Wikipedia:Top 25 Report

The Top 25 Report

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (September 28 to October 4, 2025)

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, Shuipzv3, and CAWylie.

Spooky season returns with that tradition of people looking more about the serial killers showcased on Netflix.

Rank	Article	Views	Notes/about
1	Ed Gein	4,392,885	"The Butcher of Plainfield" was arrested in 1957 for the murder of a hardware store owner, and investigation discovered both that Gein killed another woman and kept a disturbing collection of human remains mostly taken from graveyards, with particular focus of making things out of skin. Gein's trial had him diagnosed with schizophrenia and found legally insane, so instead of prison he was sent to a mental institution where he died in 1984. The latest retelling of his story - that had been adapted into a few movies, including a musical, and inspired fictional serial killers such as Norman Bates, Leatherface and Buffalo Bill - is the recently released Netflix show Monster: The Ed Gein Story, where Gein is played by Charlie Hunnam.
2	Jane Goodall	2,188,646	This English primatologist and anthropologist died on October 1 at age 91, while on a speaking tour in the US. She spent over six decades of her life in field research of the Kasakela chimpanzee community in Tanzania. Her mission was to prove that chimpanzees were not too different than humans (or that human behavior wasn't too complex). She was a UN Messenger of Peace and was bestowed numerous honors throughout her life, the last being the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. On October 3, Netflix aired an episode of its series, Famous Last Words, featuring her reflecting on her life's work and her own mortality.
3	One Battle After Another	1,383,024	Paul Thomas Anderson has made another incredible movie in this action thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a former revolutionary and Sean Penn as an corrupt general who antagonizes him, including by kidnapping his daughter. It is also his biggest box office hit having passed $100 million worldwide, although it still has to recover the high budget of at least $130 million, and after topping one weekend fell to second place behind Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl (#11).
4	Mae Martin	1,324,434	This non-binary, transgender Canadian actor/comedian created the Netflix show Wayward (#12).
5	Kantara: Chapter 1	1,301,728	Sandalwood released a prequel to 2022's Kantara, still centered around Rishab Shetty and spiritual possession rituals. It has already made more money than the original while becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films of the year.
6	Government shutdowns in the United States	1,280,587	On October 1, the US government shutdown for a third time (11th overall) during President Trump's time in office, curtailing most governmental services. Politicians had disagreements over federal spending levels, foreign aid rescissions, and health insurance subsidies. Public blame was equally divided between Republicans, Democrats and Trump.
7	Bad Bunny	1,080,705	This Puerto Rican rapper was announced as the halftime show performer of Super Bowl LX, returning after being a guest the last time Latins held the honors, the 2020 concert by Shakira and Jennifer Lopez. He also ended the week hosting the season opener Saturday Night Live, where his monologue mocked how part of the press questioned bringing in a guy who sings in Spanish: "If you didn't understand what I just said, you have four months to learn."
8	Deaths in 2025	1,022,312	As #2 once said, "I'm absolutely sure, myself, that death isn't the end, but heaven knows what happens afterwards. There's either nothing, or there's something. Can you think of a greater adventure than finding out what that is?"
9	Pete Hegseth	1,022,194	On September 30 at Quantico, the US secretary of defense (secretary of war, who knows?) announced to a gathering of around 800 top military officials that the US military would start focusing more on offense, lethality and violent effect, beyond defense, legality and political correctness. He criticized the "decades of decay" and the "fat generals" at the Pentagon. President Trump also addressed the room. Neither of the men received applause in return, despite demands for alignment with their politics (militaries should be apolitical).
10	ChatGPT	943,152	People still use the chatbot and read its page. And use it for their research, when Wikipedia is right here and for all our mistakes less prone to hallucinations.
11	The Life of a Showgirl	911,462	Conceived during and inspired by the record-breaking Eras Tour, which saw unprecedented media coverage of her career and relationship with her now-fiancé Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift's twelve studio album was released on October 3. Swift reunited with the Swedish hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback for the album, in a departure from long-time collaborators like Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, and the result is a compact collection of twelve pop and soft rocks songs. Sabrina Carpenter, who opened for the tour, is featured on the title track. Critical reception has so far been polarized, with some critics praising its new direction and upbeat production, while others took issue with its lyricism. The album's lead single, "The Fate of Ophelia", became Spotify's most-streamed song in a single day (30.9 million streams), while Billboard reported the album sold 2.7 million copies in the United States on its first day of release, instantly becoming the best-selling album of the year, and with a chance to surpass the record of 3.378 million copies sold in the first week by Adele's 25.
12	Wayward (miniseries)	861,236	#4 both created and stars in this Netflix mystery thriller miniseries, playing a transgender policeman who helps two teenagers who tried to escape an academy headed by Toni Collette uncover some dark secrets of their town.
13	Yom Kippur	786,412	Judaism's annual 'Day of Atonement' happened between October 1 and 2. This year, the day took place in the shadow of the ongoing War in Gaza and an attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England.
14	Monster: The Ed Gein Story	748,564	#1 is the subject of the third season of the Netflix murderer show, and Gein also had a brief appearance in the first given it revolved around another serial killer from Wisconsin. This is also the first season not helmed by Ryan Murphy, with co-creator Ian Brennan handling all the scripts. A fourth season centered around Lizzie Borden is in the works.
15	House of Guinness	736,114	Netflix released this miniseries about the Guinness family (#17) who operates the famed Irish brewery, centering around the four children of their third CEO, Benjamin Guinness (#25), and their lives once he died in 1868.
16	They Call Him OG	666,020	In the highest-grossing Indian films of 2025, #5 is right above this Tollywood crime film that is not about an Original Gangster, but a Yakuza survivor cop named Ojas Gambheera, played by Pawan Kalyan.
17	Guinness family	644,005	#15 concerns the Anglo-Irish family most famous for their eponymous beer. A century after the events of the show, one of the managing directors of the brewery was responsible for creating Guinness World Records.
18	6-7 (meme)	643,949	One of those memes that are just baffling for anyone outside of TikTok, that recently also got associated with a blonde kid screaming it during a basketball game.
19	Charlie Kirk	641,112	One more week of the aftershock of this conservative activist getting murdered, that included a massive memorial service.
20	Patricia Routledge	579,077	The British actress best known for her role as pretentious snob Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced "bouquet") in the '90s sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, died on Friday at the age of 96. Routledge, who was made a Dame in 2017, famously said of the afterlife "When I approach the pearly gates, I'd like to hear a champagne cork popping, an orchestra tuning up and the sound of my mother laughing."
21	Benny Blanco	564,565	After two years of dating and a collaborative album, this producer married Selena Gomez.
22	Nicole Kidman	559,132	The Academy Award-winning actress last seen in Holland announced her divorce from country singer Keith Urban, and also that the now ex-couple has created a custody plan regarding their teenage daughters.
23	Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh	549,992	Three members of #17 who keep off Mark Kerr, subject of The Smashing Machine. Arthur invented Guinness and subsequently founded the brewery. His grandson Benjamin expanded the brewery's business to the point he became the wealthiest man in Ireland, and his death is the starting point of #15. There it shows how Benjamin's son Edward, played by Louis Partridge, took over the company (he also famously founded the Guinness Trust to help with affordable housing in Ireland and the United Kingdom).
24	Arthur Guinness	534,086
25	Benjamin Guinness	518,677

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.