The participatory and multilingual online encyclopedia has just published its ranking of the most consulted English-language sites in 2023. Results that “tell your story and that of society,” Wikipedia assures.
On January 15, 2001, the first edition of Wikipedia appeared on the Internet. A year marked by the attacks of September 11th, the assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the theatrical release of Stanley Kubrick’s Space Odyssey. To access this retrospective, simply type “2001” into the search bar of the online encyclopedia, which, as a reminder, is controlled by volunteer “patrols.” More than 20 years after its creation, the “free” encyclopedia, i.e. without copyright, still provides the whole world with an unquantifiable amount of all kinds of information, even if the reliability is sometimes poor.
84 billion views in 2023
Despite the accusations of amateurism she faced, her audience grew. In 2023 alone, the English-language Wikipedia recorded more than 84 billion views, reports the Wikimedia Foundation, which has just published a ranking of the most viewed pages online this year. Whenever a person wants answers, the first result they get on Google usually points to an encyclopedia article. From ChatGPT and cricket to Barbie and Bollywood, here are the 25 most read articles and topics of concern on English Wikipedia in 2023. Artificial intelligence, foreign policy, sports, cinema, celebrities… A look back at the most important key events of the year from the perspective of Internet users around the world.
1. ChatGPT: 49,490,406 views
Launched in November 2022, the revolutionary chatbot from Open AI (a company co-founded by Elon Musk in 2015) has generated a lot of enthusiasm and curiosity, but also a lot of concerns, especially ethical ones. ChatGPT is freely accessible and used by millions of people around the world. It allows any Internet user to formulate a query and receive more or less relevant answers. “We have recorded more than 78 million page views for ChatGPT articles across all languages supported by Wikipedia,” the online encyclopedia says.
2. Deaths in 2023: 42,666,860 views
Second is the annual list of deaths (viewable here) around the world, “an increasingly popular article on Wikipedia,” which explains that editors reduce it to a smaller table each month.
3. Cricket World Cup 2023: 38,171,653 views
In third place is the 13th edition of the Cricket World Cup, which took place in India in October 2022 and “generated 304% more interest this year than the last edition,” according to Wikipedia. While the event received little attention in France, it generated great enthusiasm worldwide.
4. Indian Premier League: 32,012,810 views
As a testament to his economic interest, the rights to the Indian Premier League, the country’s most popular cricket tournament, were auctioned off for more than $6 billion. The Indian giant Reliance Industries eventually won the broadcasting rights to the detriment of the American company Disney. In the end, Australia were crowned world champions, followed by India.
5. Oppenheimer (film): 28,348,248 views
During the hype surrounding “Barbenheimer” – the merging of Barbie and Oppenheimer – people flocked to Wikipedia to learn more about the two biggest film productions of late 2023. More than 47 million people viewed Oppenheimer’s multilingual Wikipedia articles this year.
6. Cricket World Cup: 25,961,417 views
Although the first cricket-related articles published on the platform date back to 2015, it was not until 2023 that the topic first appeared, accounting for 16% of the top 25 articles on Wikipedia in English.
7. J. Robert Oppenheimer: 25,672,469 views
As part of the release of the film “Oppenheimer” by Christopher Nolan, starring Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt, Internet users apparently wanted to know more about the race to build the world’s first atomic bomb led by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, whose profile has been more than Viewed 25 million times.
8. Jawan (Movie): 21,791,126 views
After Pathaan, the biggest hit in Indian box office history, actor-producer Shahrukh Khan returned with Jawan, a fast-paced action film that hit theaters on September 7, 2023.
9. Indian Premier League 2023: 20,694,974 views
10. Pathaan (Movie): 19,932,509 views
According to Wikipedia, Pathaan and Jawan (mentioned above) became two of the highest-grossing Hindi-language films of all time.
The rest of the top 25 Wikipedia in 2023
11. The Last of Us (Prime Video series): 19,791,789 views
At the beginning of 2023, the Prime Video phenomenon series “The Last of Us” sent counters into a real panic. The first season of the series, in which a The civilization destroyed after an epidemic caused by the mutation of a parasitic fungus averaged more than 15 million viewers per episode.
12. Taylor Swift: 19,418,385 views
In 2023, American singer Taylor Swift broke a Spotify record by becoming the first woman to reach more than 100 million monthly listeners. With four albums in the top 10 of the Billboard charts, it’s no surprise that his Wikipedia page is also making a splash with more than 19 million recorded views.
13. Barbie the Movie: 18,051,077 views
Directed by Greta Gerwig (Daughters of Doctor March), this modern reinterpretation of the famous doll, marketed by Mattel since 1959, was a real hit worldwide. According to the American magazine Variety, the comedy starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling grossed $1.36 billion worldwide, surpassing the highest-grossing film of the year.
14. Cristiano Ronaldo: 17,492,537 views
Multiple Ballon d’Or winner, international footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has once again made football history by reaching the 50-goal mark in 2023, enough to make internet users want to know more about his journey.
15. Lionel Messi: 16,623,630 views
Another golden year for Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi was voted Golden Ball for the eighth time in his career in October 2023 and won Time Magazine’s 2023 Sportsman of the Year award on December 5th.
16. Premier League: 16,604,669 views
Football has once again conquered the rankings, especially the English Football Championship, which attracted many Internet users who were undoubtedly curious to see the latest results and information of the competition.
17. Matthew Perry: 16,454,666 views
On October 28, the death of American actor Matthew Perry, the unforgettable interpreter of Chandler in the series Friends, caused a wave of excitement around the world. The opportunity for fans of the cult show of the years to immerse themselves in the film career of the popular actor.
18. United States: 16,240,461 views
The article on the United States, which delves into its political, demographic, diplomatic and even cultural history, joins the list.
19. Elon Musk: 14,370,395 views
Everything about the bizarre boss of Tesla Mottors and the astronomy company Space X makes you curious, which is what this impressive score proves. Latest news so far, the introduction of the new Tesla humanoid robot, called “Optimus Gen2”, on the X account the American billionaire.
20. Avatar: The Way of Water: 14,303,116 views
Ten years after the first film, James Cameron presented Avatar 2: The Way of Water. According to the prolific director, there will be four sequels, all shot simultaneously, for a budget of one billion dollars.
21. India: 13,850,178 views
The excitement generated by the Indian Premier League has undoubtedly made many Internet users take a greater interest in the world’s most populous country (1 billion 417 million inhabitants).
22. Lisa Marie Presley: 13,764,007 views
After Matthew Perry, another premature death joins the list, namely that of Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Wagner, who died on January 12, 2023 as a result of a cardiac arrest.
23. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: 13,392,917 views
The most badass gang in the galaxy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) returned to the depths of space for a third part in 2023.
24. Russian Invasion of Ukraine: 12,798,866 views
It is not surprising that Internet users did not miss Wikipedia’s information about the war between Ukraine and Russia, which has now been going on for almost two years.
25. Andrew Tate: 12,728,616 views
Finally, it is Andrew Tate, the masculinist influencer accused of human trafficking and rape, who closes this top of the most viewed articles on Wikipedia in 2023.
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