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The 15 Biggest Topics on Medium Right Now
Do you know which topic has nearly 8 MILLION followers?
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When writing a story on Medium, you have the option of including five tags on your article. If you’re like most authors, you likely put whatever five tags pop into your head first.
Have you ever stopped to look into which tags actually have a following, and which are plain shit?
For example, Artificial Intelligence sits at a whopping 3,500,000 followers while AI has just 17,000.
Maybe it might be worth the effort to do just a bit of research before slapping on whichever five topics you think of first.
Here are the fifteen biggest topics on Medium as of today.
Technology
Followers: 7,900,000 Stories: 804,000
It’s really no surprise that Technology is the biggest topic on Medium. With nearly 2,000,000 more followers than the second biggest tag, technology easily wins top spot on this list.
Top Writers in Technology
- Admiral Cloudberg — 24,000 followers
- Ignacio de Gregorio — 59,000 followers
- The Pareto Investor — 26,000 followers.
Programming
Followers: 5,300,000 Stories: 373,000
Our second biggest topic is Programming. Interesting, this topic seems to have something of an engagement problem. Though it’s the second biggest tag on Medium, most of the top article struggle, the top articles section is a bit… underwhelming.
Top Writers in Programming
- Javinpaul — 29,000 followers
- Alexander Obregon — 23,000 followers
- Fatfish — 39,000 followers
Self Improvement
Followers: 4,600,000 Stories: 682,000
Like technology, I’m sure no one is surprised to see Self Improvement here. Scroll for five minutes on Medium and you’re bound to see something in this realm. For those curious, engagement in this tag is much more stable than programming.
Top Writers in Self Improvement
- Nick Wignall — 333,000 followers
- Benjamin Hardy — 260,000 followers
- Novel Nest — 33,000 followers
Business
Followers: 4,300,000 Stories: 647,000
What’s that saying about business majors? Something about them being soul-less? Who knows, but Business is Medium’s fourth most followed topic.
Top Writers in Business
- Igancio de Gregorio (again) — 59,000 followers
- Al Anany — 46,000 followers
- Lucy Rahil — 25,000 followers
Data Science
Followers: 4,100,000 Stories: 295,000
Apparently, Medium is full of a bunch of nerds. Our fifth biggest topic is Data Science, meaning four out of the five biggest topics on Medium are related to technology.
Top Writers in Data Science
- Fareed Khan — 18,000 followers
- Netflix Technology Blog — 401,000 followers
- Leonie Monigatti — 23,000 followers
Psychology
Followers: 4,100,000 Stories: 293,000
This is starting to look like a list of college majors, right? I would’ve thought Psychology would’ve ranked just a bit higher than sixth place, but then again, it’s not that far behind data science anyhow.
Top Writers in Psychology
- Nick Wignall (again) — 333,000 followers
- James Michael Sama — 47,000 followers
- Benjamin Hardy (again) — 260,000 followers
Writing
Followers: 4,000,000 Stories: 671,000
They say a good writer is a good reader. What would a writer like to read more than meta-writing? You’ll definitely find a hundred and one offshoots of this tag, but nothing beats the o.g. Writing.
Top Writers in Writing
- Eve Arnold — 69,000 followers
- Kevin Nokia — 11,900 followers
- Evan Kelly — 4,400 followers
Science
Followers: 3,900,000 Stories: 184,000
Now we’ve got one half of the STEM acronym represented in this list. Science has the least competition of all tags on this list. For every follower, there are 21 stories to read (the next lowest competition is psychology, with 14 stories per follower).
Top Writers in Science
- Will Locket — 179,000 followers
- Areeba Merriam — 38,000 followers
- Khyati Jain — 35,000 followers
Design
Followers: 3,900,000 Stories: 359,000
As I write this, the top story in Design is Design is Not Really a Thing, so maybe design exists, maybe it doesn’t. Who’s to say? Shamsi Brinn or nearly 4 million followers?
Top Writers in Design
- Christie C — 47,000 followers
- Michal Malewicz — 73,000 followers
- Michael F. Buckley — 12,400 followers
Money
Followers: 3,700,000 Stories: 297,000
Money makes the world go round, and it happens to be the tenth biggest topic on Medium. As a bonus plus, it gets pretty good and consistent engagement.
Top Writers in Money
- Paul Rose — 35,000 followers
- Smoul — 30,000 followers
- Anish Singh Walia — 10,000 followers
Health
Followers: 3,600,000 Stories: 677,000
Money has 100,000 more followers than Health, but health has more than twice the stories. According to Medium users, money is more interesting, but we have more to say about health. Go figure.
Top Writers in Health
- Khyati Jain (Again) — 35,000 followers
- David Liira — 72,000 followers
- Nick Wignall (3 for 3) — 333,000 followers
Mental Health
Followers: 3,600,000 Stories: 452,000 stories
Neck and neck with overall health, we have Mental Health. This goes hand in hand with self improvement in third place, and psychology in sixth. It also means 1/5 of the biggest topics on Medium relate to our inner world.
Top Writers in Mental Health
- Nick Wignall (seriously Nick, save some for the rest of us) — 333,000 followers
- Khyati Jain (3 for 3) — 35,000 followers
- Matthew Coast (again) — 10,100 followers
Productivity
Followers: 3,500,000 Stories: 441,000
Given top topics like self improvement, psychology, and mental health, Productivity fits in very well with the crowd here. While technology takes the cake, there is a very large part of Medium that represents the self-help section at a bookstore.
Top Writers in Productivity
- Nikhil Vemu — 35,000 followers
- The Useful Tech — 41,000 followers
- Neeramitra Reddy — 37,000 followers
Relationships
Followers: 3,500,000 Stories: 441,000
Last but definitely not least, we have Relationships. Needless to say, this tag can get pretty messy, ranging from near sexism to confessions of a single twenty something. On the plus side, engagement in this tag is pretty high and fairly consistent.
Top Writers in Relationships
- Nick Wignall (for the fifth time) — 333,000 followers
- James Michael Sama (again) — 47,000 followers
- Christine — 6,600 followers
Final Thoughts
I’ve been writing on Medium for over a year. I knew Medium has a large STEM following, but I guess I didn’t expect Medium to be so damn nerdy. But then again, who else would sign up to join a social media site exclusively dedicated to reading?
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at the fifteen biggest topics on Medium. Which of these topics was the biggest surprise for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for reading!
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