thumbnail

Most Viewed Songs on Wikipedia

Try to name the songs whose Wikipedia articles have been viewed the most times.
For years 2007–2021
Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Multiyear_ranking_of_most_viewed_pages
Quiz by Hugh2000
Rate:
Last updated: September 29, 2021
You have not attempted this quiz yet.
First submittedSeptember 8, 2021
Times taken13,521
Average score46.7%
Rating4.24
5:00
Enter answer here
0
 / 30 guessed
The quiz is paused. You have remaining.
Scoring
You scored / = %
This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is
Your high score is
Your fastest time is
Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
Views
Artist
Song
21 m
PSY
Gangnam Style
16 m
Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody
12 m
Leonard Cohen
Hallelujah
11 m
USA for Africa
We Are the World
8.8 m
Julie Andrews
& Dick Van Dyke
Supercalifragilistic
expialidocious
8.8 m
Various artists
(Christian hymn)
Amazing Grace
8.7 m
Led Zeppelin
Stairway to Heaven
8.2 m
Luis Fonsi
Despacito
7.9 m
Eagles
Hotel California
7.4 m
The Beatles
Hey Jude
7.4 m
Don McLean
American Pie
6.6 m
Simon & Garfunkel
The Sound of Silence
6.5 m
Eminem
Stan
6.3 m
Michael Jackson
Billie Jean
5.9 m
Whitney Houston
I Will Always Love You
5.9 m
Robin Thicke
Blurred Lines
Views
Artist
Song
5.9 m
Nine Inch Nails
Hurt
5.8 m
Billy Joel
We Didn't Start
the Fire
5.5 m
Adele
Hello
5.4 m
Phil Collins
In the Air Tonight
5.3 m
Rick Astley
Never Gonna Give
You Up
5.1 m
Michael Jackson
Beat It
5.0 m
Justin Bieber
Baby
4.8 m
Manfred Mann's
Earth Band
Blinded by the Light
4.8 m
Roberta Flack
Killing Me Softly
with His Song
4.7 m
Toto
Africa
4.7 m
Eric Clapton
Layla
4.6 m
A-ha
Take On Me
4.9 m
Nena
99 Luftballons
4.5 m
The Jimi Hendrix
Experience
All Along the
Watchtower
+6
Level 67
Sep 30, 2021
Let me tell you all. Yes I agree how Whitney Houston could be Dolly Parton and Nine Inch Nails could of been Johnny Cash however I am only replicating how the source describes it. Each Wikipedia article has different sections with information on the numerous versions of each song. Perhaps the source lists the artists whose section of the page attracts the most views. Wikipedia is able to track this.
+5
Level 84
Sep 29, 2021
Kinda painful that some people consider the "Unplugged" recording of Layla as the definitive version. :-(
+2
Level 85
Sep 29, 2021
it did win a grammy for best rock song an award the original didn't win. so that is some level of accolade that shows its acceptance.
+4
Level 85
Sep 29, 2021
1) There was no such thing as a Grammy for Best Rock Song when the original came out, so it's hardly fair to hold not winning it against the original.

2) The list of songs that *have* won that Grammy includes several forgettable tunes (in my opinion).

3) Layla without the coda? Heavens forfend!

+1
Level 82
Oct 29, 2021
"Unplugged" is the only Eric Clapton album ever in my family's house. That album was pretty big.
+12
Level 85
Sep 29, 2021
I think that Layla should be listed as Derek and the Dominoes as that was the name of the group that was used in the release of the original single. Yes Eric Clapton was the frontman for that group and also co writer of the song but since all the entries are for artist I think it should reflect the proper group.
+3
Level 80
Sep 29, 2021
By that logic should it be Dolly Parton for 'I will always love you'?
+1
Level 84
Sep 29, 2021
The artists listed are the same as those listed in the Wikipedia source. Don't know if they can tell which version of a song people were interested in though if it's just based on page views.
+1
Level 88
Sep 29, 2021
The wikipedia source doesn't make much sense. Hurt is credited to NIN, when the Johnny Cash version is far more well known, whereas All Along the Watchtower is credited to Hendrix, but the Bob Dylan original is very popular too.
+2
Level 83
Sep 30, 2021
Whatever the rationale for choosing which artist to name was, I think it's worth mentioning in the description that these are not always the original artists - I tried several other Hendrix songs first, assuming that Watchtower would be listed under Dylan.
+2
Level 84
Sep 29, 2021
"Blinded By the Light" ... wow, that takes me back to 7th grade metal shop. Mr. Rosen let us play the radio, so I probably heard that song every single day that year.
+1
Level 85
Sep 30, 2021
Got them all except for the Christian hymn
+2
Level 84
Sep 30, 2021
I assume this was by performer and not artist who wrote the song? Springsteen - Blinded by the Light. Dylan - All Along the Watchtower. Usually the writer gets royalties, but I guess on wikipedia, the most famous performance gets credit.
+1
Level 76
Oct 19, 2021
Not only wikipedia, my friend. Not only wikipedia.
+2
Level 75
Sep 30, 2021
Anyone know why Blinded By the Light is so popular on Wikipedia?
+2
Level 80
Oct 1, 2021
Because the lyrics don't make any obvious sense, and they made deuce sound a bit like douche.
+5
Level 90
Oct 1, 2021
The original version (by Bruce Springsteen) included the lyrics "cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night". "Deuce" referred to a 1930s-era Ford 2-seater (and quintessential hot rod chassis) affectionately referred to as a deuce coupe - also popularized in the Beach Boys song "Little Deuce Coupe". The lyric was meant to refer to flooring the gas pedal in your hot rod. When Manfred Mann recorded the song years later, he thought he'd make the meaning a bit more clear by changing it to "revved up like a deuce". But unfortunately made the mistake of putting a "sh" sound at the end of the phrase... and thus, "wrapped up like a douche" entered the popular lexicon, and 4.8 million people went to wikipedia to help figure it all out.
+2
Level 77
Oct 8, 2021
And by 1930s-era Ford, he means 1932. That's the deuce.
+2
Level 67
Oct 30, 2021
I feel like it might also be getting help from The Weeknd's Blinding Lights via people not knowing the name of the song
+1
Level 84
Sep 30, 2021
Regarding the writer vs. original vs. most popular discussion, it's hard to say which is the best one to use. Typically, the songs' pages discuss writers, as well as major versions. In the case of Layla, both major versions involve Eric Clapton, but in most other cases there are two completely separate artists, and also a different writer - e.g., Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack, and the Fugees - neither of which is the "original" artist - and none of those artists are the writers. For what to include in the quiz, I guess it depends on how difficult the maker wants the quiz to be.
+3
Level 74
Sep 30, 2021
Strange to have Whitney Houston show up for 'I Will Always Love You', when Dolly Parton had the original version, but then include the original artist, Nine Inch Nails, for 'Hurt' when Johnny Cash made the most famous version. I don't understand the consistency!
+4
Level 95
Sep 30, 2021
* could HAVE been... :D
+8
Level 77
Sep 30, 2021
What an interesting list. It looks to me like the majority of these are looked up because of weird lyrics or unclear meaning of the song.

Gangnam Style

Bohemian Rhapsody

Hallelujah

Stairway

Despacito

Hotel California

American Pie

Sound of Silence

We didn't Start the Fire

Blinded by the Light

99 Luftballons

ALL of these songs have either lyrics with foreign words or are songs with heavy symbolism that people are anxious to learn about what they actually mean. That's why i tried so many weird songs for the Beatles one, but it turned out to be their most famous.

+7
Level 77
Oct 8, 2021
Cheaters are going to love this post, ha ha.
+1
Level 82
Oct 29, 2021
To me it seemed like a list of songs that had some significant cultural relevance beyond just being a popular song. That could be because the lyrics were much talked about, or hard to understand, or difficult to sing, etc... or it could be that there was a really powerful music video, or because the song was covered perhaps multiple times by other artists, or connected in some way to a current event, or the current event was the song itself when it became the most-watched video on YouTube, or there is just some interesting story behind the writing or recording of the song or the making of the music video or some legendary live performance etc etc. I can think of reasons for all of these songs being things that people would want to look up and read about.
+3
Level 68
Oct 29, 2021
I could also imagine high-schoolers giving presentations or writing reports about a lot of these. Maybe not Blurred Lines so much, but who knows
+2
Level 82
Oct 30, 2021
That one because of its controversial video, the copyright lawsuit brought by the estate of Marvin Gaye, the briefly rising star of Emily Ratajkowski, and recently the allegations of sexual assault against Thicke. I could see some high schoolers writing papers about sexism, plagiarism, or pop culture that referenced it...
+2
Level 77
Oct 8, 2021
Anyone else read it as "Christmas" hymn and type every Christmas song ever?
+1
Level 68
Oct 29, 2021
Yup, Deck The Halls, Jingle Bells... I even put myself all the way through "On the 12th day of Christmas"
+1
Level 83
Oct 10, 2021
So many of the other original versus remakes have gotten their due, but no love for the Fugees for Killing me softly?
+1
Level 76
Oct 29, 2021
i can't be the only one who immediately typed Baby Shark and was disappointed when i didn't get it. got a different freebie though ;)
+3
Level 57
Nov 5, 2021
Ah yes, the christian hymn "Baby Shark". Also a great Jimi Hendrix version from '70
+1
Level 79
Oct 29, 2021
Such a wide variety of songs here, I like it.
+1
Level 57
Nov 5, 2021
Surprisingly good songs
+1
Level 71
Sep 10, 2022
This is a surprisingly diverse list of songs. It basically covers every era and every genre of music.
+1
Level 83
Jan 29, 2023
With one exception, they are all from the 20th and 21st centuries, so that's not quite correct.
+1
Level 66
May 22, 2023
Yes but what is modern music but an observable fruiting of the deeper human colonization stemming back hundreds of millennia to the earliest caveman beating one rock against another, who came to the sudden realization that he loved to sing dance and pretend?