The world’s most popular online destination for crowdsourced information is Wikipedia, hands down. From its collections of knowledge to the best facts and figures today and yesterday, it’s always a treat to see what’s new and trending.
We just saw a new list published for the top articles on Wikipedia and it’s safe to say that trends were quite different from what we’re normally used to seeing. For instance, deaths were some of the most searched items on the list.
Amongst those included were YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki who died in August after leading a very successful year. Her final post was only published by loved ones after her death. Meanwhile, the most trending domain for articles was certainly politics.
Many were confused about candidates and therefore it was Wikipedia to the rescue here. On average, the company noted 4.2M views for all those taking part in the elections. Moreover, the 2020 presidential article actually received twice as many views last month.
Amongst the trending categories for articles were Kamala Harris, US Elections 2024, Donald Trump, JD Vance, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, and Robert Kennedy. The final name is on the list thanks to the post-election video posted on X.
Other than the world of politics, it was categories related to music and entertainment that made it big. Amongst those include Lyle and Erik Menendez, Deadpool and Wolverine, Taylor Swift, and Kalki. We have to add that the Mendez brothers made headlines for the first time since the start of the early 90s due to the high visibility of the case.
As important and loved as ever, people stayed true to their fascination with sports. Be it the Paris Olympics, Indian Premier League, UEFA Euro 2024, or star player Cristiano Ronaldo - the list featured all the leading events getting millions of views each.
However, we have to admit that we were quite surprised to see just a single tech topic make it big in the top 25 list. But it did summarize all others including the trending world of AI. The ChatGPT article was the 12th most searched item around the globe. And the reason why it’s so ironic has to do with the fact that people actually turn to ChatGPT to do the typical searches we witness on Wikipedia.
We agree that anyone can make edits on Wikipedia, it’s not easy. You have to follow the website’s content policies and they’re quite stringent in nature. Reviews on the entire editing history for each article are also possible by seeing the view history tab. It’s quite different from ChatGPT’s offerings which are prone to errors like hallucination.
Anyone who goes on expecting ChatGPT to be the best alternative to a search engine might need to think twice. This is because you’re bound to get bombarded with misinformation. Also, it’s hard to convince anyone that anything the chatbot says is fact and not indeed fiction.
Read next: Meta Accuses OpenAI of Benefiting From Its Non-Profit Status In New Letter
We just saw a new list published for the top articles on Wikipedia and it’s safe to say that trends were quite different from what we’re normally used to seeing. For instance, deaths were some of the most searched items on the list.
Amongst those included were YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki who died in August after leading a very successful year. Her final post was only published by loved ones after her death. Meanwhile, the most trending domain for articles was certainly politics.
Many were confused about candidates and therefore it was Wikipedia to the rescue here. On average, the company noted 4.2M views for all those taking part in the elections. Moreover, the 2020 presidential article actually received twice as many views last month.
Amongst the trending categories for articles were Kamala Harris, US Elections 2024, Donald Trump, JD Vance, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, and Robert Kennedy. The final name is on the list thanks to the post-election video posted on X.
Other than the world of politics, it was categories related to music and entertainment that made it big. Amongst those include Lyle and Erik Menendez, Deadpool and Wolverine, Taylor Swift, and Kalki. We have to add that the Mendez brothers made headlines for the first time since the start of the early 90s due to the high visibility of the case.
As important and loved as ever, people stayed true to their fascination with sports. Be it the Paris Olympics, Indian Premier League, UEFA Euro 2024, or star player Cristiano Ronaldo - the list featured all the leading events getting millions of views each.
However, we have to admit that we were quite surprised to see just a single tech topic make it big in the top 25 list. But it did summarize all others including the trending world of AI. The ChatGPT article was the 12th most searched item around the globe. And the reason why it’s so ironic has to do with the fact that people actually turn to ChatGPT to do the typical searches we witness on Wikipedia.
We agree that anyone can make edits on Wikipedia, it’s not easy. You have to follow the website’s content policies and they’re quite stringent in nature. Reviews on the entire editing history for each article are also possible by seeing the view history tab. It’s quite different from ChatGPT’s offerings which are prone to errors like hallucination.
Anyone who goes on expecting ChatGPT to be the best alternative to a search engine might need to think twice. This is because you’re bound to get bombarded with misinformation. Also, it’s hard to convince anyone that anything the chatbot says is fact and not indeed fiction.
| Wikipedia Article Title | Pageviews |
|---|---|
| Deaths in 2024 | 44,440,344 |
| Kamala Harris | 28,960,278 |
| 2024 United States presidential election | 27,910,346 |
| Lyle and Erik Menendez | 26,126,811 |
| Donald Trump | 25,293,855 |
| Indian Premier League | 24,560,689 |
| JD Vance | 23,303,160 |
| Deadpool & Wolverine | 22,362,102 |
| Project 2025 | 19,741,623 |
| 2024 Indian general election | 18,149,666 |
| Taylor Swift | 17,089,827 |
| ChatGPT | 16,595,350 |
| 2020 United States presidential election | 16,351,730 |
| 2024 Summer Olympics | 16,061,381 |
| UEFA Euro 2024 | 15,680,913 |
Read next: Meta Accuses OpenAI of Benefiting From Its Non-Profit Status In New Letter
