Wikipedia:Top 25 Report

The Top 25 Report

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (August 17 to 23, 2025)

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Shuipzv3, CAWylie, and Milowent

Not to be morbid, but four out of the top 25 this week are recent deaths, one is about a death earlier this year, two are related to a death that occurred in 2007, one is related to 1989 deaths, and perennial list entrant Deaths in 2025 (#5) is here too.

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Coolie (2025 film)	2,165,583	Rising from #2 last week, this Tamil action thriller, written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and audiences, respectively; mainly equally divided with its two halves: praise for the first half, and criticism for the second. It's also the highest-grossing Kollywood film of year and fourth of all-time, as well as ranking third among 2025's Indian films, right above Mahavatar Narsimha and...
2	War 2 (film)	1,483,831	Say it again, y'all... War, huh, good god! From Kollywood to Bollywood, in the sequel to a 2019 blockbuster that has yet to cover its hefty ₹300–400 crore budget.
3	Terence Stamp	1,210,396	And now, Hollywood. This British actor broke out in the 60s, even getting an Academy Award nomination for Billy Budd, became known worldwide playing General Zod in Superman and Superman II, and had quite a varied career, with his most unusual role probably being a transsexual drag queen in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert! Having not worked since playing a hostile policeman in 2021's Last Night in Soho, Stamp died at the age of 87.
4	Frank Caprio	1,103,025	From 1985 to 2023, Caprio served as the chief judge of the municipal court of Providence, Rhode Island. Some of his judicial work was filmed and televised on the show Caught in Providence. Clips from the show went viral in 2017, with Caprio receiving attention for his empathy and light humor in court. He died on August 20, aged 88.
5	Deaths in 2025	1,053,548	Deaths this week included, in addition to Terence Stamp (#3), Frank Caprio (#4), James Dobson (#19), and Brent Hinds (#20); Italian equestrian and 1964 Olympic gold winner Paolo Angioni (pictured), Moldovan politician Nicolae Todos, Japanese singer Luz, and South African actress Nandi Nyembe
6	ChatGPT	969,461	GPT-5 came out earlier this month, but it still cannot write this report.
7	Weapons (2025 film)	952,404	After two weeks at #1 on this report, this thriller film starring Julia Garner sinks to #7.
8	Superman (2025 film)	813,631	This superhero film however, holds steady for another week at #8.
9	Amanda Knox	716,579	Knox is an American woman who in 2007 became implicated in the murder of Meredith Kercher (#24), her British roommate, while both of them were on a student exchange program in Perugia, Italy. After a few days of questioning by police without lawyers present, Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were arrested and charged with Kercher's murder. A third person, Rudy Guede, was separately arrested in the same year and convicted of Kercher's sexual assault and murder in 2008, based on fingerprints identified at the crime scene. Knox and Sollecito's trial began in 2009, but even before its beginning, local Italian media portrayed Knox in a negative light, which was repeated by worldwide media. They were convicted and sentenced to 26 years and 25 years in prison respectively, causing international controversy. An appeal in 2011 found Knox and Sollecito not guilty, and both were released, with Knox returning to the US. A retrial was held in 2014, which found Knox and Sollecito guilty, but in 2015, Italy's highest court, the Supreme Court of Cassation, definitively exonerated them of murder. After her return to the US, Knox graduated, and worked as a journalist and writer, as well as getting involved with activism for the wrongfully accused. The latest dramatization of Knox's true story, The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, premiered on Hulu on August 20.
10	Alien: Earth	663,095	FX (plus Hulu and Disney+ on streaming) is airing the first show based on the long-standing horror sci-fi franchise, featuring a spaceship carrying that horrifying extraterrestrial also known as the Xenomorph crashing on Earth, robots with uploaded human consciousnesses, and fans questioning how the events of this can still fit into continuity when it's set shortly before the first Alien.
11	Khamzat Chimaev	645,743	This Russian-Emirati mixed martial artist defeated Dricus du Plessis at #14 by unanimous decision to become the UFC middleweight champion. His win was also the "performance of the night".
12	Jeff Baena	560,379	A screenwriter and film director, Baena died by suicide on January 3, 2025. At the time of his death, he and #16 were separated.
13	KPop Demon Hunters	544,335	As put by Honest Trailers, "A film that feels like it was made by an A.I. trained on bratty little sisters, and yet somehow, against all odds... is actually really fun?" And the appeal of this story of idol singers fighting the supernatural has proven itself stronger than all the Netflix views, given a theatrical sing-along managed to finish atop the box office, beating #7. Lead character Rumi is voiced by actress Arden Cho (pictured).
14	UFC 319	496,618	See #11. Pictured here is Dricus du Plessis, who lost the featured match.
15	Eberechi Eze	455,863	For the entire month of August, the future of Eze's football career was in question; he was playing for Crystal Palace, was in talks to join Tottenham, but, on August 23, joined his first boyhood club, Arsenal, for a four-year £67.5 million contract.
16	Aubrey Plaza	452,572	This actress co-stars in Honey Don't!, which was theatrically released on August 22. She also appeared on her Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler's podcast, Good Hang with Amy Poehler, where among other things she discussed the grieving process after the death of her husband (#12).
17	C. P. Radhakrishnan	444,167	On August 17, following Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation in July as Vice President of India due to health reasons, the BJP announced the governor of Maharashtra as their candidate in the September 9 election. Two days later, former Supreme Court judge B. Sudarshan Reddy was announced by INDIA as his opponent.
18	Lyle and Erik Menendez	432,898	These two brothers, convicted of the murder of the parents in 1989 (as chronicled last year on Netflix), had their parole requests denied this week.
19	James Dobson	419,039	This American evangelical Protestant leader died at age 89 on August 21. He staunchly supported socially conservative ideals, such as traditional family values, and founded Focus on the Family, an organization that lobbied against LGBTQ rights.
20	Brent Hinds	414,999	This American heavy metal guitarist, formerly of Mastodon, died at age 51 on August 20, when an SUV collided with his motorcycle.
21	The Summer I Turned Pretty (TV series)	407,522	The third and final season of this coming-of-age romantic series, created by Jenny Han who adapted her New York Times bestselling trilogy, premiered on Amazon Prime on July 16. The streamer reported 25 million viewers within the first week of the third season premiere.
22	Wednesday (TV series)	388,737	Down from #7 last week. The first half of the second season, following the morbidly macabre at her school, released on August 6. The second half will debut on September 3.
23	Madeira	384,298	A slow week allowed the Portuguese island where Cristiano Ronaldo hails from get in, and the views boost is possibly because tourists are discovering it.
24	Murder of Meredith Kercher	373,088	The 2007 murder of this British exchange student, in Perugia, Italy (pictured), saw her American roommate (#9) and her Italian boyfriend wrongfully accused of the crime, with both spending 4 years in prison before their acquittal. In the end, a man called Rudy Guede was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison, though it was reduced several times and Guede ultimately served 13, being released in 2021.
25	The Fantastic Four: First Steps	372,668	Keeping off Millie Bobby Brown, who adopted a child (yes, we're old!), is Marvel's first family finally getting a good movie, whose drop in views after a big start is similar to its box office performance (though it still will be the MCU's most successful of the year and second among superhero movies after #8).

Exclusions

This list excludes 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 talk page if you wish.