Latest Blog Rankings

Posted byChaplainmikePosted inSite news/Tech

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UPDATE: I inadvertently copied and pasted an old listing of blog rankings. Here is the most current one. See if it changes any of your perceptions or observations:

# Name Author Alexa Rank
AR		 Compete Pageviews
CV		 Google Page Rank
PR		 Google Reader Subscribers
GR		 Open Site Explorer Homepage Rank HA Open Site Explorer Linking Root Domains (Homepage) RD
1 Between Two Worlds Justin Taylor 35,179 148,688 5 5,687 79 788
2 Jesus Creed Scot McKnight 7,035 661,665 5 1,452 81 290
3 Michael Hyatt Michael Hyatt 18,176 37,007 5 2,061 81 2287
4 Desiring God Various 31,555 175,518 4 17,809 78 374
5 The Gospel Coalition Blog Various 35,179 148,688 5 4,913 75 256
6 DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed Kevin DeYoung 35,179 148,688 4 3,293 77 500
7 Fr. Z’s Blog John Zuhlsdorf 99,640 56,664 6 11,487 70 482
8 Dr. Albert Mohler Albert Mohler 264,069 21,400 5 3,737 77 1371
9 Tim Challies Tim Challies 86,185 30,484 4 10,148 75 1545
10 The Resurgence Various 113,075 43,670 4 6,987 74 1458
11 Stuff Christians Like Jon Acuff 91,881 42,390 4 9,012 73 1112
12 Bad Catholic Marc Barnes 7,035 661,665 5 1,169 78 112
13 Kingdom People Trevin Wax 35,179 148,688 4 1,075 76 323
14 Tullian Tchividjian Tullian Tchividjian 35,179 148,688 4 1,247 75 229
15 Internet Monk Various 330,542 15,725 5 2,327 69 650
16 Rachel Held Evans Rachel Held Evans 123,411 43,817 4 3,515 65 502
17 Don Miller Don Miller 388,165 6,383 4 13,030 71 1050
18 Ligonier Ministries Various 66,090 122,844 4 4,670 71 166
19 Compassion International Various 72,773 6,929 5 1,084 70 300
20 Pyromaniacs Various 548,173 8,448 4 4,209 73 694
21 Ed Stetzer Ed Stetzer 241,811 14,007 4 1,680 67 486
22 Pure Church Thabiti Anyabwile 35,179 148,688 4 866 74 155
23 9Marks Various 203,436 19,962 4 2,698 67 282
24 Out of Ur Various 665,665 126,780 6 991 68 337
25 Ministry to Children Various 90,464 250,491 4 693 63 360
26 Church Marketing Sucks Various 456,419 6,203 5 956 69 631
27 Ragamuffin Soul Carlos Whittaker 384,233 6,224 4 2,315 66 828
28 Theoblogy Tony Jones 7,035 661,665 5 417 77 70
29 Christianity Today Live Blog Various 23,911 56,958 6 489 77 112
30 Christ is Deeper Still Ray Ortlund 35,179 148,688 4 945 73 114
31 Reformation 21 Various 499,736 11,006 4 4,111 63 362
32 Acts 29 Scott Thomas 710,356 5,327 4 1,797 67 1075
33 Parchment and Pen Michael Patton 357,914 14,646 4 2,381 61 234
34 Ron Edmondson Ron Edmondson 339,378 11,018 4 1,707 60 289
35 Peter Enns Peter Enns 7,035 661,665 4 598 74 57
36 Beyond Evangelical Frank Viola 77,940 7,352 4 1,083 60 265
37 Adrian Warnock Adrian Warnock 706,447 6,178 5 1,453 61 375
38 John C. Maxwell John C. Maxwell 494,814 3,936 4 3,212 64 410
39 Brian McLaren Brian McLaren 973,278 2,885 5 2,104 69 674
40 Exploring Our Matrix James McGrath 7,035 661,665 5 212 77 73
41 Roger Olson Roger Olson 7,035 661,665 4 398 75 64
42 Jesus Needs New PR Matthew Paul Turner 185,601 71,029 4 389 60 290
43 The Gospel-Driven Church Jared Wilson 35,179 148,688 4 357 72 96
44 Nadia Bolz-Weber Nadia Bolz-Weber 7,035 661,665 4 445 73 39
45 Standing on my Head Dwight Longnecker 7,035 661,665 5 336 73 22
46 ChurchLeaders.com Various 47,563 135,373 4 299 60 175
47 Tony Morgan Live Tony Morgan 811,898 3,212 4 1,297 63 552
48 The Pangea Blog Kurt Willems 7,035 661,665 4 86 77 93
49 Christian Nightmares Anonymous 452,767 4,059 4 1,040 61 189
50 Mark Driscoll Mark Driscoll 486,231 5,697 4 1,120 57 183

Saw this over at Adrian Warnock’s blog at Patheos yesterday. He observes how dominant the Neo-Reformed world is represented in the Christian blogosphere. Some “post-evangelical” site showed up at #13.

What do you make of this list?

1 Between Two Worlds Justin Taylor Reforme
2 Michael Hyatt Michael Hyatt Orthodox
3 DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed Kevin DeYoung Reformed
4 GetReligion Various Various including Orthodox and Episcopalian
5 Tim Challies Tim Challies Reformed
6 Dr. Albert Mohler Albert Mohler Reformed
7 Jesus Creed Scot Mcknight Orthodox
8 The Resurgence Various Reformed
9 Pyromaniacs Various Reformed
10 Fr. Z’s Blog John Zuhlsdorf Catholic
11 Don Miller Don Miller Emerging
12 Desiring God Various Reformed
13 Internet Monk Various “post evangelical”
14 Stuff Christians Like Jon Acuff ?
15 Faith & Reason Cathy Lynn Grossman ?
16 Ligonier Ministries Various Reformed
17 The Gospel Coalition Blog Various Reformed
18 9Marks Various Reformed
19 Swerve Various evangelical
20 Christ is Deeper Still Ray Ortlund Reformed
21 Acts 29 Scott Thomas Reformed
22 Ragamuffin Soul Carlos Whittaker evangelical
23 Reformation 21 Various Reformed
24 Pure Church Thabiti Anyabwile Reformed
24 Rachel Held Evans Rachel Held Evans ?
26 Compassion International Various ?
27 Parchment and Pen Michael Patton evangelical
28 Church Relevance Kent Shaffer ?
29 Steven Furtick Steven Furtick pentecostal
30 Kingdom People Trevin Wax evangelical
31 Blog and Mablog Doug Wilson evangelical
32 Josh Harris Josh Harris Reformed
33 Tullian Tchividjian Tullian Tchividjian Reformed
34 Ministry to Children Various ?
35 Standing on my Head Dwight Longnecker Catholic
36 Jesus Needs New PR Matthew Paul Turner ?
36 Perry Noble Perry Noble evangelical
38 Reformation Theology Various Reformed
39 High Calling Blogs Various ?
40 Ed Stetzer Ed Stetzer Reformed
41 Church Marketing Sucks Various ?
42 Adrian Warnock Adrian Warnock Reformed
43 Tall Skinny Kiwi Andrew Jones evangelical
44 Evangel Various ?
45 Brian McLaren Brian McLaren Emerging
46 Tony Morgan Live Tony Morgan ?
47 Dallas News Religion Blog Various ?
48 Catablog Various evangelical
49 John C. Maxwell John C. Maxwell evangelical
50 Out of Ur Various ?

75 thoughts on “Latest Blog Rankings”

  2. Would still love a peek behind the scenes at the Internet Monk analytics page one day…I find myself currently with a lot of time on my hands…unemployment is wonderful!…

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  3. Comments can’t really be the measuring factor. He blog is all about conversation and the crowd that she attracts, I think, is more likely to comment than those who visit other sites.

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  4. My experience is that ‘reformed Baptists’ take the worst from the Baptist tradition and mix it with the worst from the Calvinist tradition.

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  5. I’m very glad to see that Internet Monk and Tullian Tchivijian’s blog are ranked so high on this list.

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  6. It’s funny Pattie that you should bring up babel because today’s media feels more like the curse of babel. All of these voices but no one makes sense.

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  7. Glad to see Internetmonk made the top 20. There are a lot of blogs out there. I can’t follow them all. This one, Roger Olson’s and Frank Viloa’s are the only blogs I follow.

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  8. Wilson may be very Reformed, but he is a leader in a denomination called the “Confederation of Reformed and Evangelical Churches.” He’s Evangelical in the sense that the Puritans were.

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  9. I think Michael’s point was that holding to “five points” by no means makes one reformed. The language has been skewed in the last decade or so, but I would tend to agree with Michael. The term “Reformed Baptist” is at best a misnomer, and at worst an oxymoron.

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  10. My comments on Adrian Warnock have been deleted. I mean everything….from asking if John Piper’s replacement is going to teach that women endure abuse to others..for example.

    When he quoted Mark Driscoll I asked how many women have been coerced to doing sexual acts against their will becuase Drisocll mandates it?

    Or when he talks about Sovereign Grace I asked him if its “The Gospel” to force a 3 year old to forgive their molesteror…is that what Christianity is about?

    Or when he holds up Mark Dever at Capital Hill Baptist this is what I said. So let me get this straight…”The Local Church” mandates membership, discipline, working within community as Mark Dever teaches, BUT that can all be waived for CJ Mahaney when he fled to Capitol Hill Baptist with HIS tail between his legs. So then all the talk of membership, discipline, and other characteristics of 9 Marks can all be waived…and in the end they mean nothing. Is it “The Gospel” to practice such blatant hypocrisy?

    So he can’t take hard questions or criticism. What is with these Neo-Cals? Many women on this blog and others have bigger balls than those in the reformed crowd. These guys make atheism healthy!

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  12. James McGrath is much more liberal than Fred, so he’s certainly not being excluded for that reason. Fred’s highly adversarial style probably attracts more comments but not necessarily more readers (notice which iMonk threads tend to get the most comments).

    Though actually, these numbers make you realize just how small a sample of the church the

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  13. It is hard to remember, but when I was a child and teen in the late sixties and early seventies, during the era of the six o’clock news and daily newspaper, most people were getting the same information presented in a straightforward manner. As opinions and outlooks started to cloud what had been “facts”,camps splintered in an effort to get to the “real story”. Sadly, we are now at a point in US politics and in Christianity that if you disagree with me, you are not merely misguided or wrong, but you are stupid, evil, hateful, ignorant,and should not speak, or maybe even breathe.

    From this, combined with emotion instead of any reasoning, we get our current polarized Tower of Babel.

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  14. Given the likely nationality of the majority of readers. the “not invented here syndrome” may be a factor.

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  16. ah, didn’t know that. Still makes it a North-American list though… (and poor TSK is 51 in this list, which is not that bad seeing how he has not written much blog posts in 2012…)

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  18. It is interesting that many connected to the emerging church conversation has slid down from where they used to be. Scot McKnight being a big exception.

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  20. OK, at least with the newer list, Rachel has moved up, but Desiring God moved WAY up. And I see Internetmonk moved down. Hmmmm….

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  21. I also am a fan of Fr. L…..his blog and Fr.Z;s are the only two I recognize, and I read both regularly (but not twice a day like here at I-Monk!)

    The shades and degrees of each sort of non-mainstream Christianity are a blur to me. Perhaps in a future post, one of our fine staff theologians can do a “Denominations and Sub-Groups for Dummies” sort of article. You know, a “just-the-facts” approach which will still, I’m sure, make someone mad or argumentative. Seriously, like Joanie, sometimes I had NO IDEA who these guys are or what they believe……????

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  23. From what I recognise I see more emerging and liberal protestants (or liberal-ish evangelicals like Enns) in the new list, and desiring God got much higher for some reason too, as did our ‘orthodox’ friend McKnight. Funny that the “post evangelical” blog is followed by Rachel and Don, who could be seen as part of the more popular “post-evangelical” corner.

    Also, as a European I wonder strongly, is there even any non-American left in that list (with TSK gone)?

    Another interesting change concerning blogs that I do read (most of them are the non-reformed it seems) is the postmodern anabaptist Kurt Willems.

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  24. It would be interesting to see whether blogs are trending up or down in popularity. Several more data points would be required, however. The fact that I have at least a passing familiarity with many of the blogs listed is a strong indicator I spend too much time online. 😦

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  29. Am I missing something? The title of this post is “latest blog rankings”, but the link to Adrian Warnock’s blog leads to a post dated 4 Nov 11. 15 months is a long time as measured by the Internet calendar and likely explains some of the surprise expressed in the comments above.

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  32. The New Advent (Catholic) website gives me some info about Reformed too and says, “The name given to Protestant bodies which adopted the tenets of Zwingli and, later, the doctrinal principles of Calvin. This distinctive title originated in 1561 at the colloquy of Poissy. Initiated in Switzerland, the movement from which the Churches sprang gained ground at an early date in France, some German states, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Hungary, and Poland. Later, emigration and colonization secured a still wider diffusion of the Calvinistic system. Some of the denominations which adopted it go today under a special name, e.g. Presbyterianism: they receive separate treatment in this work. Others became national churches and are mentioned under the name of the country in which they exist,”

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  33. In reading on the internet what “Reformed” means, I ran across a site that says, “The Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) is a communion of Christian churches in the Reformed tradition. We stand on the great Reformation principles of Scripture alone, Christ alone, Grace alone, Faith alone, and Glory to God alone.”

    Do you think that is a good beginning definition of what it is to be Reformed?

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  34. Could the prevalence of Reformed blogs in this list also be influenced by how popular Reformed theology was ten years ago when people started blogging?

    (Of course, there may be some selection bias in my question – I was around more YRR types then than now. Maybe reformed theology was more prevalent then. Maybe it is more prevalent now.)

    (Given that the YRR acronym has been around for a while, do they still get to use the Y…?)

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  37. I have learned not to put too much stock in number of comments. I prefer quality of conversation, which in my opinion is top notch at Internet Monk — one of the reasons I myself started reading in the first place. Different subjects and different kinds of posts elicit various numbers when it comes to comments.

    Our readership numbers, which I track by number of unique visits each day, is up. In January, for example, we had nearly twice as many unique visits as we did most months last year.

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  38. Pingback: TC, comments, stats | Dark Brightness

  39. What was very troubling was that the article suggests that the echo chamber actually makes people MORE extreme in their position and that even facts, data, and logic cannot overcome the echo.

    And the WHO being more important than the Truth is very scary indeed.

    Not sure if the solution–that someone who is “somewhat” like the echo but holds a different opinion may be able to be heard–will work once the echo chamber gets too strong since anyone who is”somewhat” different cannot survive too long when the majority of the echo has become clones.

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  40. I wonder if the popularity of all these Reformed blogs is skewed because they area all constantly linking back and forth to each other.

    That’s the Larry-Moe-Curly method of building buzz on the Web:
    Larry links to Moe,
    Moe links to Curly,
    Curly links to Larry,
    repeat forever — Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!

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  41. “They’ve established a large network of bloggers and followers who all share and promote each other’s writings and agree on almost everything.”

    Isn’t that usually called an Echo Chamber or Sock Puppeting?

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  42. Even if IMonk does seem to be an isolated island iin a sea of Calvinism Calvinism Calvinism.

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  43. I put up four posts yesterday. They have 15, 112, 51, and 176 comments respectively. To the extent that number of comments is an indicator of readership, that is healthy, though not amazing.

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  45. Quality if more important than ranking. This is a blog with high quality. Of course that’s a subjective assessment. But people here have very strong positions at times, yet most are willing to respectively listen to other points of view and to learn from them. I know for sure that opinions have been modified and minds changed, at least on the margins.

    Good subjects are discussed. Things I’ve never even thought about are brought to mind and presented with excellent writing.

    Love for God and neighbor are much in evidence also. There’s a feeling for community here that transcends other considerations. And people are seldom burned at the stake. So far at least.

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  46. “They’ve established a large network of bloggers and followers who all share and promote each other’s writings and agree on almost everything.”

    Precisely. Then someone like Wilson or Driscoll writes or says something absolutely nutty, and the inner-circle can’t see it due to its blind spots. External criticism is deflected at the circumference. Self-criticism is non-existent.

    This can happen to any exclusive group. There is no hubris intended here. But again, the Internet Monk crowd is so diverse that it seems the blinds spots are covered pretty well. The danger is in being emphatically anti-any-one-particular-group (i.e. anti-reformed) while being pro-nothing-in-particular. That equally breeds exclusivity and blind spots..

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  51. Pingback: Latest Blog Rankings | Pastor Leaders

  52. Stuart, that writer’s last two lines say it all: “Here, then, is a lesson for all those who provide information. What matters most may be not what is said, but who, exactly, is saying it.”

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  54. Slacktivist doesn’t make that list? How did that happen? Most of Fred Clark’s topics at least touch on Christianity, and comments regularly number in the hundreds, particularly for his analysis/deconstruction of the “Left Behind” books. He’s part of the the Progressive Christian Channel at Patheos, but self-identifies as Evangelical. Don’t liberal Evangelicals count as part of the “Christian blogosphere?”

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  55. I see that Scot McKnight’s blog banner’s sub-title says, “Exploring the Significance of Jesus and the Orthodox Faith for the 21st Century.” So I can see where someone may think he is “Orthodox.” But I believe that he means the orthodox faith in the sense of what he believes the apostles and early Christians taught about Jesus. He would be aligned with the Apostles’ Creed, I think.

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  56. Yes, I am surprised that Rachel Held Evans is rated #24 too. Also, it’s good to see Father Dwight Longenecker there. I had forgotten about him. I will have to include that site as a “Favorite” in my religion links. It’s kind of cool that he is a husband, father and Roman Catholic priest. (He used to be an Anglican.) All the more reason to let any of the priests marry, I say. Yes, it’s more complicated in terms of having to support families and not just men, in terms of expense, moving them around, risking the possibility of divorce and then what do you do with that? But I should not “hijack” this thread talking about that.

    And I agree with Eagle…let’s bump #12 (Desiring God) to a lower positiion!

    And no, Scot McKnight is not Orthodox with a capital “O” unless something has happened in the last couple of months that I don’t know about! I only stop in at his blog once in a while now. I like it, though.

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  59. Sigh. I’m afraid you’re right.

    It is refreshing to see new faces at Internetmonk, who don’t necessarily hold to the party line – not that thiere is a party line in the Post-evangelical wilderness.

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  61. Yes, Michael Hyatt is a Deacon in his Orthodox Parish near Nashville. While his blog is pretty much all about leadership, he has a podcast on Ancient Faith Radio that is (naturally) related to the Orthodox Church and is quite good.

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  62. Agree, Miguel. The various ranking systems are not easy for me to understand. Happy to say that all of you by your participatio have consistently brought us a pretty high rank on most of them!

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  63. It’s also very interesting to compare this list to Technorati. IM stays about the same, but RHE and Piper are at the top there. It all depends on how the ranking is done. I’m sure it would be interesting to learn about the science behind it. I know other blogs with very high traffic that don’t seem to make either list. Strange, isn’t it?

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  64. I have a hard time believing RHE is as low as she is. Just take a look at the number of comments on her blog (listed at 24) as opposed to Scot Mcknight (#7). It’s not even close. RHE has a HUGE following among non-Reformed women (and men). I wonder if the popularity of all these Reformed blogs is skewed because they area all constantly linking back and forth to each other.

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  65. One thing I believe it demonstrates is that the Reformed crowd places a higher value on writing to convey thoughts and ideas than other denominations or theological camps. From my perspective, they tend to be much more academic in the way they advocate living out faith. The written Word is emphasized a lot, so they spend a lot of their time reading and writing and expositing. They’re slow to adopt new things or ideas. A lot of what they write is collections or analysis of what others write. They’ve established a large network of bloggers and followers who all share and promote each other’s writings and agree on almost everything. They often feel a need to return to the past to see what others have said as a way to guard against error. They believe they have a responsibility to defend truth. Many of them also have a strong desire to teach and believe writing is a good outlet for that. They think the best way to teach is with strong theological arguments, and that’s appealing to a lot of people who want certainty. That’s my perception on the whole thing anyway.

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  68. I am not surprised…this blog touches on things others won’t touch. That’s why its do dear to me. My hope is that we need to bump number 12 and make it number 13. All in the name of God’s Sovereignty. If its God’s will that bridges collapse, tornadoes hit Minneapolis or Indiana, or that Adam Lanze kill 26 people in a school in CT (did you read that on Desiring God post?) than it must be God’s will that Piper’s blog is not read! 😛

    Come on guys…help me unbelief with prayer! 😛

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  69. I thought it was the 6th point of Calvinism that all Calvinists were required to have at least 3 blogs (5 if they are good Calvinists). That might explain the over-saturation.

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  71. Michael Hyatt’s blog is not a “religious” blog, it’s a “leadership” blog. Not sure if it belongs on this list at all, though glad to see an Orthodox person is read so much.

    The header on Jesus Creed says Scot McKnight is “exploring the significance of Jesus and the orthodox faith” but Scot is very much “Evangelical” and uses “orthodox” in the little-o sense.

    Dana

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  72. I’ve been sent to moderation purgatory. Let’s try the comment again:

    Why is post-evangelical in quotes? That seems like a bit of commentary on their part. 😛

    It seems to me that the fact that there are so many Reformed blogs, and that the YRR types have a reputation for being, shall we say, combative, isn’t a coincidence. The Internet as a medium has a tendency toward conflict and a tribalistic “We’re-in-and-you’re-out” mentality.

    Also, Scot McKnight is Orthodox? As in, capital O, officially split from Rome in the 11th century, Orthodox? How have I missed that? I thought he was evangelical with a concern for small-o orthodoxy.

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  73. Why is post-evangelical in quotes? That seems like a bit of commentary on their part. 😛

    It seems to me that the fact that there are so many Reformed blogs, and that the YRR types have a reputation for being, shall we say, combative, isn’t a coincidence. The Internet as a medium has a tendency toward conflict and a tribalistic “We’re-in-and-you’re-out” mentality.

    Also, Scot McKnight is Orthodox? As in, capital O, officially split from Rome in the 11th century, Orthodox? How have I missed that? I thought he was evangelical with a concern for small-o orthodoxy.

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  74. I also would have never guessed Michael Hyatt was Orthodox, with what little I’ve seen of his blog I’d thought he was Mega-Church/Andy Stanley type.

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