Wikipedia:Top 25 Report

The Top 25 Report

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (September 7 to 13, 2025)

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Chaotic Enby, Shuipzv3, and CAWylie.

We have a record-breaking week, as 5 years after the shocking death of Kobe Bryant broke 20 million views, the murder of a person much more controversial than the Black Mamba leads to our first case over 30 million.

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Charlie Kirk	32,748,884	Kirk was an American conservative political activist, author and media personality, who co-founded #6. He was one of the most prominent voices of the MAGA movement and a key ally of US president Donald Trump (#20). Some of Kirk's opinions have garnered criticism and controversy, such as his comments on Black Americans and Martin Luther King Jr., opposition to abortion and gun control, and promotion of COVID-19 misinformation, the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, and climate change denial. On September 10, a 31-year-old Kirk was addressing an audience at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University when he was killed by a single rifle shot to the neck. A 22-year-old suspect was arrested on September 12, having been convinced to turn himself in by his father. At the time of writing, the motive remains unknown. The killing triggered widespread bipartisan condemnation and international messages of condolence. Multiple high-ranking officials in the US government vowed to punish people who celebrated Kirk's death or otherwise disparaged his legacy. Matthew Dowd, an analyst for MSNBC, was fired after he commented on-air that Kirk was "one of the most divisive [...] younger figures [...] hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions."
2	Killing of Charlie Kirk	6,013,964
3	Erika Kirk	4,515,914	The widow of #1 and mother of their two children, she has vowed to continue her husband's work.
4	Killing of Iryna Zarutska	3,712,689	On August 22, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, who fled to the US with her family in 2022 amidst her country's ongoing war with Russia, boarded a Lynx Blue Line railcar (pictured) in Charlotte, North Carolina. She sat in front of a 34-year-old fare jumper when, four minutes later, he brandished a pocket knife and fatally stabbed Zarutska in the neck. He departed the train a few minutes later at the next stop, was arrested, and charged with first-degree murder. Her killing, which was captured by transit cameras and distributed on social media, sparked public outrage, leading to policy discussions about transit security, fare enforcement, and gaps in the criminal justice and mental health systems, due to the suspect's revealed criminal history.
5	Groypers	1,551,721	An alt-right, white nationalist and Christian nationalist organization led by Nick Fuentes (#15), it has targeted other conservative organizations like #6 which it believes is too moderate. Cartridge cases found at the site of #2 were found with slogans loosely associated with this group.
6	Turning Point USA	1,545,063	The nonprofit student organization founded by #1 which advocates for conservative politics at high schools, college and university campuses. It runs the Professor Watchlist, a database of academic staff that Turning Point believes discriminates against conservative students.
7	Carlo Acutis	1,323,484	Five years after being beatified on behalf of Pope Francis, the canonization of the "first Millennial saint" was originally scheduled for April 27, but delayed due to Francis entering #9. On September 7, he was canonized alongside Pier Giorgio Frassati, with Pope Leo XIV presiding over the ceremony in Saint Peter's Square.
8	ChatGPT	1,059,660	Updates were given to the chatbot's Advanced Voice Mode (the one that allows sarcastic conversations), with plans to retire the Standard Voice Mode.
9	Deaths in 2025	1,051,787	Rick Davies was far from entering this list, but let's honor his passing: So promise not to cause a scene Then heaven help the ones you love There's nowhere 'neath the stars above
10	2025 shootings of Minnesota legislators	942,162	#2 has renewed the spotlight on recent cases of political violence in the United States, such as these shootings in Minnesota three months ago that claimed the lives of #12 and her husband.
11	Carlos Alcaraz	902,618	This Spanish tennis player regained his world no. 1 ranking (first time was in 2022) on September 8, following his defeat of #18 at the US Open. Alcaraz is the youngest man to win six major titles since Björn Borg.
12	Melissa Hortman	897,811	Hortman, the leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives's Democratic Party caucus, was shot and killed alongside her husband and their dog at their family home as part of #10 on June 14.
13	September 11 attacks	836,282	It's been 24 years since the day that Islamist terrorists used airplanes to destroy two New York skyscrapers and part of the Pentagon – a fourth plane that would also be used in an attack instead crashed as its passengers fought back – a tragedy with impact that included the War on terror, increased airport security, and mass surveillance escalation. (as an aside, in South America 9/11 had been the day of an infamous coup, and this year also added someone being sentenced for attempting a coup)
14	Charlie Sheen	791,913	After following his father Martin Sheen into a productive acting career on film (Platoon, Wall Street, Hot Shots!) and TV (Spin City, Two and a Half Men, Anger Management), Charlie Sheen started working less as instead he became more infamous for a life full of sex, drugs and overall unsavory behavior. This week he retold his journey in both his autobiography The Book of Sheen and the Netflix documentary aka Charlie Sheen (a title also referencing how his birth name is Carlos Estevez, with a surname brother Emilio Estevez didn't drop).
15	Nick Fuentes	784,943	A far-right political figure and leader of #5, he has promoted white supremacy, antisemitism, Holocaust denial, misogyny and homophobia, and identifies as an incel. He and his followers have feuded with #1 and his organization (#6), believing them to not be right-wing enough. Once describing himself as a "Trump cultist", his opinion of Trump began to sour in 2024 over his positions on immigration, foreign affairs and racial policies, and this year he called Trump a "scam artist" due to comments about the Epstein files.
16	The Conjuring: Last Rites	775,763	Ed and Lorraine Warren returned for one last spooky mission investigating the Smurl haunting in what is supposed to close The Conjuring Universe. In spite of mixed reviews, Last Rites scared the rest of the box office, highlighted by opening with $84 million in the United States alone - and showing how the film landscape is uninspiring this month, second place during the weekend was a recording of Hamilton that many probably had already seen on Disney+.
17	Nepal	740,116	The Asian country best known for having Mount Everest and seven others of the world's ten highest mountains was all over the news once protests against a social media ban and economic inequality escalated to riots and the resignation of the prime minister (#24).
18	Jannik Sinner	709,794	#11 beat his Italian rival in the US Open final. Yet the female champion Aryna Sabalenka seemed to have forgotten this in an interview the next day...
19	Larry Ellison	682,552	A spike in value for the Oracle Corporation led its founder to briefly become the world's richest man (Elon Musk rose back when Tesla stock also got boosted). Ellison, who has recently been much associated with the government — including involvement in a massive AI-related joint venture — is estimated to be worth nearly $400 billion, owns the Hawaiian island of Lānaʻi, and helped his two children become big Hollywood producers, with David Ellison making blockbusters through Skydance Media (that recently merged with the traditional Paramount Pictures) and Megan Ellison auteur works through Annapurna Pictures (named after a mountain in #17).
20	Donald Trump	638,215	The US president was the person to announce the death of his close ally #1 on Truth Social. Trump ordered all flags at federal buildings to be flown at half-mast, and announced that Kirk will posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also released an address to the nation, in which he blamed Kirk's and other recent deaths solely on the far-left, while also leaving out Democratic victims like #12.
21	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	613,978	18 of the 48 national teams that will play in football's greatest tournament have been determined, with September punching the tickets for three South Americans (Uruguay, Colombia, and Paraguay) and two Africans (Morocco and Tunisia). The next FIFA dates in October will determine even more squads who will play all over North America next year.
22	Baaghi 4	606,874	A Bollywood blockbuster that is both the fourth in its series and a remake of a Kollywood film. In spite of negative reviews, it's close to recouping its budget.
23	Wednesday (TV series)	593,155	Netflix finished the second season of the show that combined The Addams Family and magical schools. Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) attempting to prevent the death of her cheerful roommate Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers) wound up saving the whole of Nevermore Academy, but given Enid gave in to her werewolf side and ran away, the upcoming season 3 will certainly start trying to find her.
24	2025 Nepalese Gen Z protests	592,576	The Generation Z of #17 has spoken! For most of this month, protests began following a nationwide ban on numerous social media platforms. However, frustration with political corruption and the display of wealth by government officials and their families, as well as allegations of mismanagement of public funds, were the origins of the protests. Violent escalations and vandalism prompted numerous politicians, including three-time prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli (pictured), to step down.
25	J. J. McCarthy	587,838	Keeping the film Weapons from returning to the list is an American football quarterback whose professional debut had him leading the Minnesota Vikings to an heroic comeback from an 11-point 4th quarter deficit.

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.