Charlie Kirk tops Wikipedia’s list of most-read articles in 2025

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Wikipedia’s article on Charlie Kirk was the most read on the online encyclopedia this year, as users sought out information on the conservative activist.

People viewed the entry on Kirk nearly 45m times, many after he was shot at a university campus debate on 10 September.

Although Kirk was a well-known figure in the US as co-founder of the Turning Point USA organisation, his death attracted headline coverage around the world. More than 40% of the views for the most-read article on English-language Wikipedia in 2025 came from outside the US, according to data from the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organisation that operates the website.

The second-most read is a regular feature in Wikipedia’s annual list: notable deaths of the year. The 2024 list of notable losses was the most read last year.

The third entry was Ed Gein, the US serial killer who was profiled in the third season of Netflix’s Monster, the streaming platform’s true crime anthology.

Wikipedia celebrates its 25th birthday on 15 January and has maintained its credibility as an information source with the help of 250,000 volunteer writers and editors. Encyclopedia entries are guided by three core principles: displaying a neutral point of view; using published, reliable sources; and not publishing personal opinions or new interpretations.

The top five was rounded out by two more US public figures: Donald Trump, in his eighth appearance on the annual list; and the Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV.

Film and TV-related articles remain a staple of the top 20 list, due in part to the “second screen” effect – people turning to their mobile phone while watching a movie or broadcast show.

The Sinners and Superman films were both in the overall top 10, while the Netflix show Adolescence ranked 17th for the year overall, with page views peaking 10 days after its release as the four-parter become a viral success.

Views of the entry for Severance, the critically lauded Apple TV series, have nearly tripled between its first season in 2022 and its second this year. Wikimedia also flagged the popularity of the site’s plot summaries for films and TV shows.

US politics accounted for a quarter of the top 20, with Zohran Mamdani’s extraordinary run to the New York mayoralty putting him in the top 10, just below Elon Musk. The YouTuber MrBeast also entered the top 20 for the first time.