Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/August 29 to September 4, 2021

Prepared with commentary by Benmite, SSSB, igordebraga

⭠ Last week's report

August ends with deaths, Kanye West, superheroes, disasters, and still-pending sports and political issues.

Rank	Article	Class	Views	Image	Notes/about
1	Sidharth Shukla		2,897,546		India lost this actor (who also won the local version of Big Brother), most recently seen in the series Broken But Beautiful, at just 40 of a heart attack.
2	Donda		1,618,776		Donda. Donda. Donda. Donda. Donda. And so on and so forth. It's hard to know exactly what to expect when it comes to Kanye West, but it was nearly impossible to peg down what would come of Donda. Named after his late mother, (pictured) whom the majority of this overlong album has very little to do with, West's tenth studio album suffered from several delays, changing tracklists, and his own presidential campaign back in 2020. The third and final of West's listening parties for the album, each of which was held in packed stadiums across the country, was another dizzying ingredient to the mess: it depicted West standing in a replica of his childhood home with alleged serial rapist Marilyn Manson and confirmed homophobe DaBaby, and ended with West setting himself ablaze while his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, reenacted the couple's 2014 marriage. Finally, the album came out, and, while fans seem to be worshipping it, critics have been less than enthusiastic. Many noted that the album isn't nearly as artful as West's previous work, and its nearly two hours worth of music could have benefitted from some editing. One thing's for sure: We miss the Old Kanye.
3	Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings		1,482,258		If Marvel Studios made a hit out of Guardians of the Galaxy, it's safe to say they can pull out just about everything right. Now it's another obscure superhero, a "Master of Kung Fu" who is reinforced by villains that in the comics are of two other heroes, Iron Man's archnemesis and a beast that confronts Doctor Strange. An entertaining mystical martial arts movie, Shang-Chi got great reviews and given that unlike Black Widow there is not an option to watch it at home for a surplus, should be making lots of money (especially overseas, even if it's unclear whether the increasingly important Chinese market will get the movie).
4	Cristiano Ronaldo		1,343,274		Two months ago I reported that Ronaldo had failed to beat the record for most international goals (settling for joint record). Well, following two goals on September 1, the record is his. Ronaldo's viewership is further boasted as fans eagerly anticpate Ronaldo's first appearance back in the Premier League with Manchester United (#21) after the international break against Newcastle United.
5	Ed Asner		1,083,478		Ed Asner died at the age of 91, leaving behind quite the legacy in many fronts, television (Lou Grant in two shows, Roots), film (El Dorado, Elf) and voice acting (Up, Freakazoid!).
6	Deaths in 2021		897,511		Welcome to the final show Hope you're wearing your best clothes You can't bribe the door on your way to the sky...
7	India at the 2020 Summer Paralympics		797,885		Indian athletes with disabilities are better at an international level than abled ones, it seems. In the delayed Paralympic Games in Tokyo, the country had 19 medals, 5 of them gold (to the left is one of them, amputee javelin thrower Sumit Antil), nearly 3 times the 7 (only one golden) from last month. Standout performances included one of the country's most popular sports, badminton, plus athletics and shooting.
8	Money Heist		659,009		Netflix brought back the Spanish thieves from The House of Paper for a fifth go.
9	Kanye West		651,691		He might be a jackass, he might be a gay fish, but what's relevant here is that he released #2.
10	Shehnaaz Gill		639,227		During Bigg Boss, #1 became very good friends with this actress who finished in third place, and they were rumoured to be in a relationship. Whether or not she can be considered his widow is unclear, the sure thing being that Gill was heartbroken by his death.
11	Hurricane Ida		618,916		Landing on the 16th anniversary of #18, Ida flooded much of Louisiana before moving over land to cause flash flooding in New York City. More than 60 deaths from the hurricane have been confirmed so far.
12	ABBA		607,214		After 35 years apart, the iconic Swedish pop group that even had its songs in a musical, itself adapted into two movies, announced a reunion album and a concert residency in London, which will instead of musicians in their seventies feature musicians in the Seventies - namely virtual recreations of ABBA in the period, described as ABBAtars.
13	Rudolf Weigl		597,511		Google had a Doodle for the 138th anniversary of this Polish biologist, whose efforts to develop a typhus vaccine were particularly helpful in saving Jews during the Nazi occupation.
14	Afghanistan		584,213		The transition back to Islamic fundamentalism (#20) has understandably brought in tears and blood.
15	Certified Lover Boy		572,241		Drake's newest album was originally expected to be counterprogramming for #2, until the latter was released nearly a week early. To continue a feud, Drake went on a radio show to play an unreleased song by #9 featuring Andre 3000, prompting 3000 to say that it's "unfortunate that [...] two artists that I love are going back and forth."
16	Jake Paul		569,904		One position above the one where the site he owes his living to would be, the YouTuber turned boxer who won another match, beating #19 by split decision.
17	Candyman (2021 film)		548,530		Bloody Mary, only it's a Black guy and bees are heavily involved. It's the fourth movie but certainly tries to disconsider anything other than the first, down to bringing back Vanessa Williams and Virginia Madsen along with Tony Todd.
18	Hurricane Katrina		515,926		#11 hit New Orleans on the 16th anniversary of this disaster (which also led to one of #9's most infamous moments), and thankfully this time the levees resisted and didn't flood the city.
19	Tyron Woodley		495,544		The former UFC welterweight champion made his transition from the cage to the ring against #16.
20	Taliban		493,070		The Islamic fundamentalists who retook #14. They've promised to be less reprehensible this time, specially to be seen as the preferable alternate to al-Qaeda and ISIL.
21	Manchester United F.C.		492,577		Alex Ferguson won't come back, but #4 did to make those who support the Red Devils hopeful.
22	September 11 attacks		479,421		Next week's possible #1, as it's now 20 years since the real starting point of the 21st century.
23	Babur		466,237		The Empire premiered on Indian streaming service Disney+ Hotstar on August 27. Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, is portrayed by Kunal Kapoor (pictured).
24	What If...? (TV series)		461,884		Continuing the downbeat thread of last week's alternate Marvel Cinematic Universe history, this time reimagining Doctor Strange, only the doctor-turned-sorcerer becomes a power hungry abomination for not taking well the death of Rachel McAdams.
25	Clickbait (miniseries)		449,383		Keeping away from the list the badly received Netflix remake He's All That is a badly received Netflix show out of Australia (leading Rotten Tomatoes to note "Clickbait is more akin to its namesake than the deeper show it aspires to be.").

• 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.