Summary: This week belonged to Game of Thrones. A potent presence in the Top 25 since it premiered in March, this HBO TV series grabbed the top three slots this week, and only a tragic suicide prevented it from taking the top 4. The most recent episode, which saw the bloody decimation of House Stark, became an instant water-cooler sensation. The fascination spilled over from the TV series to the still unfinishednovel series (take the hint, George) upon which it is based. Real world politics made a rare return to the Top 25 as well, as the word "Chapulling", an article only created 4 days ago, became a shout of defiance against the tactics used by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan against initially peaceful protesters.
For the week of June 2 to 8, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most trafficked pages* were:
There is no denying it: this epic fantasy TV series is unstoppable. Viewing figures for the third season are up by a million, and the reaction to this week's bloody massacre bodes well for next week's finale.
The young woman who fell more than 10,000 feet from a disintegrating plane and survived, only to have to walk several miles though jungle, became a talking point as a result of a Today I Learned thread on Reddit.
Despite appearing on course to box-office bombhood, having grossed only $50 million worldwide in ten days against a $130 million budget, this remains the most-viewed American movie on Wikipedia.
This social allegory/home invasion thriller had a strikingly good opening weekend, taking in ~$36 million on a $3 million budget, despite poor reviews.
The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones's gangbusting third season; the one showing the so-called "red wedding" and the seeming exit of House Stark from the game.
In the 22 days since its first international release, this movie has grossed $584 million worldwide. So, that's a franchise in rude health then. How rude? Part 7 comes out next year.
This anime series, which reaches its season finale next week, has attained cult status in the Nerdisphere despite never having been released outside Japan.
An article only four days old about a word barely any older, this Anglicised form of the Turkish çapulcu (meaning "looters") was appropriated by the protesters in Istambul's Taksim Square after being described as such by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose adversarial response to the protests has arguably served only to inflame them.
This list is derived from the WP:5000 report. It excludes the Wikipedia main page (and "wiki"), non-article pages, and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish. Standard removals this week include:
Cat anatomy: explanation still unknown for its continuing high view counts
G: This, or alternately G-force, has been in the Top 25 since the list was started at the beginning of the year. The continuing popularity of this article, which jumped in June 2012, has been without explanation. Articles on popular scientific concepts get nowhere this level of viewing based on our analysis to date, e.g., Gravitation (49,516 views from March 3–9), and therefore we have decided to remove it from the list as most likely caused by non-human views.
Cult: Unknown reasons for periodic spikes in popularity
Melanie Maddison: high counts for a redlink are usually due to spambots or pranksters.
Ernst Litfaß: A periodicvisitor to the Top 25, Litfaß (or Litfass) was the German inventor of advertising columns. Whether the views are the work of a spambot with a sense of humour is unknown. The German Wikipedia's version sees no view spike when this occurs.
Hollow Body Guitar (or, alternately Acoustic Electric Guitar): This redirect (capitals included) has occasionally appeared in the top 25, probably due to a sadly confused adware bot.
Specific removals this week (those for which no reason for their sudden popularity could be determined):
Jim Lovell: This all-American hero, made immortal by Tom Hanks in the film Apollo 13, got a massive spike in views on June 2 and 3, for reasons unknown.
Rosetta Stone: The imposing black stele in the British Museum and perpetual metaphor saw an anomalous 1-day spike on June 7; perhaps not coincidentally the day after Rosetta Stone Inc. announced the pricing of its stocks. Since it was only for a day, that might be due to a spambot whose programmer either a) had no idea how Wikipedia works or b) (tragically just as likely) had no idea there was an actual Rosetta Stone.
Second Congo War: The bloodiest conflict since World War II, with up to 5 million dead, has received little attention outside Africa. And then a massive spike on June 4-5 sent it into the Top 25. It would be nice to think that was due to human interest, but as yet we cannot say.
Number of views needed to reach Top 25 this week: 325,607. Last week: 330,123
