Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero: Comedian Robin Williams' untimely death takes the top spot.
This week's list is dominated by the death of Robin Williams (#1), the famous and unique American comedian and actor. Over 9 million views in a week, an extremely high number. This week no fewer than five of the top 10 articles, and nine of the top 25, are related to Williams. On August 12, when his death was announced, the article had just over 6.5 million views in one day. As far as the Report is aware, the only death to ever exceed that one-day total to date has been Steve Jobs on October 6, 2011, with 7.3 million views. And though you can't rely only on Wikipedia view counts as a measure of popularity, Williams' one-day total also exceeds those of Whitney Houston (February 12, 2012; with 5.97 million) and Michael Jackson (June 26, 2009; 5.88 million).
Perhaps more importantly, Wikipedia view counts surely have far less correlation with a subject's happiness. Did Williams know how universally he was loved? Does it matter? Williams was reportedly suffering from severe depression before his death from asphyxia (#3), and had recently been diagnosed with early-stage Parkinson's disease (#25). A tribute to Williams will be presented at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards on August 25—no doubt one of many. In the 1989 film Dead Poets Society (#14), Williams' character's insistence that his students "carpe diem" (seize the day) is something worth keeping in mind; as Horace originally popularized the phrase in 23 BC: "carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero", or "seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next." This also translates as YOLO in 2014, but the Latin sounds much cooler.
For the full top 25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation of any exclusions.
For the week of August 10–16, 2014, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages, were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robin Williams | 
|
9,164,280 | .jpg) |
The unexpected death by suicide of this iconic comic on August 11 led to worldwide tributes. This article was viewed more than 9 million times this week, which is a phenomenal number—the most viewed article of the week is more normally in the range of 1–2 million views. |
| 2 | Robin Williams filmography | 
|
1,282,620 |  |
Williams' death also led to many remembrances of his popular performances, including his performance as a therapist in Good Will Hunting (1997) which won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as an inspiring teacher in Dead Poets Society (1989), and even his turn in the lead role in 1980's Popeye. |
| 3 | Asphyxia | 
|
1,263,006 |  |
Unfortunately this article comes in at #3, as the cause of death of Robin Williams. The vast majority of these views came on August 12, when news of his death spread. A few attempts by inexperienced editors to add specific mention of Williams in the article were quickly reverted. These readers would be well served to note the extensive categories we have regarding cause of death. Williams has already been added to Category:Comedians who committed suicide, and will likely soon be added to Category:Suicides by asphyxiation. |
| 4 | Lauren Bacall | 
|
1,205,937 | This popular and sultry American actress, best known for her movie performances in the 1940s and 1950s, and as the leading lady to Humphrey Bogart (whom she married in 1945), died on August 12. As her New York Times obituary remarked, her "lasting mystique put her on a plateau in American culture that few stars reach." | |
| 5 | Zelda Williams |
|
968,075 |  |
The daughter of Robin Williams and Marsha Garces, Zelda was made the subject of abuse by trolls on Twitter sending her photoshopped images of her father's body among other evil missives, and then decided to take a break from (anti)social media. Before she left, she shared a post on tumblr that noted: "While I'll never, ever understand how he could be loved so deeply and not find it in his heart to stay, there's minor comfort in knowing our grief and loss, in some small way, is shared with millions." |
| 6 | Ebola virus disease |
|
883,656 |  |
Down from #1 last week, this remains a highly sought-after topic. See also 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak |
| 7 | Yazidi |
|
638,533 |  |
This fascinating ethno-religious group, neither Christian, Muslim nor Jew, but a separate branch of the Abrahamic tree that blends monotheism with Zoroastrianism and the religions of ancient Mesopotamia, have gained worldwide attention at a moment of particular peril, as they face expulsion from their ancient home in Iraq at the brutal hands of the Islamic State. |
| 8 | Power Girl |
|
634,358 | .svg) |
Power Girl is a DC Comics heroine. She has all the powers and abilities of Superman. This article enjoyed a burst of popularity on August 11 and 12, probably in advance of the August 13 release of Worlds' Finest issue number 26, which finally substituted the male fantasy version of Power Girl with someone a bit more 21st century; a hoodie-clad African American woman named Tanya Spears. |
| 9 | Guardians of the Galaxy (film) |
|
581,679 |  |
Dropping from #2 to #9 this week, this 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics series opened in the UK on July 31 and the US on August 1. |
| 10 | Marsha Garces |
|
534,522 | .jpg) |
The former wife of Robin Williams, and the mother of Zelda (#5). On August 16, the article was moved to Marsha Garces Williams, which was a redirect at the time and garnered almost 90,000 views itself on August 12. If we added those to the view count totals, #9 and #10 would switch places. |
Discuss this story
Hit count for Jackson - as I remember it Wikipedia had problems that day? So the hit count would have been much higher! Christian75 (talk) 20:41, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]