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Two Leaders and One War: Two articles exceeded two million views this week, and no others even exceeded one million. The death of Canadian actor Alan Thicke (#1) leads the list; a successful actor but perhaps a surprisingly strong showing considering his heyday was in the 1980s and 1990s. And in second place, we have Rogue One, the new Star Wars (#9) franchise film entry, likely to remain with us for a few weeks. In more serious matters, the Battle of Aleppo (2012–16) hit #7, and two related articles (Aleppo at #11 and Syrian Civil War at #20) also made the Top 25.
For the week of December 11 to 17, 2016, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alan Thicke | 
|
2,734,867 |  |
The Canadian actor best known for his role as the dad on the American sitcom Growing Pains (1985-1992), he died of a heart attack at age 69 on December 13. He was also a songwriter who penned a number of popular TV show themes. Indeed, he had a rather successful life, though it seem a bit surprising that his death was such a solid #1 for the week. |
| 2 | Rogue One |
|
2,151,908 |  |
This Star Wars (#9) universe movie, but not part of the main series, was released on December 16, 2016. (It first appeared on this chart in April 2016.) Felicity Jones (#21) (pictured) stars in the film, which has already grossed over $320 million. It probably won't dominate this chart as thoroughly as Star Wars: The Force Awakens did a year ago, but it will probably do quite well all the same. |
| 3 | Rex Tillerson |
|
917,566 |  |
The CEO of ExxonMobil (pictured shaking hands with Vladimir Putin) is Donald Trump's pick to be America's next Secretary of State. |
| 4 | Deaths in 2016 | 
|
780,226 |  |
The deaths list has always acted as this list's lodestone; it is so consistent on a day-to-day basis that where it appears is an indication of the weekly traffic levels. And it is quite high at #4 this week. That said, we may have to recalibrate our mathematics, since its numbers have been slowly going up over the last few weeks, and that continued again this week. |
| 5 | Westworld (TV series) |
|
662,835 |  |
The season finale episode, The Bicameral Mind, aired on December 4. Views are down about 50% from last week, but that's still good enough to be #5 this week. |
| 6 | Battle of Dunkirk | 
|
643,547 |  |
Appearing due to the release of a new trailer for the upcoming July 2017 film Dunkirk (#23). A seven-minute trailer appeared at select IMAX showings of Rogue One (#2). |
| 7 | Battle of Aleppo (2012–16) | 629,731 |  |
As Syrian government forces recently captured most the city of Aleppo (#11), the world is again paying a bit more attention to this terrible conflict. It is an odd irony that this article follows another battle on this list and which only appears due to an upcoming movie about it. Frankly, digesting the reality of war right in front of our eyes is harder than watching movies about a 75 year old battle. | |
| 8 | Robin Thicke |
|
609,246 |  |
The popular singer is the son of #1. |
| 9 | Star Wars | 
|
588,514 |  |
See #2. |
| 10 | Elizabeth II | 
|
587,004 |  |
For yet another week, the longest-reigning British monarch in history places on this list thanks to The Crown, a $100 million melodrama about her early years where she is played by Claire Foy. |
| 11 | Aleppo |
|
569,019 | |
See #7. |
| 12 | Donald Trump |
|
551,197 |  |
Numbers have stabilized a bit this week after a post-election decline. It seems very possible that Trump will join Deaths in 2016 (if he hasn't already) as a constant on the chart. |
| 13 | Craig Sager |
|
545,298 |  |
The American sports newscaster died on December 15 at age 65 of leukemia, which returned in 2016 after successful treatment in 2014. |
| 14 | United States presidential election, 1984 |
|
537,706 |  |
Reddit thread titled "TIL Ronald Reagan was 3,761 votes shy, in Minnesota, of winning every state in the 1984 Presidential Election." |
| 15 | Bruno Mars |
|
537,392 |  |
The singer appeared on the popular "Carpool Karaoke" segment of The Late Late Show with James Corden last week (video), which is probably why he is on the chart. |
| 16 | John Christie (murderer) |
|
515,674 | The English serial killer of the 1940s and 1950s is now portrayed in the BBC drama Rillington Place. And while I am sure this article title is appropriate, I wonder how many biographies we have with "(murderer)" in the title. It stands out a lot more than the mundane John Christie (opera manager), that's for sure. | |
| 17 | Amundsen's South Pole expedition |
|
512,218 |  |
AGoogle Doodle celebrated the 105th anniversary of the first expedition to reach the South Pole. |
| 18 | Rob McElhenney | 
|
497,494 |  |
Another Reddit TIL thread. |
| 19 | UFC 206 | 
|
483,602 |  |
The latest Ultimate Fighting Championship was held on December 10. Cub Swanson (pictured) was among the match winners. |
| 20 | Syrian Civil War |
|
465,662 | |
See #7. |
| 21 | Felicity Jones |
|
447,648 | |
A star of #2. |
| 22 | The Walking Dead (season 7) | 426,128 |  |
||
| 23 | Dunkirk (2017 film) |
|
426,128 |  |
See #6. Looking over the cast list, you'll find that One Direction member Harry Styles (pictured) will make his acting debut in this film, ensuring that at least some females will go see it. |
| 24 | Pentatonix |
|
424,347 |  |
Views peaked on December 15, after an American television Christmas show starring this acclaimed a cappella group. Sales of their new Christmas album, A Pentatonix Christmas also have jumped as a result. |
| 25 | United States presidential election, 2016 |
|
419,297 |  |
Still popular for another week as people refresh their screens occasionally to make sure Wikipedia was not vandalized (by Russia?). |
