | 18 |
24 | Rangers F.C. | 18 |
30 | Aston Villa F.C. | 17 |
30 | Chicago Bulls | 17 |
30 | New York Yankees | 17 |
Films and TV series
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022).
TV series clearly has the upper hand to film, for the most part.
Rank | Page | Views in millions |
---|---|---|
1 | Game of Thrones | 116 |
2 | The Big Bang Theory | 100 |
3 | Star Wars | 90 |
4 | The Walking Dead | 85 |
5 | How I Met Your Mother | 83 |
6 | Breaking Bad | 79 |
7 | Glee | 71 |
8 | Grey's Anatomy | 69 |
9 | Doctor Who | 67 |
10 | Friends | 59 |
11 | The Avengers | 58 |
12 | Naruto | 57 |
13 | Avatar | 56 |
14 | Avengers: Endgame | 55 |
15 | Lost | 54 |
16 | Dexter | 53 |
16 | Family Guy | 53 |
18 | House | 51 |
18 | X-Men | 51 |
20 | Avengers: Infinity War | 50 |
20 | Titanic | 50 |
20 | The Vampire Diaries | 50 |
23 | The Simpsons | 48 |
23 | The Dark Knight Rises | 48 |
25 | American Horror Story | 47 |
25 | Arrow | 47 |
25 | Sherlock | 47 |
25 | Sons of Anarchy | 47 |
29 | Modern Family | 46 |
29 | NCIS | 46 |
Albums
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022).
Singles
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022).
Books and book series
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022).
Naruto is classified as a TV series (above) as it is more popular as an anime, and there is no separate page for the manga. Books with film/TV adaptations are listed below, as many of the links below are franchise pages. Note that A Song of Ice and Fire's popularity is considerably outstripped by that of its TV adaptation Game of Thrones.
Rank | Page | Views in millions |
---|---|---|
1 | Harry Potter | 86 |
2 | A Song of Ice and Fire | 52 |
3 | Fifty Shades of Grey | 51 |
4 | The Hunger Games | 49 |
5 | The Great Gatsby | 36 |
6 | Nineteen Eighty-Four | 35 |
7 | The Lord of the Rings | 34 |
8 | A Game of Thrones | 28 |
8 | Kama Sutra | 28 |
10 | The Handmaid's Tale | 27 |
10 | To Kill a Mockingbird | 27 |
12 | Les Misérables | 26 |
13 | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | 25 |
14 | Pride and Prejudice | 24 |
14 | Watchmen | 24 |
14 | The Winds of Winter | 24 |
17 | Inferno | 23 |
17 | The Catcher in the Rye | 23 |
19 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | 22 |
20 | Frankenstein | 21 |
20 | Lolita | 21 |
20 | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | 21 |
23 | Dune | 20 |
23 | Bible | 20 |
23 | The Hobbit | 20 |
23 | The Picture of Dorian Gray | 20 |
23 | Brave New World | 20 |
23 | Animal Farm | 20 |
29 | Dracula | 19 |
29 | It | 19 |
29 | Don Quixote | 19 |
Pre-modern books and texts
(December 1, 2007 – January 1, 2022).
This list includes books and texts composed before 1500 AD.
It has been widely argued that Bible is the all time best seller, followed by Quran.[40] The perspective below however reveals a more popular ancient text.
Rank | Page | Civillization | Views in millions |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Kama Sutra | India | 28 |
2 | Magna Carta | Britain | 25 |
3 | Inferno (Dante) | Italy | 23 |
4 | Bible | Israel | 20* |
5 | Odyssey | Greece | 18 |
6 | Beowulf | Britain | 17 |
6 | Quran | Caliphate | 17 |
8 | Rosetta Stone | Egypt | 16 |
8 | Mahabharata | India | 16 |
10 | Divine Comedy | Italy | 15 |
10 | Iliad | Greece | 15 |
12 | Ramayana | India | 13 |
13 | The Art of War | China | 12 |
13 | Epic of Gilgamesh | Mesopotamia | 12 |
15 | Vedas | India | 11 |
15 | The Canterbury Tales | Britain | 11 |
17 | One Thousand and One Nights | Caliphate | 10 |
18 | Talmud | Israel | 9.4 |
19 | Code of Hammurabi | Mesopotamia | 9.0 |
20 | Oedipus the King | Greece | 7.1 |
21 | I Ching | China | 7.0 |
22 | Aeneid | Rome | 6.2 |
23 | Rigveda | India | 6.1 |
24 | Book of the Dead | Egypt | 5.9 |
25 | Domesday Book | Britain | 5.7 |
26 | Tao Te Ching | China | 5.5 |
27 | Upanishads | India | 5.2 |
28 | Cupid and Psyche | Greece | 4.4 |
29 | The Decameron | Italy | 3.7 |
30 | Lysistrata | Greece | 3.6 |
30 | Titanomachy | Greece | 3.6 |
-*Since 2019, Bible has logged large number of automated desktop views. The over 95% disparity between desktop and mobile views is, in the opinion of experts,[41] a clear indication of “non-human views” (divine views in the case?). For this reason, the number of views here excludes the desktop views for 2019 - 2021. Basing on the Bible traffic before the “divine intervention,” (7 to 10 correlation between desktop and mobile respectively views) the correct number of views for Bible is probably 21 or 22.
See also
- Did you know/Statistics
- Lists of popular pages by WikiProject
- Most popular pages October 2001
- Historical popular pages
- 2003: Oct.
- 2004: Mar. through Sep.
- 2008: May.
- Most read articles in 2008
- Most read articles in 2009
- Most read articles in 2010
- Top 25 Report
- Zeitgeist 2008-2013
- Popular pages by Andrew West for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
- Popular pages by Andrew West for the past week - inactive since February 7, 2020.
References
- ^ Ethan Wolff-Mann, a former Deputy Editor of Supercompressor, Thrilist, https://www.thrillist.com/tech/the-most-popular-articles-on-wikipedia-in-august-2014
- ^ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia.org_is_more_popular_than...
- ^ Wikipedia:Milestones 2003 entry for May 22
- ^ Anselm Spoerri, "What is Popular on Wikipedia and Why," First Monday, 2007, https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1765/1645
- ^ The engine allows to chart pages by categories and rank pages by views, links, or combination of both ("harmonic centrality"). "The Open Wikipedia Ranking," http://wikirank.di.unimi.it/faq.html
- ^ "The 10 Most Popular Wikipedia Pages of All Time," http://heavy.com/social/2013/05/10-most-popular-wikipedia-pages-ever/
- ^ “Wikipedia’s most searched articles of the year revealed,” ‘’BBC news’’, http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-20858333
- ^ Most visited Wikipedia articles by language in 2015," Pewresearch, http://www.pewresearch.org/2016/01/14/wikipedia-top-10/
- ^ "The top-viewed Wikipedia page for every day of 2014," Quartz, http://qz.com/322155/the-top-viewed-wikipedia-page-for-every-day-of-2014/
- ^ "The Most Popular Pages on Wikipedia in 2012: Facebook, One Direction and … Cul De Sacs?" AllthingsD.com, http://allthingsd.com/20121227/the-most-popular-pages-on-wikipedia-in-2012-facebook-one-direction-and-cul-de-sacs/
- ^ "Wikipedia's Most Popular Pages, in 35 Languages," Citylab, http://www.citylab.com/tech/2012/12/wikipedias-most-popular-pages-35-languages/4281/
- ^ John R. Quain, "What I learned from Wikipedia's most popular articles of 2012," FoxNews.com, January 02, 2013, http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/01/02/what-learned-from-wikipedia-most-popular-articles-2012.html\
- ^ "The Top 100 Most Viewed Articles on Wikipedia During 2013," InfoDocket Library Journal, http://www.infodocket.com/2013/12/31/the-top-100-most-viewed-articles-on-wikipedia-during-2013/
- ^ "Wikipedia's most-viewed articles in 2012 were..." CNet, http://www.cnet.com/news/wikipedias-most-viewed-articles-in-2012-were/
- ^ https://tools.wmflabs.org/massviews/
- ^ http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php. Stopped count by the end of 2021
- ^ User:West.andrew.g/2015 Popular pages
- ^ User:West.andrew.g/2016 Popular pages
- ^ User:West.andrew.g/2017 Popular pages
- ^ User:West.andrew.g/2018 Popular pages
- ^ List of most viewed YouTube videos,
- ^ "All-time" in this case means 16 days. stats.wikimedia.org: ZeitGeist.
- ^ Anselm Spoerri, "What is Popular on Wikipedia and Why," First Monday, 2007, https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1765/1645
- ^ Chris Harrison, "Wikipedia top 50," 2007, https://chrisharrison.net/projects/wikitop/Top50Final2high.png
- ^ As of January 1, 2021, 1,779,203 people out of 6,047,509 articles. http://wikirank-2020.di.unimi.it/?search=human&type=harmonic&pageSize=10
- ^ Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-02-04/Special report
- ^ The page was renamed twice and each time began new count. Here the lost views are included. The original title was Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak and then 2019-20 Coronavirus pandemic.
- ^ 2 Samuel 1:19, 24.
- ^ User:West.andrew.g/2015 Popular pages
- ^ http://wikirank-2019.di.unimi.it/?search=human&type=harmonic&pageSize=10
- ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Living_people
- ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:21st-century_deaths
- ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:20th-century_deaths
- ^ Wikipedia categories for people born by period (year/decade/century/millennium) counted by the massview tool, https://pageviews.toolforge.org/massviews/
- ^ http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php
- ^ "Billie Eilish Pageviews Analysis". WMF Labs.
- ^ "Millie Bobby Brown Pageviews Analysis". WMF Labs.
- ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:West.andrew.g/2019_Popular_pages
- ^ See references 36 and 37
- ^ "guinnessworldrecords""Best selling book of non-fiction". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- ^ Wikipedia:Top 25 Report; User:Igordebraga; User:Kingsif.
External links
- ZeitGeist (stats.wikimedia.org)
- Wikipedia Trends at WikiShark
- The Open Wikipedia Ranking (2015–2021)
- Massviews Analysis (pageviews.toolforge.org)
- Top 50 pages for August 2006 - May 2007, https://chrisharrison.net/projects/wikitop/Top50Final2high.png
- The 50 most-viewed Wikipedia articles in 2009 and 2008 (The Daily Telegraph)