Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/October 20 to 26, 2024

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (October 20 to 26, 2024)

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Vestrian24Bio, Bucket of sulfuric acid, -insert valid name here-, Shuipzv3, and CAWylie.

⭠ Last week's report

Serial killers, movies, recent deaths, sports, and to the dismay of many, the upcoming American election approaching its boiling point.

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Rodney Alcala	2,490,646	In 1979, this reprehensible man who already spent some time in prison (and downright entered the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives) for child molestation, was arrested in California for the murder and abuse of a minor, and sentenced to death. During the investigation he was connected to at least seven more deaths, most with related sexual assault, and was found to have been a contestant in a TV show a year prior, earning the nickname "The Dating Game Killer" - Alcala won a date, but the woman rejected going out with him afterwards, unknowingly saving her life. Alcala spent decades imprisoned waiting for his execution only to die of natural causes in 2021. As with many serial killers, him topping this Report owes to a movie on Netflix, Woman of the Hour (#5), where Alcala is played by Daniel Zovatto.
2	Lyle and Erik Menendez	1,468,336	More murderers on Netflix, albeit with only two victims, their parents to take advantage of the inheritance before the police caught on. Their show has been out for a month yet loads of viewers still check this page for more info, as well as October news of their possible resentencing in December, which, if approved, would make the brothers available for parole and possibly released due to "time served".
3	Liam Payne	1,269,238	The shocking death of the former One Direction member at just 31, who fell off a balcony in a Buenos Aires hotel, is still being felt. Police is still determining if it was a suicide or an accident, stating several medications and energy supplements were found in his room, along with a whiskey bottle, and that the emergency medical team that witnessed Payne's death had arrived after the hotel's manager called reporting on an "aggressive man" who was thrashing his room.
4	Venom: The Last Dance	1,266,811	Venom wasn't a good case for a franchise of Spider-Man characters without the actual Spider-Man, but made over $850 million, and an extra $500 million came out of sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which at least embraced the silliness and Tom Hardy going insane as Eddie Brock to be more watchable. The trilogy ends in Venom: The Last Dance, the directorial debut of Kelly Marcel, who co-wrote the previous two movies, where Venom is hunted by aliens from his home world who want to release the evil Knull, and reviewers already disliked it for many problems, including hit-or-miss comedy (Venom wanting to join a singalong of "Space Oddity" is amusing, but him dancing to "Dancing Queen" is just cringeworthy). Yet audiences might again provide good box office to the Lethal Protector, as the movie made $95 million worldwide before Sunday.
5	Woman of the Hour	1,242,489	This American crime thriller film, released on Netflix on October 18, is the directorial debut of #24. It is based on the true story of #1, "The Dating Game Killer", who earned his moniker following his 1978 appearance on the matchmaking game show (pictured) amid his murder spree.
6	Deaths in 2024	1,028,425	Mumbling good morning & raising my head A bad breath kiss to my pillow pet I take a look at the day turns & stay in bed...
7	Fernando Valenzuela	882,113	"El Toro", who pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1980 to 1990, died on October 22. The Mexican player played for various other teams seven more seasons. In his time with the Dodgers, his screwball pitch won him two World Series (1981, 1988) and earned him the NL Cy Young Award (1981) and the Gold Glove Award (1986).
8	Fascism	762,276	With election season in the United States (#10) coming up, an increasing number of citizens are showing concerns over the future of the nation in the case of #19 winning the election, including the worry that the changes to the country under his leadership could lean too far into far-right extremist ideals and become undemocratic as a result. According to the book War by Bob Woodward, the retired US Army general Mark Milley, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, reportedly called him "fascist to the core". That assessment was echoed by another retired general, John F. Kelly, who served as Trump's White House Chief of Staff: Kelly said Trump would fit "into the general definition of fascist". Kelly's remarks were backed up by no less than a dozen former Trump administration officials.
9	Kamala Harris	722,806	The Democratic Party presidential candidate quickly seized on comments made about her opponent, agreeing at a CNN town hall that #19 is a fascist, and repeating her prior messages about the dangers that will be posed by a second Trump presidency.
10	2024 United States presidential election	697,072	This election enters its final stretch with #9 and #19 still neck-and-neck, at least according to the polls. A record number of mail-in ballots have already been cast ahead of November 5.
11	Smile 2	665,876	After Trap was "thriller set in not-Taylor Swift concert", this time we get "thriller with not-Taylor Swift being haunted", as the sequel to Smile has a pop singer played by Naomi Scott (using the same haircut Kristen Stewart wore in her last movie) targeted by a malevolent entity who mostly manifests through smiling hallucinations.
12	BRICS	585,098	The bloc held its 16th summit between October 22 to October 24 in the Russian city of Kazan.
13	Elon Musk	579,193	The tech mogul, who has vocally and financially supported #19's campaign, was reminded by the United States Department of Justice that his lottery to potential voters could result in imprisonment up to 5 years. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Musk has had "regular" contact with the Russian president Vladimir Putin since 2022.
14	Lawrence Bishnoi	558,326	An Indian gangster who operates a crime network from behind bars. He already got attention in his home country this month because his gang killed politician Baba Siddique, and now he's also making news in Canada, with accusations that members of the Bishnoi gang were living there to kill pro-Khalistan activists like Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Things are getting heated regarding that, including diplomats being expelled.
15	Terrifier 3	495,695	Joker: Folie à Deux fell off this list and the box office, having earned only $600k across the weekend, while the other disturbed clown in theaters, Art the Clown, made $4,7 million - which is double the movie's budget (mostly spent by director Damien Leone in some of the most graphic gore and mutilation effects ever put on film) and 1% of the costs of the Joker movie.
16	Paul Di'Anno	489,626	Paul Andrews, better known as Paul Di'Anno, was a British singer best known for being in the first two albums by Iron Maiden, before an acrimonious break-up due to his abuse of alcohol and drugs, and Di'Anno later noted that he resented that as a punk he spent punk rock's heyday as a metal singer. After a few years of bad health that trapped him to a wheelchair, Di'Anno died at 66 (one 6 short of the Number of the Beast sung by his replacement!).
17	Agatha All Along (miniseries)	486,957	As the DC series missed out this week, here's the Marvel one: MCU's current Disney+ show, that released its 7th episode last Wednesday with the two-episode finale set to air on the Devil's Night. As Agatha's coven progress on the Witches' Road, each of them faces a trial — so far, we had seen the trials for Jennifer, Alice and Agatha herself along with the death of Alice. This week we got to see Lilia's trial, along with her sacrifice killing off the Salem Seven once and for all. In amidst of all this, it is finally revealed that Rio Vidal portrayed by Aubrey Plaza is actually the Marvel's embodiment of death, something fans have been predicting since the series premiered. Now, it's only the Wiccan's trial left for the two-episode finale, with the netizens predicting a possible return of Wanda Maximoff by the end of the show, setting up the storyline for Children's Crusade along with Vision Quest.
18	The Substance	478,269	On Halloween, MUBI added to its streaming this satirical body horror movie they distributed to American theaters, that along with critical praise (including winning the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay) has already turned a profit with $41 million on a budget of $17.5 million.
19	Donald Trump	457,718	This week, the Republican Party candidate mused about the golfer Arnold Palmer's penis, served fries to vetted supporters at a closed McDonald's, and continues to promise retribution against the "enemy within", i.e. people who have opposed him, by unleashing the military on them.
20	UFC 308	456,615	Abu Dhabi hosted the latest mixed martial arts event, that included Ilia Topuria (pictured) successfully defending his featherweight championship belt.
21	Shalini Passi	452,265	Netflix India released season 3 of Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, leading many viewers to seek more on the art collector that is the wife of businessman Sanjay Passi.
22	One Direction	450,270	The boy band #3 was a part of. Harry Styles is their most successful member, Niall Horan was the last to see Payne alive as he attended his Buenos Aires concert, Zayn Malik postponed concerts of his tour after the death... and Louis Tomlinson still exists.
23	Sean Combs	433,033	More lawsuits were thrown at the currently imprisoned rapper who now has been accused by over a hundred people of sexual deviancy. His children also released a statement in Diddy's defense.
24	Anna Kendrick	414,967	An American actress with some hits (Pitch Perfect, Trolls, A Simple Favor) and even an Oscar nomination (Up in the Air) who made her directorial debut in #5, where she also starred as Cheryl Bradshaw, the woman who won and subsequently rejected a date with #1.
25	ChatGPT	412,249	Look who's back. Maybe it's because a desktop app for Windows has been released, and Apple is discussing the integration of the chatbot onto its Apple Intelligence.