Doom and gloom vs. the power of Reddit
We indeed moved far away from football this week, and further into much more serious issues of war and death. The Israel-Palestinian conflict continues to dominate the news, and the top 10, with Gaza Strip (#4), Israel (#9), and Hamas (#10). The top 25 also includes Palestine (#15) and Israeli–Palestinian conflict itself (#17). Death also lies behind the popularity of James Garner (#1), the American actor who died on 19 July, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (#3), and Deaths in 2014 (#8).
We have Reddit to thank for some less serious topics of interest, including a funny story about songwriter Tom Lehrer (#5), as well as how land mine (#7) areas in the Falkland Islands have become penguin sanctuaries. Actress Rose Leslie (#21) made the top 25 simply because Reddit noticed she grew up in a castle. It's worth noting that earlier this week The New York Times was asking "Can Reddit Grow Up?", about that site's efforts to develop a mature business model. Considering that Reddit and Google Doodles are without peer in their ability to direct traffic, at least to Wikipedia, it stands to reason that someone will figure out how to leverage that site's massive audience.
For the full top 25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation for any exclusions.
For the week of 20 to 26 July 2014, the ten most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages, were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 James Garner 
1,160,042 
This American actor died on July 19 at age 86 of a heart attack. Garner starred in several popular television series over more than five decades, including Maverick and The Rockford Files. He also starred in more than 50 films. 2 Fifty Shades of Grey
579,935 
This 2011 erotic romance novel by E. L. James (pictured) is one of the biggest best sellers of the past decade. It is being adapted into a movie directed by Sam Taylor-Wood so that even more people can experience it. On July 24, the movie trailer for the film was released, which is no doubt why this article was so popular this week. 3 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
576,750 
The tragic shooting down of this passenger aircraft over Eastern Ukraine drops one spot this week. Although it seems likely that Russian-backed insurgents, who recently downed some Ukrainian planes in the same area, mistook the Boeing 777 for a Ukrainian military plane, a full investigation of the crash needs to be completed. That continues to be hampered by the lack of government authority and ongoing fighting in the region, leading to news reports about the efforts made to simply transport bodies out of the area, as well as disturbing claims of scavenging of passenger belongings by local residents. 4 Gaza Strip 
508,624 
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas, part of a very long and complicated history of conflict, keeps this article on the list for the second straight week. The military operation is dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" though our article on the conflict is now filed under 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. 5 Tom Lehrer
507,403 
This American singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician was the subject of a very popular Reddit thread this week. As Reddit noticed, when Lehrer was asked at age 84 by hip-hop artist 2 Chainz for permission to sample a song he wrote 60 years ago, Lehrer responded: "As sole copyright owner of 'The Old Dope Peddler', I grant you motherfuckers permission to do this. Please give my regards to Mr. Chainz, or may I call him 2?" 6 2014 Commonwealth Games
487,610 
The 2014 edition of the Commonwealth Games kicked off on 23 July in Glasgow, Scotland, and will run through 3 August. Almost 5,000 athletes from 71 different nations and territories will be competing in 18 sports, including Lawn Bowls. 7 Land mine
438,852 
Reddit also caused a huge spike in the popularity of this article on 25 July, when a "Today I Learned" thread noted that areas around landmines laid near the sea during the Falklands War (1982) have become favorite penguins sanctuaries, as penguins do not weigh enough to detonate the mines, and can breed free of human interference. The sanctuaries have proven so popular and lucrative for ecotourism that removal efforts have been opposed. 8 Deaths in 2014 
408,553 
The list of deaths in the current year is always a popular article. In addition to James Garner (#1), deaths this week included (and this is a random sample, truly): Indian actor Kadhal Dhandapani (July 20), English female aviator and World War II military pilot Lettice Curtis (July 21), American football player Robert Newhouse (July 22), American swimmer and 1932 Olympics gold medal winner Helen Johns (July 23), South Korean vionlist Ik-Hwan Bae (July 24), American author Bel Kaufman (July 25), and Ukrainian mayor Oleh Babayev (July 26). 9 Israel
396,605 
Up from #14 last week. As with #4, the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas is no doubt the cause of the popularity of this article this week. 10 Hamas
396,081 
Up from #17 last week, giving the recent conflict three of the top ten spots this week. Sadly, this popularity, and the bloodshed causing it, is likely to continue.
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It took 396,081 views to make the Top 10 this week, down substantially from the 467,674 views needed last week. In the greater raw WP:5000 stats, 158 articles received over 100,000 views this week, with The Big Bang Theory (#158) the last to do so. William Shakespeare (#587) was the last to break 50,000 views; Los Angeles Lakers (#2239) last to hit 25,000; and United States Navy SEALs and Jazz tied for last (#4999) on the WP:5000, with 16,068 views.
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