The Wikipedia Pages We Look Up Most, Globally

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Who was mad at whom at the start of World War II? Or right now in Westeros, for that matter?

Who was mad at whom at the start of World War II? Or right now in Westeros, for that matter?

Questions about TV, news, or history would once require dusty Britannica volumes. Now, we have Wikipedia. The world’s 7th most-used site turns 15 years old today, but even for those who remember the days of print encyclopedias, it’s hard to imagine life without it. (Particularly when you can’t recall what happened in The Phantom Menace.)

Data published by Wikipedia shows that across the world, the crowd-sourced encyclopedia has become an important resource for both history and entertainment. Indeed, the two topics are often intertwined.

For example, last year in Korean, Princess Jeongmyeong was a top page on the site. Not coincidentally, the 17th-century princess is the subject of historical drama Hwajeong (Splendid Politics), which premiered in April. In Turkish, the page for the Ottoman female sultan Kösem also ranked high in 2015. This is consistent with the premiere last year of Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, sequel to the popular show Muhteşem Yüzyıl (The Magnificent Century). Views of the page on Chinese empress Wu Zetian were high as well—matching the first season of The Empress of China, which began in December of 2014. 

But television did not have to mirror history to be a popular search. Elsewhere, in German, The Big Bang Theory ranked high, and Game of Thrones ranked among the top 10 most searched pages in English, French, German and Russian. The Walking Dead was also popular in French and German.

Other popular sites from last year include country pages, especially the United States, major historical events, especially World War II, and company pages, especially the article on Facebook.

There are a total of 280 languages represented on Wikipedia. Here are 2015’s top 10 pages, grouped according to 11 of the site’s most popular languages.

English

Rank Page Category Page views
1 Deaths in 2015 News 20,686,307
2 Facebook Company 10,769,172
3 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant News 10,376,941
4 List of Bollywood films of 2015 Entertainment 10,162,922
5 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Entertainment 9,776,057
6 United States Country 9,507,671
7 Google Company 9,158,202
8 Game of Thrones Entertainment 8,866,627
9 Chris Kyle History 8,715,030
10 2015 in film Entertainment 8,607,591

German

Rank Page Category Page views
1 Deaths in 2015 News 5,665,218
2 Germany Country 4,138,684
3 Game of Thrones Entertainment 2,736,556
4 Wikipedia Company 2,353,511
5 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant News 1,868,121
6 The Walking Dead Entertainment 1,621,908
7 Berlin City 1,514,738
8 United States Country 1,470,324
9 Switzerland Country 1,435,020
10 The Big Bang Theory Entertainment 1,403,674

Chinese

Rank Page Category Page views
1 Running Man Entertainment 4,300,504
2 China Country 1,704,741
3 I Am a Singer (Season 3) Entertainment 1,231,304
4 List of Asian porn actresses Entertainment 1,148,342
5 Korean War History 1,104,082
6 Xi Jinping World leader 1,089,417
7 English language Language 1,087,269
8 Wu Zetian History 1,083,004
9 Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 History 1,064,234
10 Japan Country 1,050,415

Spanish

Rank Page Category Page views
1 @ symbol Technology 3,937,534
2 Volleyball Sports 2,988,018
3 Basketball Sports 2,967,799
4 Periodic table of elements Science 2,861,992
5 World War II History 2,783,479
6 World War I History 2,634,661
7 United States Country 2,571,226
8 Technology Technology 2,532,323
9 2015 Copa América Sports 2,474,473
10 Facebook Company 2,452,240

Russian

Rank Page Category Page views
1 Russia Country 3,677,401
2 VK Company 2,739,391
3 Game of Thrones Entertainment 2,659,847
4 Deaths in 2015 News 2,496,455
5 YouTube Company 2,393,732
6 Wikipedia Company 2,220,387
7 Vladimir Putin World leader 2,201,633
8 Classmates Company 2,138,507
9 Leviathan (2014 film) Entertainment 1,969,443
10 Ukraine Country 1,925,164

French

Rank Page Category Page views
1 France Country 2,046,416
2 Game of Thrones Entertainment 1,730,278
3 List of Naruto: Shippuden episodes Entertainment 1,622,682
4 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant News 1,504,886
5 Facebook Company 1,500,334
6 Victor Hugo History 1,319,792
7 The Walking Dead Entertainment 1,284,868
8 Wiki Technology 1,188,429
9 Paris City 1,120,021
10 United States Country 1,046,002

Portuguese

Rank Page Category Page views
1 Coca-Cola Company 1,855,470
2 Brazil Country 1,516,032
3 List of Naruto: Shippuden episodes Entertainment 1,129,455
4 Paper size Design 866,222
5 United States Country 851,390
6 World War II History 805,616
7 Basketball Sports 745,898
8 Star Wars Entertainment 722,040
9 Stephen Hawking Science 702,541
10 Portugal Country 698,710

Japanese

Rank Page Category Page views
1 Wikipedia Company 1,582,076
2 Yamaguchi-gumi News 1,568,581
3 The Heroic Legend of Arslan Entertainment 1,521,682
4 Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Entertainment 1,512,217
5 Japan Country 1,467,913
6 Star Wars Entertainment 1,443,131
7 Attack on Titan Entertainment 1,420,801
8 Overlord Entertainment 1,376,231
9 One Piece Entertainment 1,326,186
10 Momoiro Clover Z Music 1,270,990

Turkish

Rank Page Category Page views
1 2015 Turkey general election polls News 999,278
2 Turkey Country 973,827
3 Istanbul City 776,760
4 Suleiman I History 645,903
5 Ottoman Empire History 607,942
6 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk History 594,240
7 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan World leader 578,355
8 Kösem Sultan History 567,255
9 List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire History 554,718
10 Facebook Company 548,608

Arabic

Rank Page Category Page views
1 Muhammad History 548,544
2 Facebook Company 546,332
3 Egypt Country 462,209
4 Umar History 429,166
5 YouTube Company 414,088
6 Algeria Country 410,668
7 Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud World leader 393,602
8 Saudi Arabia Country 385,784
9 Suleiman I History 371,157
10 Ottoman Empire History 369,572

Korean

Rank Page Category Page views
1 Daum Company 349,400
2 Kakao Company 319,674
3 South Korea Country 259,515
4 Wikipedia Company 248,815
5 Google Company 212,865
6 Roh Moo-hyun History 160,405
7 Six Flying Dragons Entertainment 148,362
8 Princess Jeongmyeong History 128,230
9 Facebook Company 124,019
10 Park Chung-hee History 120,844

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