The Wikipedia page for conservative activist Charlie Kirk was the most-viewed article on the online encyclopedia in 2025, attracting nearly 45 million page views. This surge in public interest followed the tragic event of 10 September 2025, when Kirk was fatally shot during a debate on a university campus.
A Global Search for Information
While Charlie Kirk was a prominent figure in the United States as the co-founder of Turning Point USA, his death garnered worldwide headlines. Data from the Wikimedia Foundation reveals that over 40% of the views for the top article came from outside the US, highlighting the international reach of the story. The annual list, released as Wikipedia marks its 25th birthday on 15 January, is compiled from the platform's vast data and maintained by a global community of 250,000 volunteer editors.
The Top 20: Politics, Pop Culture, and Notable Deaths
The list for 2025 reflects a mix of current events, enduring public fascination, and the 'second screen' effect of viewers looking up details while watching films and TV. The second most-read entry was the perennial 'Deaths in 2025' page, with 42.5 million views.
US politics featured heavily, accounting for roughly a quarter of the top 20. Figures included:
- Donald Trump (25.1m views), making his eighth appearance on the annual list.
- Zohran Mamdani (20.1m views), whose surprising run for New York Mayor captured attention.
- Elon Musk (20.2m views) and JD Vance (11.6m views).
True crime interest, often driven by streaming services, propelled the article on serial killer Ed Gein to third place with 31.2 million views, following his profiling in Netflix's Monster.
Entertainment Drives Consistent Traffic
Film and television remain a staple of Wikipedia's traffic. The 2025 movies Sinners (18.2m views) and Superman (17m views) both ranked in the overall top ten. The Netflix series Adolescence saw viewership peak ten days after its release, landing it at 17th place. Meanwhile, page views for the acclaimed Apple TV+ series Severance nearly tripled between its 2022 first season and its 2025 second season.
The full top five was rounded out by Pope Leo XIV (22.1m views), the Chicago-born pontiff. Other notable entries included rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, Pope Francis, and YouTuber MrBeast, who entered the top 20 for the first time.
Wikipedia's continued role as a primary information source is underpinned by its core principles: a neutral point of view, reliance on published reliable sources, and the exclusion of original opinion.
