Libraries are so last century. These days, the answers people search for are found on the internet. Google showed off its trending topics of 2023, but the search engine isn’t the only game in town. The Wikimedia Foundation says people viewed Wikipedia pages 84 billion times this year. Here are the top 5 most-popular themes in this week’s Five For Friday.
#5: Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is having a monster year, culminating with her being named Time’s Person of the Year (with three covers to choose from). Her Eras Tour was the most in-demand concert of 2023, with an average ticket price of $1,088, according to StubHub.
The tour spawned a movie that had fans dancing in the aisles and became the highest grossing concert film of all time. Swift’s romance with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce even boosted NFL ratings. Swift’s Wikipedia page was viewed 19 million times this year, which put her at No. 12 overall.
#4: Movies
The Barbie movie may have beaten Oppenheimer at the box office over the summer, but people searched the Oppenheimer Wiki far more. It was No. 5 in page views for 2023, while the page for J. Robert Oppenheimer, the subject of the film and “father of the atomic bomb,” came in at No. 7. The two combined for more than 54 million total views.
The other half of the Barbenheimer phenomenon, Barbie, hit No. 13 this year. Hindi-language thrillers Jawan and Pathaan also beat out Barbie, with the eighth and 10th most-viewed pages. The two films are India’s fifth- and sixth-biggest movies of all time.
#3: Cricket
Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world, but this is the first time it has hit Wikipedia’s top-25 list. The sport had a big showing. The 2023 Cricket World Cup, which Australia won for a record sixth time, was the third most-viewed page of the year, with 38 million views.
The overall Cricket World Cup page came in at No. 6. The Indian Premier League showed up at No. 4, while this specific season, which was won by the Chennai Super Kings, showed up at No. 9.
#2: Deaths in 2023
The year in deaths is a perennial favorite on Wikipedia, albeit a morbid one. The 2023 list of deaths has more than 42 million page views.
The most independently-searched page was actor Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing on “Friends” and passed away in October. Perry’s page came in at No. 17, while the daughter of Elvis and ex-wife of Michael Jackson, Lisa Marie Presley, who passed away in January, came in at No. 22.
#1: ChatGPT
OpenAI’s ChatGPT is the fastest-growing consumer app in history and has the most-viewed Wikipedia page of the year at just shy of 50 million. It’s no wonder, considering you have to look up whether generative AI can take your job or get you in legal trouble. Remember when Wikipedia was known for not being a great research source? Now we have to worry about young people using ChatGPT to cheat in school.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman didn’t make the list this year, despite being fired and rehired in a single week. He was still named Time’s CEO of the Year, so he has that.