High-profile deaths, war plan texts lead list of most-read news stories in 2025

The shocking deaths of famous people, Elon Musk’s unique role in the Trump administration, top political scandals and big breaking news events led the list of stories that attracted the most reader engagement in 2025.

The rankings come from Chartbeat, an analytics provider for many large news companies, which analyzed 41 million pieces of content from its clients, including major media organizations like Fox News, CNN, The New York Times and the BBC. Its 2025 Most Engaging Stories List gives a glimpse of where readers of those sites spent the most time.

Atop Chartbeat’s list is Fox News’ version of the story on the mysterious deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, who were found dead in their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, along with their dog, in February. Three stories about the Oscar-winning actor’s death made Chartbeat’s Top 20, including a BBC report at No. 5 and another Fox story at No. 19.

As the gruesome story later unfolded, investigators believe Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from rodent-borne hantavirus, and Hackman died about a week later from complications of heart disease and Alzheimer’s. His wife had been his primary caregiver.