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Here are the 25 top viewed Wikipedia articles of 2023

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

And now a moment to consider what people around the world were most curious about this year. English Wikipedia, the publicly edited online encyclopedia, raked in more than 84 billion views this year. And yesterday, the Wikimedia Foundation released a breakdown of those numbers. So let's dive into some of the 25 most viewed articles, Ari.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Celebrity deaths were top of mind, as they are most years on Wikipedia. The list of notable deaths was the second most viewed page.

CHANG: But of course, some living celebs made it. No surprise to see Taylor Swift's page at No. 12.

SHAPIRO: Soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi battled for the greatest of all time. Ronaldo scored almost a million more page views than Messi.

CHANG: There was also strong representation for India, with two Indian films and the entry for the country of India all in the top 25.

SHAPIRO: But the most popular Wikipedia page of the year was - drumroll please...

(SOUNDBITE OF DRUMMING)

SHAPIRO: ...About the AI chat bot ChatGPT, which I can confirm did not write this.

CHANG: (Laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF NICO SEGAL'S "PASS THE VIBES") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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