avatarOscar Leo

Summary

The web content provides an analysis of subscriber statistics for 50 popular topics on Substack, including the subscriber distributions, top newsletters, and a comparison of median and mean subscriber counts.

Abstract

The article presents a detailed examination of the subscriber base for various topics on Substack, a platform for newsletter publication. It includes a summary of the median and mean subscriber numbers for each topic, a visualization of the data through a boxplot, and a list of the top three newsletters by subscriber count for each topic. The data, collected from the first 100 search results for popular Substack topics, reveals insights into the platform's content landscape, with topics like Cryptocurrency, Chatgpt, and Politics showing high median subscriber counts. The author emphasizes the use of median over mean to avoid skewing by outliers and provides a comprehensive overview of the subscriber ecosystem on Substack.

Opinions

  • The author prefers using the median for subscriber counts to avoid distortion by outliers, which can be problematic when dealing with a small number of values.
  • The author acknowledges that the subscriber counts presented are an underestimation since not all publications display their subscriber numbers.
  • The inclusion of a boxplot visualization is intended to offer a clearer understanding of the subscriber distributions for each topic.
  • The author encourages reader engagement by inviting them to follow their Medium channel, subscribe to their newsletter, and follow them on social media.
  • The article is part of a series, with the author indicating they have also done a similar analysis for Medium.

Subscriber Statistics for 50 Popular Topics on Substack

The subscriber distributions and top 3 newsletters for 50 of the most popular Substack topics

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

Let’s look at some Substack stats! 🔥

This story contains statistics for the first 100 search results for popular Substack topics. I’ve collected the data using the search field in the Substack Home Page.

When you search, some of the publications (around 42%) display their number of subscribers in the format “Over 60,000 subscribers”.

I’ve used that subscriber amount to calculate some statistics (but note that it’s always an underestimation).

Let’s have a look.

Oh, and I did one for Medium as well!

Table of content

I’ve decided to present the result in three different ways.

Summary

First, we have a summary that lists each topic ordered on the medium subscribers.

Visualization

Second, I created a box chart showing the distributions for each topic using medians and percentiles.

Raw & Top newsletters

Lastly, we have a slightly more detailed listing that also gives you the three newsletters with the most subscribers for each search.

Summary

Here’s a summary where I list each topic ordered first by the median number of subscribers (left) and second by the mean number of subscribers (right).

I prefer to use the median because it doesn’t get affected by outliers, which the mean does, especially when we only look at a few values.

Format — [Topic: Median | Mean]

  1. Cryptocurrency: (14,000 | 29,595
  2. Chatgpt: 11,000 | 55,938
  3. Politics: 9,000 | 50,328
  4. Technology: 7,500 | 21,567
  5. Bitcoin: 7,000 | 19,872
  6. Freelancing: 7,000 | 14,593
  7. Journalism: 6,000 | 20,544
  8. Economy: 6,000 | 20,220
  9. Health: 5,500 | 17,792
  10. Money: 5,000 | 24,860
  11. Self-development: 5,000 | 20,412
  12. Artificial intelligence: 5,000 | 18,500
  13. Travel: 5,000 | 16,133
  14. Startup: 5,000 | 15,870
  15. Finance: 5,000 | 15,209
  16. Creativity: 5,000 | 13,229
  17. Investing: 5,000 | 12,500
  18. Parenting: 4,500 | 11,380
  19. Food: 4,000 | 32,233
  20. Data science: 4,000 | 24,225
  21. Sports: 4,000 | 15,750
  22. Science: 4,000 | 14,963
  23. Innovation: 4,000 | 13,436
  24. World: 4,000 | 7,787
  25. Meditation: 3,500 | 6,500
  26. History: 3,000 | 42,548
  27. Psychology: 3,000 | 18,463
  28. Relationships: 3,000 | 18,131
  29. Life: 3,000 | 14,922
  30. Education: 3,000 | 14,833
  31. Social media: 3,000 | 14,049
  32. Programming: 3,000 | 11,786
  33. Love: 3,000 | 9,881
  34. Art: 3,000 | 9,041
  35. Family: 3,000 | 8,655
  36. Humor: 3,000 | 8,184
  37. Music: 3,000 | 8,206
  38. Life lessons: 3,000 | 7,950
  39. Gaming: 3,000 | 7,917
  40. Writing: 3,000 | 7,639
  41. Leadership: 3,000 | 7,615
  42. Data: 3,000 | 7,143
  43. Marketing: 3,000 | 6,744
  44. Business: 3,000 | 6,404
  45. Books: 2,000 | 15,591
  46. Poetry: 2,000 | 13,217
  47. Productivity: 2,000 | 10,800
  48. Space: 2,000 | 7,400
  49. Fitness: 2,000 | 7,289
  50. Photography: 2,000 | 4,833

Visualization

Here’s a boxplot created using Matplotlib that shows percentiles and medians for the number of subscribers for each topic to give you additional details.

The number “X of 100” tells you how many of the 100 search result that display its subscriber amount.

Chart made by the author

I hope you like the chart! 🥰

Raw + Top newsletters

Here, I’ve listed each topic in the same order as above, together with the three publications with the most subscribers.

Header format: [Topic: Number that display subscribers | Median | Mean]

Cryptocurrency: 79 of 100 | 14,000 | 29,595

Metaversal — 264,000 subscribers 0xHash — 138,000 subscribers Overpriced JPEGs — 127,000 subscribers

Chatgpt: 32 of 100 | 11,000 | 55,938

The Tech Buzz — 602,000 subscribers Dr. Mercola’s Censored Library — 387,000 subscribers Tipping Point Prophecy Update — 119,000 subscribers

Politics: 58 of 100 | 9,000 | 50,328

Letters from an American — 1,400,000 subscribers Who is Robert Malone — 318,000 subscribers Slow Boring — 123,000 subscribers

Technology: 60 of 100 | 7,500 | 21,567

Kalpit Veerwal’s Newsletter — 192,000 subscribers Big Technology — 160,000 subscribers Chamath Palihapitiya — 84,000 subscribers

Bitcoin: 39 of 100 | 7,000 | 19,872

Metaversal — 264,000 subscribers Blockware Intelligence Newsletter — 90,000 subscribers CryptoSlate — 69,000 subscribers

Freelancing: 27 of 100 | 7,000 | 14,593

SCRAPS — 121,000 subscribers Freddie deBoer — 50,000 subscribers Productive Flourishing — 32,000 subscribers

Journalism: 57 of 100 | 6,000 | 20,544

Popular Information — 301,000 subscribers Unreported Truths — 245,000 subscribers The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad — 155,000 subscribers

Economy: 50 of 100 | 6,000 | 20,220

American Economy Daily — 253,000 subscribers Doomberg — 211,000 subscribers How They Make Money — 87,000 subscribers

Health: 48 of 100 | 5,500 | 17,792

Your Local Epidemiologist — 223,000 subscribers A Year of Mental Health — 157,000 subscribers Digital Health Buzz! Newsletter — 82,000 subscribers

Money: 43 of 100 | 5,000 | 24,860

Stable Money — 304,000 subscribers Money Muscle — 223,000 subscribers Pulte’s Money and Life Thoughts — 187,000 subscribers

Self-development: 17 of 100 | 5,000 | 20,412

The Development — 129,000 subscribers Postanly Weekly — 69,000 subscribers Practical Self Reliance — 61,000 subscribers

Artificial intelligence: 42 of 100 | 5,000 | 18,500

TheSequence — 167,000 subscribers Artificial Intelligence Made Simple — 131,000 subscribers AI Supremacy — 54,000 subscribers

Travel: 45 of 100 | 5,000 | 16,133

Tripoto’s Weekly Newsletter — 155,000 subscribers Yolo Intel — 93,000 subscribers Roam Around — 74,000 subscribers

Startup: 51 of 100 | 5,000 | 15,870

Houck’s Newsletter — 150,000 subscribers Startup Istanbul — 116,000 subscribers Spotlight by Xartup — 101,000 subscribers

Finance: 48 of 100 | 5,000 | 15,209

How They Make Money — 88,000 subscribers Linas’s Newsletter — 61,000 subscribers Snowball — 55,000 subscribers

Creativity: 35 of 100 | 5,000 | 13,229

Downtime — 133,000 subscribers Design Better — 68,000 subscribers The Art of Noticing — 42,000 subscribers

Investing: 54 of 100 | 5,000 | 12,500

Investing Intel — 98,000 subscribers The Intellectual Investor — 84,000 subscribers INVESTING INTEL — 83,000 subscribers

Parenting: 50 of 100 | 4,500 | 11,380

The Parenting Guide — 105,000 subscribers Meredith Ethington’s Substack — 60,000 subscribers Burnt Toast by Virginia Sole-Smith — 47,000 subscribers

Food: 60 of 100 | 4,000 | 32,233

Broken Palate — 980,000 subscribers The Broiler Room — 198,000 subscribers food (for thought) — 134,000 subscribers

Data science: 40 of 100 | 4,000 | 24,225

Almost Timely Newsletter — 284,000 subscribers TheSequence — 167,000 subscribers Artificial Intelligence Made Simple — 131,000 subscribers

Sports: 44 of 100 | 4,000 | 15,750

Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing — 174,000 subscribers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — 113,000 subscribers Gravity Sports Group — 95,000 subscribers

Science: 54 of 100 | 4,000 | 14,963

Your Local Epidemiologist — 223,000 subscribers Daily Dose of Data Science — 63,000 subscribers Data Science Weekly Newsletter — 60,000 subscribers

Innovation: 39 of 100 | 4,000 | 13,436

Weekend Briefing — 204,000 subscribers Forza…for Education — 83,000 subscribers Silicon Nation — 28,000 subscribers

World: 47 of 100 | 4,000 | 7,787

The Abbey of Misrule — 49,000 subscribers 3 Worlds / 3 Moons — 27,000 subscribers 2nd Smartest Guy in the World — 26,000 subscribers

Meditation: 24 of 100 | 3,500 | 6,500

Sarah Blondin — 36,000 subscribers The Daily Meditator — 15,000 subscribers Morning Glory with Lauren Sanders — 15,000 subscribers

History: 42 of 100 | 3,000 | 42,548

Letters from an American — 1,400,000 subscribers A History of Mankind — 46,000 subscribers Brown History — 43,000 subscribers

Psychology: 41 of 100 | 3,000 | 18,463

Granted — 358,000 subscribers After Babel — 56,000 subscribers Rob Henderson’s Newsletter — 50,000 subscribers

Relationships: 39 of 100 | 3,000 | 18,131

Elevate with Yung Pueblo — 176,000 subscribers Nedra Nuggets — 138,000 subscribers Unfiltered by Tim Denning — 104,000 subscribers

Life: 64 of 100 | 3,000 | 14,922

Emily’s Life Plan for the Week — 380,000 subscribers The Quiet Life with Susan Cain — 218,000 subscribers Minimalism Life® — 36,000 subscribers

Education: 42 of 100 | 3,000 | 14,833

The Scene — 328,000 subscribers Forza…for Education — 83,000 subscribers Rounding the Earth Newsletter — 33,000 subscribers

Social media: 41 of 100 | 3,000 | 14,049

Nedra Nuggets — 138,000 subscribers Libs of TikTok — 128,000 subscribers Link in Bio — 55,000 subscribers

Programming: 28 of 100 | 3,000 | 11,786

Software Design: Tidy First? — 75,000 subscribers Strong As An Ox — 66,000 subscribers Daily Dose of Data Science — 63,000 subscribers

Love: 59 of 100 | 3,000 | 9,881

Letters From Love with Elizabeth Gilbert — 80,000 subscribers Dinner: A Love Story — 59,000 subscribers Love Over Addiction — 56,000 subscribers

Art: 49 of 100 | 3,000 | 9,041

BoldBrush — 83,000 subscribers The Art of Noticing — 42,000 subscribers The Art of Want — 39,000 subscribers

Family: 29 of 100 | 3,000 | 8,655

Faith, Family, and Freedom — 73,000 subscribers Dinner: A Love Story — 59,000 subscribers Nerdy Eye — 19,000 subscribers

Music: 34 of 100 | 3,000 | 8,206

The Honest Broker — 94,000 subscribers SoundBirth Newsletter — 35,000 subscribers Blue Coast Music Store — 20,000 subscribers

Humor: 38 of 100 | 3,000 | 8,184

Garrison Keillor and Friends — 112,000 subscribers Finding Cooper’s Voice by Kate Swenson — 32,000 subscribers Seeing Things — 23,000 subscribers

Life lessons: 20 of 100 | 3,000 | 7,950

The Love List by Emma Lovewell — 43,000 subscribers The Line — 23,000 subscribers Vibrant Life — 20,000 subscribers

Gaming: 36 of 100 | 3,000 | 7,917

Polkastarter Gaming Substack — 35,000 subscribers CARV — 35,000 subscribers The Pitch Report — 31,000 subscribers

Writing: 36 of 100 | 3,000 | 7,639

Julia Kent’s Writing Cabin — 80,000 subscribers In the Writing Burrow — 39,000 subscribers Ephemera — 29,000 subscribers

Leadership: 26 of 100 | 3,000 | 7,615

Engineering Leadership — 44,000 subscribers Admired Leadership Field Notes — 43,000 subscribers Great Leadership With Jacob Morgan — 38,000 subscribers

Data: 63 of 100 | 3,000 | 7,143

Daily Dose of Data Science — 63,000 subscribers Data Science Weekly Newsletter — 60,000 subscribers EcZachly Data Engineering Newsletter — 48,000 subscribers

Marketing: 39 of 100 | 3,000 | 6,744

AI Marketing — 36,000 subscribers MKT1 Newsletter — 35,000 subscribers marketing on monday — 23,000 subscribers

Business: 52 of 100 | 3,000 | 6,404

Fintech Business Weekly — 56,000 subscribers The Sociology of Business — 28,000 subscribers Dr. Madhab’s Letters on Business, Branding, Strategy & ISBC — 24,000 subscribers

Books: 44 of 100 | 2,000 | 15,591

Book Riot Deals — 304,000 subscribers Today in Books — 117,000 subscribers Diana Orgain Announcement and New Releases — 97,000 subscribers

Poetry: 23 of 100 | 2,000 | 13,217

Astro Poets — 89,000 subscribers The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor — 86,000 subscribers Poetic Outlaws — 31,000 subscribers

Productivity: 50 of 100 | 2,000 | 10,800

A Year of Mental Health — 157,000 subscribers Unfiltered by Tim Denning — 104,000 subscribers Untethered Mind — 46,000 subscribers

Space: 25 of 100 | 2,000 | 7,400

Savant In Space — 39,000 subscribers Shelf Space Sci-Fi — 36,000 subscribers Latent Space — 36,000 subscribers

Fitness: 28 of 100 | 2,000 | 7,289

Strong As An Ox — 66,000 subscribers The Boring Fitness — 18,000 subscribers Rachel Gulotta Fitness Workout Schedules — 17,000 subscribers

Photography: 30 of 100 | 2,000 | 4,833

In the Flash — 17,000 subscribers The Map is Mostly Water — 15,000 subscribers Richard Bernabe’s Creative Vision — 15,000 subscribers

Conclusion

There you have it!

I hope you enjoyed this content.

If you did, make sure to:

  1. Follow my channel here at medium
  2. Subscribe to my free newsletter
  3. Follow @oscarl3o on X
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