So what's this WikiPop thing?

It's a proxy for what's going on in the world seen through the lens of Wikipedia. WikiPop compiles the most popular Wikipedia article each day and keeps an archive of it. There's a daily email and an RSS feed.

Wouldn't there be repeat articles some days?

Yeah, that can happen. To keep things interesting, an article won't be featured if it was already the top article in the last 30 days.

Do you store this data in a database?

Actually, no! WikiPop runs entirely off a flat JSON file, a cron job, and static HTML.

Are you associated with Wikipedia?

No, but I'm an everyday user of it and a donor.

What Wikipedia page was everyone looking at yesterday?

Comic illustration of a woman with glasses

Mirra Andreeva

Russian tennis player (born 2007)

Mirra Aleksandrovna Andreeva is a Russian professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the WTA as high as world No. 5 in singles, achieved in July 2025, and No. 12 in doubles, achieved in September 2025. Andreeva has won six WTA Tour–level singles titles, including a major at the 2026 French Open.

Read on Wikipedia →

260,296 views yesterday

OBSCURE WIKIPEDIA ENTRY OF THE DAY Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield was an American actress, Playboy Playmate, and singer. Mansfield was a sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s, and was known for her numerous publicity stunts, her buxom figure, and her personal life. She gained a reputation as Hollywood's "smartest dumb blonde". Continue reading

WIKIPOPs BY DAY

Date	Article	Category	Views
Jun 5	Anthony Head ·day	English actor (1954–2026)	900,115
Jun 4	Marjane Satrapi ·day	French and Iranian author and director (1969–2026)	304,952
Jun 3	Peabo Bryson ·day	American singer (1951–2026)	318,908
Jun 2	Murder of Henry Nowak ·day	2025 murder in Southampton, England	463,123
Jun 1	Euphoria (American TV series) ·day	Television series (2019–2026)	373,031
May 31	Clash in Italy ·day	2026 WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event	354,976
May 30	Andoni Iraola ·day	Spanish football player and manager (born 1982)	255,170
May 29	Backrooms (film) ·day	2026 film by Kane Parsons	414,298
May 28	Claude Lemieux ·day	Canadian ice hockey player (1965–2026)	375,808
May 27	Ken Paxton ·day	American politician and lawyer (born 1962)	188,233

View full archive (510 articles) →

FAQ

So what's this WikiPop thing?: It’s a proxy for what's going on in the world seen through the lens of Wikipedia. WikiPop compiles the most popular Wikipedia article each day and keeps an archive of it. There’s a daily email and an RSS feed.
Who made this?: Josh Sowin made this, inspired by Hatnote and LonelyWiki. I have a newsletter called Rabbitholes which explore more obscure things (including obscure Wikipedia articles) but I was also interested in what was trending on Wikipedia because I rarely have a pulse on it. Read more about the behind the scenes creation of Wikipop here (link coming soon).
Wouldn't there be repeat articles some days?: Yeah, that can happen. To keep things interesting, an article won't be featured if it was already the top article in the last 30 days.
Do you store this data in a database?: Actually, no! I started this with the goal of making an auto-updated feed of popular Wikipedia articles WITHOUT a database. I could have used Firebase or Supabase but I’ve already done that before; what I haven’t done is make a website that is dynamically generated without one.
How do you get the data?: From the Wikimedia REST API.
How does it update and keep an archive without a database?: I ended up using two main methods: JSON and GitHub Actions. The site runs off a flat JSON file, a cron job, and static HTML. Every day, a GitHub Action fetches the top articles from the Wikimedia REST API, stores the result in a JSON file, compiles the static pages, and commits them back to the repo. GitHub Pages serves it from there. What a world.
This design feels familiar in some way?: Yes, it should! I wanted to make the design less “every current boring website on the internet” and more “fun internet of the past” … as I was thinking about this, I was looking at my art studio mural and saw Image Duplicator by Lichtenstein and started playing in that direction. The background dots were done in pure CSS and adjusted to perfection using WikiPop’s Background Adjuster created for this singular purpose.
Why did you remove the .xxx page?: Because .xxx is, surprisingly, often the most popular page on Wikipedia. My best guess is that people are searching for "xxx" on Google, and either they're not paying attention to the results or get nerd-sniped that there's a whole top-level domain dedicated to that. Either way, it's not interesting on a daily basis because it's always up there, so I filtered it out.
Are you associated with Wikipedia?: No, but I’m an everyday user of it and a donor, and they would love for you to be, too! Back when it first started I thought “there is no way this could work” but somehow it does and that’s very encouraging. It’s a free wealth of knowledge available to the world without ads. Incredible. Nothing like this has ever been created or available in human history.