Fights and frights: Boxing, hurricanes, clowns, and more!
The Big Ol' Bout To Knock The Other Guy Out makes its presence felt on this list, with the two protagonists, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor taking the top two spots, and the fight itself in fifth. The fight does the unexpected – dethrone the ending seventh season of Game of Thrones; the season and the show take spots three and four respectively.
The devastating impact of Hurricane Harvey (#8), which struck Houston this week drew attention. Elsewhere, we find two much discussed women adjacent to each other – Diana, Princess of Wales in ninth for the twentieth anniversary of her death; and Taylor Swift in tenth following the release of her new single.
Blue Whale (#7) is still in the list, unfortunately. Lastly, the sentencing of Indian guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh (#6) keeps him in the list.
For the week of August 27 to September 2, 2017, the most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Floyd Mayweather Jr. | 
|
2,576,869 |  |
In the wake of his victory over Conor McGregor (#2) at the back end of last week, the newly-crowned, record-breaking, history-making, fifty-time consecutive professional boxing fight winner returns to the top of this list for the first time since May 2015, where he was in the wake of a victory over Manny Pacquiao. So, bit of advice if he wants the world's greatest honor – a number one ranking on this list – again: fight more people. |
| 2 | Conor McGregor | 
|
2,068,862 |  |
In choosing to make his professional boxing debut against then 49-time consecutive fight winner Floyd Mayweather Jr. (#1), McGregor forgot the number-one super special technique for winning boxing matches: make sure you only challenge people significantly worse than you at boxing. |
| 3 | Game of Thrones (season 7) |
|
1,633,579 |  |
The seventh series of Game of Thrones ended on August 27; meaning that it is once again safe to go on the Internet on Mondays and have no fear of accidentally seeing either spoilers, or someone complaining about spoilers. |
| 4 | Game of Thrones | 
|
1,306,948 |  |
Should probably begin slip-sliding off the list now that the seventh season is over. But if anything can defy negative expectations, popularity wise, it's Game of Thrones |
| 5 | Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor |
|
1,181,688 | .jpg) |
On August 26, 2017, at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (#1) and Conor McGregor (#2) got into a boxing ring and proceeded to punch each other repeatedly, as people do in boxing rings. Mr Mayweather was declared winner of the fight, but it is estimated that regardless of the result, both fighters will have made a lot of money. A lot. Probably enough to hire everyone else on this list to perform their songs/TV shows/alleged criminal activities for them personally. They're just that rich. |
| 6 | Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh |
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1,174,179 | .jpg) |
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the controversial Indian guru, whose rape conviction on August 25 led to widespread rioting, was sentenced on August 28 to 20 years in prison. |
| 7 | Blue Whale (game) |
|
1,131,952 |  |
Continued deaths of alleged players of the fatal "game" in India, continued reporting of the deaths as part of the "game", continued attention brought to the "game", continued people playing the "game". |
| 8 | Hurricane Harvey |
|
999,247 |  |
Hurricane Harvey, the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since 2005, struck southern Texas beginning August 25, causing catastropic flooding in the Greater Houston metropolitan area, and the confirmed deaths of 65 people in the United States, as well as one from an earlier landfall on the South American nation of Guyana. |
| 9 | Diana, Princess of Wales |
|
906,803 | .jpg) |
Diana, former wife of Charles, Prince of Wales and therefore once in line to be Queen consort of the United Kingdom, died in a car accident on August 31, 1997; with August 31, 2017, naturally being largely given over to tributes and reminiscences. The repercussions of the cult-esque worship of the late royal have the potential to be quite difficult for the British royal family, with recent surveys showing disapproval of the idea of Charles becoming king, presumably from people who don't quite get how monarchy works. Still, if Charles thinks he's got it bad, it's nothing compared to the prospect of the current Princess of Wales, Camilla, even having a sniff of becoming Queen, despite the fact that her and Charles' relationship seems far more "fairytale" than the one he had with Diana, with no signs of infidelity coming from either side. |
| 10 | Taylor Swift | 
|
758,877 |  |
At last some new music from one of the world's greatest singers! Alternatively, oh no, that manipulative, attention-seeking, snake is at it again. (Neutral point of view, remember). The launch campaign for Ms. Swift's sixth studio album, Reputation, has begun with the launch on August 25 of the lead single, "Look What You Made Me Do". The song has topped the charts in eleven countries thus far, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. |
It was a really scary week: the Americas have people frightened of killer clowns in It (#1, #6), and losing their homes to the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season (#4, #7), and threatened to be deported by the Trump administration rescinding DACA (#2); meanwhile in Asia, India has the Blue Whale suicides (#3). The deaths in 2017 list even returned to the top 10. The escapism that always permeates the rest of the list, aside from football/soccer (#8) continues subjects as heavy as the monster clowns, with Narcos (#9) reviving interest in the Colombian cartels (#5).
For the week of September 3–9, 2017, the most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It (2017 film) |
|
1,889,679 |  |
Stephen King fans are pleased to see an adaptation better than The Dark Tower: It, previously adapted as a miniseries, got glowing reviews and flocks of people went to theaters to get scared by Pennywise the clown, generating a massive $123 million opening weekend (not only the best ever for the genre, but the second of all time for an R rating behind Deadpool). |
| 2 | Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals | 
|
1,736,311 |  |
Donald Trump continues his crusade against both immigration and whatever predecessor Barack Obama did by rescinding this policy that allowed some individuals who entered the United States illegally as minors to defer their deportation and seek a work permit. Needless to say, reaction was negative, with both protests like the one pictured on the left, and a lawsuit started by 15 states and the District of Columbia to not repeal DACA. |
| 3 | Blue Whale (game) |
|
1,162,550 | |
India, get it done with taking this "game" from circulation. This is even worse than the Russian roulette gambling den from The Deer Hunter. |
| 4 | Hurricane Irma |
|
1,102,020 | 
|
The most intense Atlantic hurricane in a decade has ravaged the Caribbean and made landfall in Florida. Given Hurricane Harvey hit two weeks prior, it's the first time the United States were hit by two such strong storms the same year, and at least the Environmental Protection Agency showed they learned from Harvey to ensure the damage wasn't as bad stateside. |
| 5 | Cali Cartel |
|
1,037,554 | 
|
Colombian drug dealers, namely an offshoot of the Medellín Cartel that wound up surpassing the original in the mid-1990s? This can only mean one thing: Narcos is back (#9). |
| 6 | It (novel) |
|
889,688 | 
|
The success of It (#1) understandably also boosts the source material by Stephen King (pictured), specially since the on-screen title is It: Chapter One, given half the novel is still left for a sequel. |
| 7 | Hurricane Andrew |
|
764,489 | 
|
With Hurricane Irma (#4) approaching Florida, it brought back memories of 25 years ago, when Andrew became the costliest storm to ever hit the state. |
| 8 | 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification |
|
760,123 | 
|
More football squads are getting their spots for next year's tournament in Russia. Joining the hosts and the already qualified Brazil (the biggest champions who are the only nation present in all tournaments) and Iran (who tortured me and other viewers in 2014 with boring play), are the other three Asian squads (Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia) plus the first ones from North/Central America (Mexico) and Europe (Belgium). The qualifiers resume in October 5. |
| 9 | Narcos (season 3) |
|
727,867 | 
|
Narcos is one of those series that don't bother with the death of the main character, as the second season ended with Pablo Escobar's death: now they head south of Medellín to focus on the Cali Cartel (#4). |
| 10 | Deaths in 2017 | 
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701,304 | .jpg)
|
"That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die." |
Discuss this story
EPA doesn't manage hurricane response
"the Environmental Protection Agency showed they learned from Harvey to ensure the [hurricane] damage wasn't as bad stateside" – surely you mean the Federal Emergency Management Agency? – ☆ Bri (talk) 04:34, 25 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]