The letters “WTF” sum up 2017 perfectly. All we know is a whole lot happened, but we’re not quite sure what. Don’t get us wrong, there were some wonderful moments, but there was also a whole lot of confusion. A pinch of madness. A dash of mania. We were introduced to new people and concepts and we needed somewhere to turn to explain everything in terms we could understand.
Enter Wikipedia. In 2017 the free encyclopedia endured as the most logical place to get answers (Quantcast has it as the #5 most trafficked site on earth). So it’s only fitting that, as 2018 starts to bring its own weirdness to the table, the Wiki squad compiled a list of the top 50 english articles sought out in the year gone by.
Topping the list with over 37 million views is “Deaths in 2017” followed by “Donald Trump” with some 29 million hits, and Elizabeth II coming in at more than 19 million. The top three article searches are not surprising, as death, in general, Trump’s daily life, and the Queen’s obvious access to the fountain of youth are areas of constant intrigue. The list goes on to include the newest almost-member of the Royal Family, Meghan Markle and other television stars like herself, as well as television and Netflix shows, business ventures like bitcoin, and a ton of movies, movie stars, and moguls.
The most interesting entry was probably number 49, Google, which means people were likely googling “Google” — another testament to just how WTF 2017 was. It should be noted, though, that number 50 was “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol.2” All that seems to suggest is that at the end of trying to figure out what was going on in the world in 2017, people gave up and started researching how to get out of it.
The List
1. Deaths in 2017
2. Donald Trump
3. Elizabeth II
4. Game of Thrones (Season 7)
5. Meghan Markle
6. Game of Thrones
7. List of Bollywood Films 2017
8. United States
9. Bitcoin
10. 13 Reasons Why
11. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
12. It (2017 Film)
13. Queen Victoria
14. List of Highest-Grossing Indian Films
15. Gal Gadot
16. Logan (Film)
17. Riverdale (2017 TV Series)
18. 2017 in Film
19. Stranger Things
20. Wonder Woman (2017 Film)
21. Dwayne Johnson
22. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
23. Justice League (Film)
24. Elon Musk
25. Facebook
26. Cristiano Ronaldo
27. Get Out (Film)
28. India
29. Millennials
30. Barack Obama
31. YouTube
32. O.J. Simpson
33. Conor McGregor
34. Charles Manson
35. Ed Sheeran
36. Melania Trump
37. Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
38. Split (2016 American film)
39. Thor: Ragnarok
40. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
41. Pablo Escobar
42. World War II
43. Spider-Man: Homecoming
44. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
45. Star Wars
46. Ariana Grande
47. Dunkirk (2017 Film)
48. Adolf Hitler
49. Google
50. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
