Which Wikipedia pages were viewed most in 2023?

What were people most curious about in 2023? The number of Wikipedia searches in the past 12 months will give us an indication. The Italian edition of 'Wired' published the year's rankings for the English version of Wikipedia. Have a look at the results!

The technological revolution of the year, ChatGPT, Open AI's chatbot accessible to all, comes out on top, with nearly 50 million visits to the English page alone.

Taking into account the translated versions, the ChatGPT Wikipedia page has been read 78 million times, with the number of daily visits approaching 400,000 at the start of the year.

It's an ironic situation. As a famous editor of the online encyclopedia wrote in an article on the 'Death of Wikipedia,' the platform would actually cease to exist within a few years due to the progress of generative artificial intelligence.

Photo: Luke Chesser / Unsplash

For now, Wikipedia is still going strong. The Wikipedia Foundation indicated that the number of visits to English-speaking pages alone had been 84 billion in 2023, as highlighted by 'Wired'.

The page on deaths in 2023 comes in second place among the most-viewed Wikipedia pages. It has 42.7 million views. A comparable page, the one about the disappearances of the year, is 4th with 46.5 million views.

Photo: Kajetan Sumila / Unsplash

People love to check out cricket on Wikipedia. The pages on 'Cricket World Cup 2023,' 'Indian Premier League,' and 'Cricket World Cup' come in 3rd, 4th, and 6th, respectively, with more than 25 million views each.

A big phenomenon of the year, even though he died long ago, was J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the developers of the atomic bomb. A biopic about the scientist was released in 2023. The page dedicated to the film is 5th in the list of most-viewed Wikipedia pages (28.3 million views), and that on the historical figure came in 7th (25.7 million).

Other films and series were also highly sought after this year, such as the Indian dramas 'Jawan' (8th, 21.8 million views) and 'Pathaan' (10th, 19.9 million), and also 'The Last of Us' (11th, 19.8 million) and 'Barbie' (13th, 18 million).

Globally successful singer Taylor Swift made a breakthrough in the Wikipedia rankings this year, reaching 12th place with 19.4 million views.

Even when they're far from Europe and closer than ever to retirement, the two big stars of world football, Cristiano Ronaldo (14th, 17.5 million views) and Lionel Messi (15th, 16.6 million views), are among the personalities whose pages are the most viewed.

The English Premier League has not lost its status as the most followed football championship in the world. Its English Wikipedia page reached 16th place in 2023 with 16.6 million views.

Star actor from the series 'Friends,' Matthew Perry tragically died at the age of 54 in 2023. His death aroused worldwide emotion, evident from the number of visits to his Wikipedia page (17th, 16.4 million views).

Two countries appear in the top 25 for searches on English Wikipedia pages: the United States (18th, 16.2 million views) and India (21st, 13.8 million).

Photo: Paul Weaver / Unsplash

Ranked 2nd in 2022, the English page on the Russian invasion of Ukraine places 24th this year with 12.8 million views. The war still rages, and it is still on people's minds, but not as much as cricket or Barbie... At least, if we have to go on the numbers of views on Wikipedia pages.

In addition to the emergence of ChatGPT, several major changes have taken place compared to 2022. Last year, the pages on Elizabeth II and Charles III of England, the Football World Cup, and the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard clash were among the most-viewed pages. But, of course, they are no longer in the news in 2023.

Finally, we have to note that this is provisional data. A definite list will be given after the final count in January 2024.