New Delhi: AI chatbot ChatGPT was the most searched on Wikipedia this year, but human appeal was not far behind as people also looked for the Indian men’s cricket team as well as superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
ChatGPT got 49 million page views, according to data from the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts the free content online encyclopaedia.
The yearly list of deaths, a consistently well-liked Wikipedia article, came second at 42 million and the cricketing world cup this year got 38 million page views to secure third place.
For the first time since 2015, when Wikimedia Foundation began releasing year-end lists of popular articles, seven Indian subjects were featured in the top 25 most-read pieces. This list used data from 1 January to 28 November, 2023.
Cricket got an unprecedented 16 percent of the top 25 articles, with the “2023 Cricket World Cup” and “Indian Premier League” coming third and fourth.
The articles, along with those related, amassed 116.8 million pageviews. The “2023 Cricket World Cup” page also saw an increase of 304 percentage points in interest compared to 2019.
Marking a significant departure from previous years, Wikipedia’s annual list of most-viewed articles saw a surge in interest on Indian topics in 2023.
Seven Indian-related articles secured spots in the top 25, reflecting growing global curiosity about the subcontinent’s vibrant culture and other developments.
Virat Kohli’s English Wikipedia page garnered over ten million views this year, surpassing the combined pageviews recorded during the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
King Khan was not far behind
SRK-starrers Jawan and Pathaan were in eighth and tenth positions, and collectively accumulated more than 41.7 million pageviews. Their release dates witnessed peak viewership, with each film surpassing one million pageviews in a single day on English Wikipedia.
Beyond sports and entertainment, the article on “India” itself claimed the 21st position, amassing almost 14 million page views. The heightened interest in India can be attributed to a series of positive global developments, including the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, India’s G20 presidency, and the Oscar win for “Best Original Song” to Naatu Naatu, the first Indian film song to receive such recognition, according to the report.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was also feverishly searched.
Director Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer Wikipedia entries were accessed by over 47 million users across all languages.
English Wikipedia alone received 84 billion views in 2023, with the top 25 articles accumulating 540.6 million views.
Among celebrities, Taylor Swift remained on top amassing more than 19 million pageviews, followed by the late Matthew Perry, best known for his role on the TV show Friends, and Lisa Marie Presley, the singer and only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, who died in January.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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