Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-03-28/Traffic report

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Traffic report

Wanda, Meghan, Liz, Phil and Zack

This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by Igordebraga and Mcrsftdog.

Now it's officially a year since the start of the lockdown that won't end, specially for those unfortunate enough to not have expectations for when to get vaccinated or see businesses open again because the guys in charge are incompetent idiots. The end of this "new normal" can't come soon enough, as all the top articles in this Report relate to television and streaming programmes!

I will sit right down, waiting for the gift of WandaVision (February 28 to March 6)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (February 28 to March 6, 2021)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 WandaVision 1,730,441 This Disney+ original series released its finale on Friday. While WandaVision started out as a mysterious "Lynchian" sitcom, it eventually devolved into an MCU action film – but what were you really expecting?
2 Coming 2 America 1,108,191 Prince Akeem returned to Queens after 32 years on Prime Video (another victim of the goddamned pandemic taking movies out of theaters). Reviews were mixed, but at least better than other decades-apart-sequel comedies such as Dumb and Dumber To, Zoolander 2 and Bad Santa 2
3 Deaths in 2021 948,195 Goodbye my friend it's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky...
4 Dr. Seuss 786,863 Seuss drew a few racist caricatures in his day, which led a Virginia school district to not program its Read Across America Day (which is held on his birthday, March 2) around his works. Soon after that, Seuss's publisher announced that it was dropping 6 titles – none too significant in the Seuss "canon," but all containing racist caricatures – from its catalog. The American right wing, presumably bored out of their mind, has turned Seuss getting "cancelled" into a several day controversy.
5 Andrew Cuomo 721,171 New York's governor earned a reputation during the early stages of lockdown as a strong leader and a truth teller, in contrast to whatever Trump was doing that day. While journalists were busy proposing to him, Cuomo was sending 4,500 COVID patients into nursing homes. Oddly enough, allegedly killing thousands of old people and then allegedly covering up the numbers isn't why he's on the list – this week, he's on the receiving end of three sexual harassment allegations. While some New York Democrats have called on him to resign, he might be able to, Northam-like, moonwalk his way out of this.
6 Billie Holiday 710,997 Andra Day got a Golden Globe for Best Actress for playing Holiday in The United States vs. Billie Holiday.
7 Ginny & Georgia 636,585 In one scene of this Netflix show, one character says "You go through men faster than Taylor Swift." Swift fired back, calling the joke "deeply misogynistic" (debatable) and outdated by a decade (obviously true.)
8 78th Golden Globe Awards 613,356 One of many annual TV and film award shows was held remotely on Sunday night. Among the winners was Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (pictured when he won the prize for the first movie).
9 Raya and the Last Dragon 566,784 You thought Mulan charging a bonus on Disney+ was a one time deal? No, because Disney's newest animated feature offered alongside the sadly still limited theatrical release a streaming alternative for $30! Which is why in spite of the positive reviews this here writer chose to wait to watch the princess (well, chieftain's daughter, like Moana) who befriends a dragon until he wasn't being gouged for it.
10 Elizabeth Olsen 566,636 People who watched films like Ingrid Goes West already knew the Scarlet Witch was a good actress, but #1 had an emotional journey that really showcased her skills. Lizzie certainly beat Mary-Kate and Ashley in many regards!

And we'll never be royals (March 7 to 13)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (March 7 to 13, 2021)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex 3,328,817 Meghan married Harry (sixth in line to the British throne) in 2018; by 2020, the couple was making plans to leave the royal family and move to America. On Monday, a tell-all interview with Oprah aired, with Meghan and Harry detailed the racism faced from the British press and the royal family itself. As expected when the monarchy enters the news, lots of its members earned entries on the Report, including the previous highly publicized case of problems within the royal family, Harry's mother – but when Diana left, she went alone, without Charles.
2 Elizabeth II 1,853,347
3 Diana, Princess of Wales 1,692,599
4 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex 1,605,555
5 Charles, Prince of Wales 1,240,394
6 Coming 2 America 1,145,665 Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall are back as two members of an African royal family (plus a lot of extra roles!) in the sequel to 1989's Coming to America, which hit Amazon Prime Video and has had a divisive reception.
7 WandaVision 1,011,725 The final episode aired last week, which means that the Report has a brief respite from weekly Marvel movies (brief being the operative word – The Falcon and the Winter Soldier airs its first episode next week).
8 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh 957,570 The Commonwealth's prince consort has been in the hospital for nearly a month; currently, he's recovering from a successful heart operation. His spot on this list probably owes more to #1 than anything else.
9 Deaths in 2021 891,714 The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it, anyway...
10 Piers Morgan 858,927 The controversial TV personality was formerly a friend of #1. After the interview, he went on air doubting her claims; he refused to apologize, and was soon forced off Good Morning Britain.

Unite the League (March 14 to 20)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (March 14 to 20, 2021)


Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Zack Snyder's Justice League 3,110,374 All the cries of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut were filled, at the asking price of an HBO Max subscription and 4 hours to kill. Reviews were positive, even if the indulgent nature of this superhero project (again: the thing lasts 4 hours!) is a contentious point.
2 Death of Sarah Everard 1,160,636 A vigil in memory of Everard, who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by a Metropolitan Police officer earlier this month, was met with police violence. One proposed government policy was placing undercover cops in clubs to protect women from sexual assault – which would not have helped Everard, who wasn't at a club and was (allegedly) murdered by a police officer. Another associated news story is a proposed bill that would criminalize protests that cause a "serious annoyance."
3 Saint Patrick's Day 1,103,560 The goddamned pandemic that just won't leave escalated last year in time to cancel festivities for this Irish-themed celebration. And now it's time for St. Paddy's Day again, only people are still asked not got to the pub and aren't needing further excuse to get drunk.
4 Elizabeth II 1,069,456 Her Majesty continues to endure crisis meetings following Oprah with Meghan and Harry, and also had a videoconference with the Royal Voluntary Service to thank for their contributions during this chaotic year.
5 Justice League (film) 994,058 One of the most chaotic productions in recent memory, with Zack Snyder leaving once his daughter killed herself, Joss Whedon being brought in to finish the movie (and clashing with some of the cast along the way), Henry Cavill having his mustache erased with dodgy CG, the studio interfering a lot – including the executives not changing the release date so they'd still receive their cash bonuses... no wonder that when Justice League arrived in theaters in 2017, it had mixed reviews (though this here writer felt it was OK, specially considering it tried to be straightforward and fun, instead of a joyless mess like Batman v. Superman) and managed the feat of grossing $657 million worldwide and still be considered a failure. Snyder was given $70 million to finish his previously intended cut, and it was just released (#1).
6 Deaths in 2021 916,076 I won't stay quiet, I won't stay quiet
Cause staying silent's the same as dying
7 Marvelous Marvin Hagler 861,762 This boxer died suddenly on March 13. Conspiracy theories spread that the death was caused by a COVID vaccine, but his widow refuted these claims.
8 The Falcon and the Winter Soldier 835,851 After WandaVision, it's time for another Marvel show on Disney+, this time focusing on Captain America's biggest friends who even took on his name for a while, the pilot who doesn't fly aircraft, and the amputee centenarian who doesn't look a day over 35.
9 63rd Annual Grammy Awards 783,965 The annual music awards were held with a different approach, featuring both pre-recorded and live performances, nominees actually at the Los Angeles Convention Center or attending virtually, etc. Beyoncé took home four awards, Taylor Swift had Album of the Year for Folklore and a standout of the night was English singer Dua Lipa, who got Best Pop Vocal Album for Future Nostalgia and had a show-stopping, sensuous performance.
10 Dua Lipa 745,255
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (March 21 to 27, 2021)

Fight like a brave, don't be a slave (March 21 to 27)

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Zack Snyder's Justice League 2,122,456 On one hand, the film is more consistent and the added content fleshes out characters such as Cyborg and Steppenwolf. On the other hand, it's also consistently too grim (the washed colors and moody soundtrack help) and the amount of slow motion is abusive. Still, a valid if overlong effort. Now let's see what lies ahead for the DC Extended Universe, no matter if fans now gripe #RestoreTheSnyderverse.
2 Suez Canal 1,503,169 The canal, connecting the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, has been an important shipping route since its construction in the 19th century. Also, somebody got a really big boat stuck in the middle of it on Tuesday, costing the world economy billions of dollars for every day it's stuck.
3 Aimee Challenor 1,349,333 Challenor used to be an activist working with England's Green Party and later the Liberal Democrats, but left the country after two separate controversies concerning pedophilia. She later got a job at Reddit, where a user revolt got her fired on Wednesday.
4 Godzilla vs. Kong 1,272,483 The most important kaiju crossover since 1962 was released in non-American theatres on Wednesday. Its domestic theatrical release – coupled with a release on HBO Max – will be on March 31.
5 Deaths in 2020 983,582 See you in heaven if you make the list.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
6 Aretha Franklin 978,815 A season of Nat Geo's Genius, telling the life story of Franklin, wrapped up on Wednesday.
7 Jessica Walter 943,339 Walter, best remembered for playing Lucille Bluth on Arrested Development, passed away on Wednesday.
8 The Falcon and the Winter Soldier 833,165 Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes still arrive with their show every week on Disney+. And in sad news for Marvel fans, Natasha Romanoff's movie was postponed to July and will also be available in that service for a $30 surplus for those unwilling to attend a theatrical exhibition.
9 Ever Given 804,348 The big boat that got stuck in #2.
10 George Segal 789,529 This actor with a long career in both TV and film died at the age of 87 due to complications from bypass 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.