¡Viva la Revolución! Kinda.: This week, drug lord and wannabe Bolivar Pablo Escobar was joined by a whole host of somewhat more primetime-friendly political insurgents.
This week, drug lord and wannabe Bolivar Pablo Escobar was joined by a whole host of somewhat more primetime-friendly political insurgents, as the tidal wave of anger against the managerial styles of many political parties finally seemed to be bearing fruit across the world. Eleven people took part in this week's Republican US Presidential debate, but the only ones who made it on this list were those with no prior political experience. The debate saw Carly Fiorina, who had fought to be included, rise to second place in the polls. In Australia, Malcolm Turnbull staged an uprising from within and swiped the throne from Tony Abbott.
For the full top-25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation of any exclusions. For a list of the most edited articles of the week, see here.
As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of September 13 to 19, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pablo Escobar | 
|
1,111,040 | Holding steady in the top spot for a third week (down by about 300,000 views). The Capone of cocaine shot from the bottom to the top of this list two weeks ago, thanks to the Netflix series Narcos, which charts his rise, brutal rule, and (presumably, at some point) bloody end. It is odd that the Colombian drug lords haven't been romanticised as their Italian Chicago predecessors were. Perhaps it's simple xenophobia, or more likely, because we are so much more aware of how barbaric they were. | |
| 2 | Carly Fiorina | 
|
1,026,856 |  |
The media's declared "winner" (if there can be such a thing) of Wednesday's second Republican US Presidential debate, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California and hosted by CNN. Having fought fiercely to be included in the main debate, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO held a steady course that night, keeping herself stern and no-nonsense, even when confronted yet again with Donald Trump's now legendary description of her in Rolling Stone: "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!" When asked during the debate to comment on Trump's backtrack that he was referring to her "persona", Fiorina countered coolly, "I think women all over this country heard what Mr. Trump said.". It worked; polls now show Trump has slumped, while she has shot to 2nd place. |
| 3 | Whitey Bulger |
|
954,479 |  |
Interest in this Boston Irish mobster, brother of a state senator and coddled FBI informant has skyrocketed thanks to the trailer for the film Black Mass, which features a bonechilling performance by Johnny Depp, playing a particularly icy variation of Joe Pesci's "You think I'm funny?" scene in Goodfellas. The trailer led to a respectable $23 million opening weekend gross. |
| 4 | Mia Khalifa |
|
729,528 |  |
The Lebanese American porn star (she is apparently the most viewed star on PornHub, thanks largely to the support of patriotic Lebanese) got into a bit of bother with a fifth of the world's population this week when, after a hack of her Instagram account falsely claimed she would be appearing on the Indian version of Big Brother, she huffily replied on social media that she was "never stepping foot in India". This of course led to massive backlash from that proud and still largely sexually conservative nation, one she has yet to comment on. |
| 5 | Donald Trump |
|
688,313 |  |
For a moment there it looked as if the Donald was done, at least as far as this list was concerned; hovering above relegation last week, his numbers doubled after this week's latest Republican debate. His performance was not praised, and may have cost him in the polls, but if his rise has taught us anything, it's that there is no such thing as bad publicity – provided you don't care. |
| 6 | Malcolm Turnbull |
|
570,503 |  |
In one of those Shakespearean coups that make parliamentary democracies so interesting, the erstwhile Australian Minister for Communications launched a bid to replace then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott, on the (arguably correct) grounds that he had become an electoral liability. The bid succeeded, granting Turnbull the dubious honour of being the third person in six years to govern Australia without a mandate. Only time will tell if he outperforms his predecessors, though if recent history is anything to go by, not much time. |
| 7 | Fool's Gold Loaf | 
|
560,787 | .jpg) |
American cuisine has a habit of sacrficing pleasure on the altar of pure calories, and this delicacy of the Colorado Mine Company restaurant in Denver, is no exception. It consists of a hollowed loaf of bread filed with an entire jar of peanut butter, an entire jar of jelly, and a pound of bacon, and costs $65, hence its name. Despite this, Elvis Presley once flew from his home in Tenneseee to Denver at midnight, just to try it, as learned on a Reddit thread this week. |
| 8 | Deaths in 2015 | 
|
553,372 |  |
The viewing figures for this article have been remarkably constant; fluctuating week to week between 450 and 550 thousand on average, apparently heedless of who actually died. |
| 9 | Moses Malone |
|
536,211 |  |
The six-foot, ten-inch 12-time NBA All-Star and three-time MVP, who finished his career with a record 7,382 offensive rebounds, died in his sleep this week at the relatively young age of 60, of heart failure. |
| 10 | Ben Carson |
|
529,336 |  |
The soft-spoken neurosurgeon and Republican Presidential candidate (much like Trump and Fiorina, he has yet to hold political office, which appears to be a boon in this race) has seen his viewing numbers jump by more than 50% since the last debate, even as his polls decline slightly in favour of Carly Fiorina. Thanks to his appeal to his party's religious conservative base, he has been nipping at Trump's heels for weeks now, and even scored a point for rational skepticism during the debate by showing Trump up on his belief in the old myth about vaccines causing autism. He still managed to flub it a bit with the odd addendum that parents should have the option to exclude those vaccines that "[don't] prevent death or crippling," despite there being no such vaccines, since all the diseases we vaccinate against can cause death or crippling. |
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