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This essay, "Most-read articles in 2008" (or Most-viewed articles in 2008), is based on various Wikipedia article traffic statistics, gathered informally during the final months of 2008. Listed, in separate groups, are: the Top 1000 articles, then many of the top 10,000 articles, followed by scattered counts for other, various, popular articles (ranked below 10,000).
The top 1000 articles were trendy, for the year, with the "2008 Summer Olympics" (#4), plus those athletes (and prior Olympics) ranking very high. The word "wiki" (#6) is still viewed by millions, along with YouTube (#10), Facebook, and "Wikipedia" all higher than "Sex" (#20). Many blog websites and sexual words ranked in the top 500. Typical celebrities and the U.S. presidential-election candidates were also very high.
However, many traditional topics were still high ranking among the top 2,500 topics: Socrates #2118, Plato #1724, and Aristotle #1237, with William Shakespeare #458 and Physics #1386.