Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/March 11 to 17, 2018

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Prepared with commentary by OZOO

The death of the English physicist Stephen Hawking attracted over ten million readers to his article this week – the fourth time since this report began that that barrier has been met, the previous three being the deaths of David Bowie and Prince and the election of Donald Trump. Hawking's daughter Lucy and first wife Jane also make the top five of the list. Also high up on the list are Saint Patrick's Day, which was Saturday, and Black Panther, which is still pulling in great numbers.

Lower down the list, a new trailer for Avengers: Infinity War adds to the anticipation for that film, already high following Black Panther's success. Craig Mack and Ken Dodd are both ranked in the list following their deaths, while there are Google Doodle boosts for English chemist William Henry Perkin and American philanthropist George Peabody. In the oft-tumultuous world of American politics, potential new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, potential new CIA director Gina Haspel and potential new representative for Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district Conor Lamb all make the list. And, of course, there's wrestling.

For the week of March 11 to 17, 2018, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank	Article	Class	Views	Image	Notes
1	Stephen Hawking		10,205,628		Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist and arguably the most well-known scientist in the world, died on 14 March at the age of 76. The author of popular science books including A Brief History of Time, Hawking had a rare early-onset form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that gradually paralysed him, and he lost his speech following a tracheotomy in 1985; this resulted in him using a speech-generating device that became associated with him. His fame was boosted with appearances in sitcoms such as The Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons, while he was the only person to play himself in an instalment of the Star Trek franchise, appearing in a 1993 episode.
2	Saint Patrick's Day		1,434,987		17 March is the feast day of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and is duly marked by Irish and the Irish diaspora, prominently in North America. The day is marked in more countries than any other national day. Incidentally, 17 March was also the last day of the 2018 Six Nations Championship, with the Ireland national rugby union team completing a Grand Slam. So, a good day all round for the Irish.
3	Black Panther (film)		1,066,958		Last weekend, Black Panther topped the US box office charts for the fourth successive week, the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to hit that milestone. As I write this, it's forecast to stay on top for a fifth week, potentially becoming the first film to do that since Avatar. With international figures added, the film has passed the $billion mark, and sits at 16th in the highest-grossing film list. All of which means a sequel is probably inevitable for Chadwick Boseman's (pictured) Wakandan royal; unless of course he dies in the next one. Actually, they'll probably re-edit it if he did.
4	Lucy Hawking		1,064,715		The daughter of Stephen Hawking (#1), Lucy wrote a number of children's popular science books with her late father, beginning with George's Secret Key to the Universe.
5	Jane Hawking		1,014,577		Dr. Jane Hawking, an author with a PhD in medieval Spanish poetry, was married to Stephen Hawking (#1) from 1965 to 1995. Many readers might know her because said relationship was depicted in The Theory of Everything, with Jane portrayed by Felicity Jones (pictured).
6	William Henry Perkin		875,977		William Henry Perkin, born 12 March 1838, was honoured on the 180th anniversary of his birth with a Google Doodle. Perkin was a British chemist who, while attempting to synthesise quinine for the treatment of malaria, accidentally discovered mauveine, the world's first synthetic organic dye.
7	Annihilation (film)		796,567		Annihilation was released in the United States on 23 February and on Netflix in other territories on 12 March. The sci-fi horror starring Natalie Portman (pictured), Jennifer Jason Leigh and Gina Rodriguez has received positive reviews, although some, including the film's writer-director Alex Garland, have questioned the release strategy, suggesting that the film would be best enjoyed on a big cinema screen rather than the small screen offered by Netflix.
8	Deaths in 2018		774,249		Up 5 spots from last week, with a 43k increase in viewers.
9	Novichok agent		679,676		Novichok refers to a series of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union and Russia between 1971–93. United Kingdom Prime Minister May has accused the Russian government of using one of these nerve agents in the poisoning of Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English town of Salisbury (scene pictured). The events have strained Russia–United Kingdom relations, with diplomats being expelled on both sides and speculation that the England national football team could boycott the forthcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup. The Russian government has denied the accusations.
10	Gina Haspel		668,504		Gina Haspel, the current Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has been nominated by President Trump for promotion to the job of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first female CIA director. Haspel has faced criticism for her past, with allegations of using torture on prisoners in Thailand, as well as destroying videotapes depicting torture. Should Haspel be appointed, she will replace...
11	Mike Pompeo		665,357		...Mike Pompeo, who vacates the position of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency to potentially become the 70th United States Secretary of State, replacing Rex Tillerson, fired this week by President Trump. Pompeo, a member of the Tea Party movement of the Republican Party, will be hoping to do a better job than his predecessor of staying on the right side of his notoriously trigger-happy President.
12	Pi Day		607,455		14 March is celebrated as "Pi Day" because the irrational number π begins 3.14, and 14 March is written out as 3/14 in the North American system, and not many other places.
13	Albert Einstein		561,693		14 March 1879 saw the birth of Einstein, the theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity. Is it just a coincidence that Stephen Hawking (#1) died on Einstein's birthday? Almost certainly.
14	Avengers: Infinity War		550,846		All your favourite Marvel superheroes (except Jessica Jones) are back for the nineteenth Marvel Cinematic Universe film. Iron Man! Thor! Hulk! Captain America! Black Widow! Doctor Strange! Black Panther! Spider-Man! Ant-Man! Hawkeye! The Guardians of the Galaxy! Tyrion Lannister! And that guy from the mid-credits scene of Thor: The Dark World. It's all a bit much, really.
15	WrestleMania 34		534,488		The advertisements for this have almost as many characters as the Avengers: Infinity War ones. The 34th WrestleMana will be held on 8 April in New Orleans at the Superdome, where the Saints of football play. Scheduled bouts include a ring debut for former UFC Women's Bantmanweight champion Ronda Rousey, and fights for the WWE Championship, the WWE United States Championship, the WWE Intercontinental Championship, and the WWE Universal Championship, in order of area covered.
16	Alicia Vikander		489,828		Alicia Vikander, the winner of the 2016 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Danish Girl, is starring in the newly-released Tomb Raider, having replaced Angelina Jolie in the role of video-game heroine Lara Croft. Her performance has been praised, a lot more than the film itself has. Tomb Raider opened in second place of the US box office behind the Black Panther (#5) juggernaut, but has already recouped its budget internationally.
17	Tomb Raider (film)		477,763		Said film slots in one place below Vikander. The mixed reviews led to a somewhat disappointing opening in the U.S., with a weekend gross of $23.5 million placing it second behind the massive Black Panther; the takings where less than half of those taken by the first Angelina Jolie film, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider back in 2001 (not adjusted for inflation). This may not be the big hitting video game movie Hollywood is apparently waiting for.
18	Craig Mack		475,916		Craig Mack, the American rapper, died on 12 March at the age of 47. His biggest hit, 1994's "Flava in Ya Ear", was number one on the Hot Rap Songs chart and top ten on the Billboard Hot 100
19	Conor Lamb		474,344		Conor Lamb, former Assistant United States Attorney, was the Democratic Party's candidate for the Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district special election held on March 13. It appears that he has won, taking a seat seen by the Cook Partisan Voting Index as strongly Republican, having at current count 627 more votes than his opponent, state representative Rick Saccone. A recount is likely, but the closeness of the election in such a Republican area will doubtlessly be seen as a positive for the Democratic Party ahead of the November mid-terms.
20	Fastlane (2018)		469,854		The fourth WWE Fastlane event was held on March 11 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The main event saw AJ Styles (pictured) defend the WWE Championship against five challengers; he'll be trying to defend it again at WrestleMania 34 (#15). Another match saw Charlotte Flair defeat Ruby Riott for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship, before a challenge was setup between Flair and Asuka for the same Championship to be competed at Wrestlemania 34.
21	List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films		469,483		MCU films #18 and #19 are numbers #3 and #14 on this list.
22	Ken Dodd		465,228		Sir Ken Dodd, the English comedian, died on 11 March at the age of 90. He was known for his long shows, often running over five hours even into his eighties, and for his famous red, white and blue "tickling stick". He was also known as a singer, having had, in 1965, the UK's biggest-selling single of the year, with his song "Tears".
23	Steak and Blowjob Day		453,896		Did you know 14 March, as well as being Pi Day, is also Steak and Blowjob Day? Apparently it's a male answer to Valentine's Day. Quite why a male answer to Valentine's Day is needed is not entirely clear. A steak is pictured; a blowjob is not.
24	Exo (band)		446,954		Still here in the wake of their performances at the 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony. Fun Exo fact: a tweet about them earlier this week from @Wikipedia was briefly the most liked/RTd tweet from this encyclopedia's feed. It was then overtaken minutes later by one about BTS (band). K-Pop is big.
25	George Peabody		429,752		Another Google Doodle, this time marking Peabody, the American financier regarded as the father of modern philanthropy, who was honoured for his generosity with a Congressional Gold Medal on 16 March, 2018.

• 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.
• Per agreed consensus, XXX (franchise) is excluded.

Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.