Rank
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Article
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Class
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Views
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Image
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Notes
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1
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Chris Kyle
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5,275,697
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America needs heroes it seems, because when
Clint Eastwood
gave her one, she embraced him for all she was worth. Viewing numbers for this murdered US soldier have pretty much doubled each of the last three weeks. It's hard to imagine a more perfectly formed hero; a man of superhuman ability (the most successful sniper in military history) and fatal compassion (his murderer was a PTSD-affected veteran whose pain he was hoping to ease on a shooting range) who now, in death, can never be corrupted or betray his own ideals. It is not surprising that America found her hero in a movie; after all, if the US Congress were a movie, it would have the second-lowest score on IMDb, only beating
Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas
.
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2
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American Sniper
(film)
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1,511,250
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Clint Eastwood
has always had astute commercial instincts as a filmmaker, instincts that appear only to have sharpened with age. But even he must have been flabbergasted at the commercial reception given to his latest film,
American Sniper
. The biography of sniper
Chris Kyle
has earned over $200 million in just 11 days of wide release, and that in January, usually considered Hollywood's financial graveyard. There hasn't been a phenomenon like this since
Frozen
. Adjusted for inflation, the film has already eclipsed
Unforgiven
as Eastwood's highest-grossing film as a director in the US, and shows no signs of slowing down.
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3
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Martin Luther King, Jr.
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1,088,233
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It is
Martin Luther King Day
this week, and, with public awareness of police killings of black men spiking, and claims that blacks are being blocked from voting by new voter fraud laws, it's fair to say the civil rights pioneer's life has more resonance than ever. On top of that, a mild controversy has also emerged concerning the exclusion of his biopic
Selma
from most major Oscar categories. You'd think that would be enough for him to top the list, but apparently not.
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4
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List of Super Bowl champions
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799,871
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This list invariably pops up once a year, as Americans scramble for facts to determine which team will win the
Super Bowl
; the foremost of all
football
fiestas (at least in the US- most of the rest of the world has never heard of it).
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5
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Tom Brady
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727,008
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The
New England Patriots
quarterback
with the all-American name has led his team to the Super Bowl six times in the last thirteen years, and won thrice. His high position on the list implies readers expect him to do so again.
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6
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Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
|
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726,736
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Thanks to the "pass the parcel" mode of succession practised in Saudi, which hands the crown not down the generations but between the sons of the country's first monarch,
Ibn Saud
, its now-late ruler was 81 when he assumed the throne, and held it for less than a decade before his death this week handed it to his brother
Salman
, who, at 79, is the youngest surviving son of Ibn Saud. After him, the grandchildren will finally be let in. Such a system ensures that Saudi Arabia will be a gerontocracy for the foreseeable future.
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7
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I
(film)
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726,736
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The
Phantom of the Opera
-esque
Bollywood
film starring
Vikram
(left) opened this week to reasonable reviews and fairly spectacular box office, netting ?1.84 billion ($30 million) worldwide in its first 12 days.
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8
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Greg Plitt
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713,992
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The fitness model and actor died this week after running between the rails of the
Metrolink (Southern California)
Antelope Valley Line
in
Burbank, California
. His death was recorded on video and, while it hasn't been released, it apparently suggests he was trying to outrun a train.
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9
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Lil Wayne
|
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692,652
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A suspiciously high mobile count (93%) implies that this week's release of
Sorry 4 the Wait 2
, the latest mixtape from Lil Wayne, composer of such masterpieces as "
B***s Love Me
", might not be generating solely human interest, and that his views may be being artificially inflated. I'll leave it to you as to whether we should drop him.
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10
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Amber Rose
|
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668,488
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The
hip-hop
singer and former
stripper
caused a minor Internet storm this week when she released some revealing images of herself online, to much attention and a fair amount of criticism.
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11
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Stephen Hawking
|
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649,303
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The former
Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
,
black hole
theorist and latter-day science icon makes his 12th straight appearance in the Top 25 this week, thanks in large part to his biopic,
The Theory of Everything
, which opened in the United States on November 7. The film has so far netted $70 million worldwide and this week won a
Screen Actors Guild Award
for
Eddie Redmayne
, who portrays him in the film.
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12
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Anne Kirkbride
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553,810
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One of the more idiosyncratic differences between Britain and America is that, while Americans prefer their
soap operas
to spin tales of the rich and beautiful, Britain's concern themselves with everyday, working class folk. And actress
Anne Kirkbride
's character
Deirdre Barlow
epitomised that for 40 years on
Coronation Street
; Britain's and the world's longest running soap. Sadly, Anne's death this week means Deirdre's plotlines won't be resolved.
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13
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Alan Turing
|
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533,419
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It is sobering to recall one who accomplished so much, only to be so utterly destroyed for so little. After laying the foundations for the philosophy of
artificial intelligence
, essentially inventing the programmable
computer
, and shortening World War II by an estimated two years by cracking the
Enigma code
, he was outed as a
homosexual
and forced to undergo a chemical castration, an ordeal which eventually drove him to suicide. As an added insult, his life's work became the subject of two films,
U-571
and
Enigma
, neither of which saw fit to mention him. So the Oscar buzz
Benedict Cumberbatch
has received for portraying him in his first true cinematic biopic,
The Imitation Game
, carries some fairly historic undertones. The film has proven popular, earning $120 million worldwide to date.
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14
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
|
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512,453
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The third Monday in January is set aside in the US to commemorate the life, death and legacy of the civil rights leader. Many of our younger viewers might be surprised to learn just how recently Americans began celebrating this holiday. It was signed into law by
Ronald Reagan
in 1983, first celebrated in 1986, and only adopted by all 50 states in 2000. There are still six serving Congressmen (including
John McCain
) who voted against instating it.
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15
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Deaths in 2015
|
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479,681
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The viewing figures for this article have been remarkably constant; fluctuating week to week between 450 and 550,000, apparently heedless of who actually died.
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16
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Facebook
|
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473,912
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A perennially popular article.
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17
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Russell Wilson
|
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467,560
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The quarterback for the
Seattle Seahawks
, who, despite only signing on in 2012, led his team to their first ever Super Bowl victory last year, squares off against three-time-winner Tom Brady (above) when they meet in...
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18
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Super Bowl XLIX
|
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436,408
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... which this year will be held on February 1 at the
University of Phoenix Stadium
.
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19
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Whitney Houston
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414,569
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The renowned singer, who rose to become one of the best selling musicians of all time, only to fall into a morass of drug use and an early death at just 48, had her turbulent life chronicled (or, according to most critics, travestied) in the
Lifetime
biopic
Whitney
, produced by her
Waiting to Exhale
costar
Angela Basset
, who rose to fame playing another troubled singer,
Tina Turner
.
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20
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Conor McGregor
|
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393,591
|
|
The
mixed martial artist
and former featherweight champion defeated his opponent
Dennis Siver
at
UFC Fight Night 59
this week.
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21
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Sia (musician)
|
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380,024
|
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The Australian singer caused a storm this week with the video for her song "
Elastic Heart
", which featured a nearly naked
Shia LaBeouf
wrestling with 12-year-old dancer
Maddie Ziegler
in a cage. Yes, it is off-putting.
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22
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Birdman
(film)
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376,654
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This film by Mexican director
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
is about a onetime star who rose to fame playing a superhero named Birdman but who hasn't made a movie in years. As such, it proved an irresistible draw for
Michael Keaton
(left) whose career has followed a remarkably similar narrative. Now with 9 Oscar nominations in the bag, it has gained immense interest, and has earned $50 million worldwide to date.
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23
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American Horror Story: Freak Show
|
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375,676
|
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The fourth season of the
American Horror Story
series concluded on January 21.
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24
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Bradley Cooper
|
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370,956
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The conventional wisdom has
Eddie Redmayne
competing with
Michael Keaton
for the Best Actor Oscar this year, but it's pretty clear who the people are interested in: Chris Kyle portrayer Bradley Cooper, who has been lifted up along with everything else
American Sniper
-related.
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25
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Yaodong
|
|
365,400
|
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Yaodongs, or traditional Chinese cave houses, house up to 40 million people, as noted in a
Reddit
thread this week.
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