The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, released its annual list of the most viewed articles on English Wikipedia in 2023. From ChatGPT and Cricket to Barbie and Bollywood, the articles tell the story of how society at large is seeking out knowledge about our ever-changing world from the world's largest encyclopedia.  

For the first time since the Wikimedia Foundation started publishing these year-end most popular lists in 2015, articles related to Indian topics are prominently featured in the 2023 list, with about seven appearing in the top 25.  

Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world, but no cricket article has ever been in the Foundation’s year-end lists, until now. In 2023, cricket comprised a full 16% of English Wikipedia's top 25 articles. The articles for the ‘2023 Cricket World Cup’ (number three), hosted this year in India, and ‘Indian Premier League’ (number four) made their way into the list of the top five most viewed articles. These Wikipedia articles, along with the ‘Cricket World Cup’ (number six) and ‘2023 Indian Premier League’ (number nine) articles collectively received over 116.8 million pageviews. 

Interestingly, the ‘2023 Cricket World Cup’ page received 304% more interest this year compared to its previous edition, ‘2019 Cricket World Cup’, including over 1.25 million views on the day of the tournament final. India's Virat Kohli was awarded ‘Player of the Tournament’ in the 2023 World Cup, and he received more pageviews on English Wikipedia this year (over ten million) than all those recorded for the 2019  

Cricket World Cup that year (a little under 9.5 million). 

While Cricket and related articles feature prominently on the list, Bollywood isn’t too far behind with two of this year’s major blockbuster films finding their way into the top 25. ‘Jawan’ and ‘Pathaan’, both starring Shah Rukh Khan, became two of the highest-grossing Hindi-language films of all time. They feature in eighth and tenth place on the list respectively, collectively racking up more than 41.7 million page views. Around their release dates, both films peaked at over one million page views in a single day on English Wikipedia alone. Hollywood’s ‘Oppenheimer’ (fifth) and the article on ‘J. Robert Oppenheimer’ (seventh) are positioned higher on the list, whereas ‘Barbie’ and ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ are featured at positions 13 and 20 respectively.  

The Wikipedia article for ‘India’ is also featured in the 21st position, with almost 14 million page views. The readership of Wikipedia articles is often driven by current affairs. This year saw a number of positive, global developments in India, including becoming the first country to land a spacecraft on the south pole of the moon through its Chandrayaan-3 mission, the winning of an Oscar for ‘Best Original Song’ for ‘Naatu Naatu’ - the first time an Indian film song has ever been recognised for these awards, India’s G20 presidency, and the hosting of the 2023 Cricket World Cup. 

“Wikipedia is a vital source of up–to–date and fact-checked information for people in India and around the world. Anyone who wants to learn more about a current event or gain knowledge on a topic can consult the free and collaborative online encyclopedia,” said Anusha Alikhan, Chief Communications Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation. “Every Wikipedia article is created, curated, and maintained by a global community of more than 265,000 volunteers. It is their work and time that has made Wikipedia into the reliable, trusted resource we all rely on.” 

English Wikipedia received over 84 billion views this year alone. All 25 articles featured in this year-end list have amassed a whopping 540.6 million views in 2023.