At the end of each year, Wikipedia releases an annual traffic report through its own Wiki-centric news outlet The Signpost, ranking and explaining the top 50 most-viewed articles of the previous 365 days. The kinds of pages represented by the vast majority of articles on this list belong to noteworthy public figures (in 2025, members of the newly inaugurated United States presidential administration take up several prominent slots), major contemporary events, and the most popular films and television shows.
The influence of entertainment runs throughout the entirety of the list. Several late actors who passed away in 2025 are featured, such as Gene Hackman, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Rob Reiner. Sydney Sweeney, meanwhile, earned the #28 spot on the list overall, due to the controversial “good jeans” ad campaign. Serial killer Ed Gein came in at #4 due to the Ryan Murphy Netflix series “Monster.”
Below, we’ve solely focused on the 15 most-viewed pages for films and television shows specifically. Outside of awards and box office returns, these are the kinds of numbers that reveal the big and small screen stories that truly defined the year.
15. Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning
Total Page Views: 9,434,191
The Wikipedia page for “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” peaked in popularity on March 23, the day of its wide release in the United States. It’s ranked #48 for the year overall, just above the page for First Lady Melania Trump.
It’s likely that many of these readers — perhaps casual “Mission: Impossible” fans who had left the franchise behind at some point — were looking for the updated plot synopsis section, which would reveal to them the ultimate fate of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. There was also plenty to dive into in the page’s production section, which chronicled the death-defying stunts Cruise had executed for this mission.
Bearing the burden of its predecessor’s underwhelming box office returns going into production, Cruise and co. were hopeful that they could close out the franchise with one more financial victory. With a positive but muted critical reception and some sturdy competition from the live-action remake of “Lilo and Stitch,” “The Final Reckoning” managed to break a franchise record for opening returns — only to end its theatrical run earning just short of $600 million in total worldwide grosses. It’s a deceptively bountiful haul against a massive budget of $400 million. Page-visits beyond opening weekend were likely sustained by viewers following this storyline.
14. Chhaava
Total Page Views: 9,646,152
Despite poor reviews, the Indian Hindi-language epic “Chhaava” was indeed one of the biggest movies of the year, and one of the biggest in the history of Indian cinema. Unfortunately, its messaging also reportedly led to reports of increased anti-Muslim sentiment, a trend among some recent, extraordinarily popular Indian films (including one of IMDb’s best and most-reviewed films of the 2020s and another film further down this very list).
The page for “Chhaava” was the 46th most-viewed Wikipedia page of the year overall. The 47th most-viewed page was “List of highest-grossing Indian films,” which peaked near the end of the year when (as Wikipedia itself notes) another Indian film on this list joined the ₹1000 Crore Club.
“Chhaava” didn’t come anywhere near this milestone, but it did perform exceptionally well at the worldwide box office, especially for a historical drama. Against a budget of reportedly no more than ₹130 crore (roughly $14 million USD), it grossed over ₹800 crore ($85 million USD) worldwide and was hailed as the most popular Indian film of the year by July of 2025. According to Wikipedia’s aggregated data for their highest-grossing Indian films list, “Chhaava” is the 15th-highest-grossing Indian film of all time, as well as the ninth-highest-grossing Hindi-language film of all time.
13. Stranger Things
Total Page Views: 9,720,440
Highly-anticipated and virally-debated, it’s no surprise the messy, spectacle-filled final season of “Stranger Things” gets a mention on this list. The page for the series placed at #45 overall on Wikipedia’s list. Interestingly, the site reports that it peaked in popularity on November 25th, the day before the first batch of season 5 episodes were released on the streamer.
Unlike fans of the “Mission: Impossible” series, “Stranger Things” fans were apparently not searching to spoil the end for themselves for the most part, but they were brushing up on the series so far before the final season dropped (though it’s more than likely the page’s popularity was sustained by readers interested in learning who lives and who dies without sitting through all eight episodes). The page for season 5 specifically landed just outside of the top 15, but did manage to place 50th overall on Wikipedia’s list.
12. Anora
Total Page Views: 9,768,633
Sean Baker’s wild 2024 sex-comedy-thriller-tragedy “Anora” was a success story for the independent film community. The little movie that could not only made a tidy $57 million worldwide (against a budget of just $6 million), but emerged as a dominant awards season contender in a year packed with breakthrough films from lesser-known behind-the-camera talent.
At the 97th Academy Awards, Baker took home Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing — but the real surprise was star Mikey Madison winning Best Actress over Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked”) and Demi Moore (“The Substance”). The Wikipedia page for “Anora” peaked the day after the Oscars on March 3. Readers were likely trying to educate themselves on the film that everyone was suddenly talking about outside of cinephile circles (it’s also possible many readers went there looking for information about the awards “Anora” won and were ultimately redirected to the “List of accolades received by ‘Anora'” page). It placed #43 on the list overall, beneath the page for the late Val Kilmer.
11. One Battle After Another
Total Page Views: 9,929,720
Speaking of Academy Award-winning films that drew high Wikipedia traffic, the late 2025 release of “One Battle After Another” was another huge moment for film communities online. Despite not making a particularly big impact at the box office, Paul Thomas Anderson’s action-comedy Western about extreme oppression and revolution was undoubtedly one of the most popular films of the year. It grossed a little over $210 million worldwide (against a lofty budget of at least $130 million) and went on to win six Oscars at the 98th Academy Awards in 2026, including Best Picture.
The film’s page on Wikipedia was the 40th most-searched of the year, fittingly landing on the list between “2024 United States presidential election” and “List of presidents of the United States.” It peaked on September 28, essentially the end of its opening weekend. By that time enough word-of-mouth had spread for the film to transcend Anderson’s usual devotees (his previous film, “Licorice Pizza,” grossed just $33 million worldwide), inviting interest from the broader viewing public, many of whom were likely trying to decide if a $30 ticket for something called “VistaVision” would really be worth it.
10. Jurassic World Rebirth
Total Page Views: 10,191,595
When Universal Pictures announced that they were angling for a fourth “Jurassic World” film, many were likely confused. The trilogy thus far had received mixed-to-negative reviews overall, and the finale, “Jurassic World: Dominion,” has had zero lasting cultural impact since its release in 2022. Its unmemorable quality, however, might have had some of us forgetting that it still somehow grossed over $1 billion worldwide.
For those aware of the franchise’s impossible financial trajectory, the performance of “Jurassic World Rebirth” was baffling enough to warrant a Wikipedia search. Reviews confirmed this soft-reboot hadn’t made the franchise any better (it might be the most ridiculous “Jurassic World” movie yet), but proved it could still tear it up at the worldwide box office without Chris Pratt. His replacement, fellow Marvel Studios-alum Scarlett Johansson, led “Rebirth” to a $869 million global haul — very solid, yet short of the $1 billion returns the franchise was used to. The movie’s page-popularity peaked on July 6th, four days after its U.S. premiere. It landed at #37 on the list overall, between the pages for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the late Gene Hackman.
9. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Total Page Views: 11,460,518
There’s a significant leap between “Jurassic World Rebirth” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” on Wikipedia’s list. The page for the latter film came in nearly 10 places higher than the former, as the 29th-most-viewed page of 2025. It rests between the pages for the late Diane Keaton and Sydney Sweeney.
“The Fantastic Four” was the most anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe film of the year. MCU fans had been excitedly awaiting the introduction of Marvel’s first family since studio-head Kevin Feige confirmed the obvious at San Diego Comic Con in 2019. While COVID-19 and multiple creative changes delayed the film until 2025, casting announcements and trailers had those fans feeling hopeful. Even in spite of the perceived post-“Avengers: Endgame” drop in quality, it seemed like Marvel Studios was going to deliver the first great “Fantastic Four” film ever.
At /Film, we felt “First Steps” mostly lived up to the hype. Its page-popularity on Wikipedia peaked on July 25, the same day it was released, which could imply some disengaged former Marvel fans were nonetheless interested in reading the plot summary — particularly to see if Robert Downey Jr. debuted in the post-credits scene as Doctor Doom. Despite a strong opening weekend, it experienced a near-historic second-week drop-off, second in the superhero genre only to “Captain America: Brave New World,” released earlier that year.
8. KPop Demon Hunters
Total Page Views: 11,856,384
“KPop Demon Hunters” was arguably the defining movie of 2025. The popularity of its Wikipedia page peaked on June 22, two days after its release on Netflix. It has managed to maintain an air of cultural prominence since then, becoming the most-streamed Netflix movie of all time two months later and then the most-streamed movie overall of 2025 in early 2026. It also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 98th Oscars. Its page was the 26th most-viewed of the year.
Also worth noting here is the exceptional grading this page received by Wikipedia. While most of the pages on the overall list are of B or even C-grade quality, the page for “KPop Demon Hunters” was honored with a Featured Article star — the site’s highest grade, denoting a page that is “professional, outstanding, and thorough; a definitive source for encyclopedic information.”
7. Adolescence
Total Page Views: 11,884,240
Given that it explored online communities and fluently engaged with some dark corners of the internet, it makes total sense that “Adolescence” was one of the most-searched series of 2025. It recently appeared in our breakdown of Google’s year-end search data, which seemed to indicate that it was one of the films and TV shows that had viewers searching “ending explained” the most (if you need an explainer for “Adolescence,” we’ve got you covered).
The Wikipedia page for “Adolescence” peaked on March 23, 10 days after it was released on Netflix. This was enough time for the series’ rapturous reviews to make headlines, as well as for viewers to make their way through all four of its disturbing episodes. It’s likely Wikipedia readers were interested in learning about the influences for the series, if the eerily plausible story was based on a real case, and/or re-reading the plot synopsis for the episodes to catch something they missed. It was the 25th most-viewed page on the site, just above “KPop Demon Hunters” and below “World War II” (the latter of which peaked on the 80th anniversary of VE Day).
6. Weapons
Total Page Views: 12,684,066
Kicking off Wikipedia’s top 20 (and impressively beating the pages for MrBeast and Christiano Ronaldo), the page for Zach Cregger’s megahit horror film “Weapons” probably saw a significant level of traffic throughout 2025. The trailers were unsettling and reserved, withholding the details fans of Cregger’s work desperately craved (given how twisty his 2022 film “Barbarian” was, the plot itself was of significant interest). It also might have gotten a boost at the beginning of Amy Madigan’s successful awards season campaign.
The peak of popularity for the “Weapons” Wikipedia page came on August 8, the same day it was released in theaters. It’s most likely that the majority of the crowd rushing to their phones were looking to re-read the plot synopsis for the film to process what they’d just seen. Some may have been looking for spoilers, but given the script had leaked long before the film’s release, anyone solely interested in knowing about the movie’s ultimate twist had ample opportunity to find that out ahead of time.
5. Thunderbolts*
Total Page Views: 13,203,209
Placing right above the page for “Weapons” at #19 is the page for Marvel Studios’ “Thunderbolts*.” In the wake of the disappointing critical and commercial reception of “Captain America: Brave New World,” the audience anticipation for “Thunderbolts*” had a much different vibe than that of “The Fantastic Four.” Apprehension and disinterest were the prevailing moods. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t all that surprising when the film wound up bombing at the worldwide box office, grossing just over $380 million against a budget of $180 million, and failing to meaningfully outgross even the studio’s pandemic-era efforts.
What was sort of surprising was that “Thunderbolts*” was turned out to be one of the better post-“Endgame” MCU projects. Though audiences didn’t flock to the theater or Wikipedia the day of its release, they did show up on May 5, the day Marvel announced the film’s “real” title — “The New Avengers” — amidst positive critical buzz about the film.
4. Dhurandhar
Total Page Views: 13,525,394
The page for “Dhurandhar” peaked in viewership on December 14, a little over a week after its December 5 release. By that point, it was clear the first half of this two-part Indian Hindi-language spy thriller — which cost a collective total of ₹300 crore (about $32 million) to make — was going to be a runaway financial success. On December 26, the same day the Wikipedia page for “List of highest-grossing Indian films” peaked in popularity for the year, “Dhurandhar” became the 9th film to join the ₹1000 Crore Club. It ultimately outgrossed “RRR” and became the fourth-highest-grossing Indian film overall and the second-highest-grossing Hindi-language movie of all time.
As was the case with “Chhaava,” there was heated discourse about whether or not the film could be perceived as nationalistic propaganda. The second part — subtitled “The Revenge” — was released in 2026. It has already grossed over ₹760 crore worldwide.
3. Severance
Total Page Views: 14,457,583
“Severance” went from respected prestige drama to cultural sensation during its second season, the first episode of which premiered in January of 2025. For the following 10 weeks, the page for the Apple TV series probably received more traffic than it ever had to field. While Apple themselves continue to refuse to disclose their internal viewership data, the fact that the “Severance” page managed to place 15th-most-viewed for the year overall (between “2026 FIFA World Cup” and “United States”) is a fairly solid argument for its popularity.
The page peaked in popularity not after its season 2 premiere or finale, nor did it do so during its exceptional run at the Emmy Awards in September of that year, though that sustained attention surely helped its ultimate year-end ranking. No, it actually peaked after the release of episode 6, “Attila,” a relatively understated episode in terms of stylistic/narrative subversions and plot reveals.
2. Superman
Total Page Views: 17,703,390
When it comes to anointing the biggest superhero movie of 2025, there’s no contest: James Gunn’s “Superman” stands alone. His feature film debut for his freshly-minted DC Studios aimed to take the Man of Steel (now played by David Corenswet) to heights he never reached during the Zack Snyder era of the DCEU. The result was arguably the best “Superman” film since the original.
Gunn’s film also became a genuine cultural moment by not-so-subtly redefining what the modern superhero movie should be about. While “Thunderbolts” and “Captain America” continued the tiring trend of heroes fighting for governments, “Superman” roused audiences with a “Hope Punk” story about a guy trying to save as many innocent people as possible.
The page for “Superman” ranked just outside the top 10 at #11 (between the late Pope Francis and Ozzy Osbourne) and peaked in popularity the day after it hit theaters. Even despite mild interest from international audiences, this placement proves the film was a super moment for the genre nonetheless.
1. Sinners
Total Page Views: 19,072,494
Last but not least, ranking at #9 overall as the most-viewed Wikipedia page for a film or television show in 2025, we have Ryan Coogler’s awe-inspiring “Sinners.” The film was as much a moment for pop culture as it was for the film industry — Coogler bet big on himself for his first film since “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and his first original story since his 2013 directorial debut “Fruitvale Station.”
Reuniting with his “Fruitvale” star and stalwart collaborator Michael B. Jordan, Coogler set out to prove to studios that audiences still had an appetite for original concepts. He opted for a risky deal with Warner Bros. that secured him a $100 million budget and prioritized back-end compensation over an upfront lump sum fee. If the film flopped, his pockets would feel it.
“Sinners” became a massive financial and critical hit, earning almost $280 million domestically and almost $370 million worldwide. Its page-views peaked on April 20, after its opening weekend proved just how big the film was going to be.