Current Top Webcomics

[Fri]

Heyo. As I was hungry since I skipped lunch today, suddenly I was struck by random curiousity. What are the current top/most popular webcomics? I remember reading a list from 2007 that the top three webcomics were xkcd, cyanide and happiness, and penny arcade. I wonder whether it still hold true today.

So, as I don't know any better way to do it, I simply put 'webcomics' into alexa, and here is, the, quite surprising result. As I said this might reflect the true 'most popular webcomic' or 'the most visited webcomic' or 'most searched webcomics' or something else entirely, I simply don't know a better way to satisfy my curiousity. I obviously skipped the non webcomics, and sites like drunkduck or keenspot.

1.xkcd
2.cyanide and happiness
3.penny arcade.

those top three doesn't move at all since 2007

4.questionable content
5.ctrl alt del
6.vgcats
7.least I could do
8.gitp! here's this webcomic. although it might still share traffic with erfworld? I doubt it though.
9.looking for group
10.pvp

those are the current top 10 webcomics according to alexa. those all are popular and well known webcomic, although the placement might surprise some people. but the surprise is in the next placements!

11.sinfest.
12.dragonball multiverse what the
13.amazing super powers
14.snafu (though this is more of webcomic collection by one author, still, one author. you might know his most popular collection, grim tales of billy and mandy)
15.User Friendly
16.8 bit theatre (also got a few webcomics there)
17.Menage a 3
18.Dr Mcninja
19.Something Positive
20.Crispy Gamer... this is actually a general game site, but it got awkward zombie. hm, I just put this for safety.
21.Dinosaur Comic
22.Girl Genius
23.Penny Bible Fellowship.

I'll stop there, since I already shown what surprises me, which should be obvious.

Seriously, Dragon Ball Multiverse? I never even heard it until now. Maybe it got trafficks from being a general dragonball site, but I checked. It is indeed mainly a webcomic at least. Amazing super power too, I rarely heard about it. It beats a lot of more heard webcomic by far... what a surprise.

As a bonus... here's what alexa said about gitp.


About Giant in the Playground (giantitp.com): Giant in the Playground is a game and publishing company run by Rich Burlew. The site hosts two popular webcomics: Burlew s own the Order of the Stick, and Erfworld by Rob Balder and Jamie Noguchi. The Order of the Stick is a fantasy role playing oriented strip, and Erfworld is rooted in turn-based strategy games. Both comics are full-color, full-page format and alternate updates 5 days a week.

There are 12,185 sites with a better three-month global Alexa traffic rank than Giantitp.com. Compared with all internet users, the site's users tend to be under the age of 35, and they tend to be childless men earning under $100,000 who are not college graduates and browse from home. While we estimate that 42% of the site's visitors are in the US, where it is ranked #5,563, it is also popular in Norway, where it is ranked #1,875. The site is in the “Comics” category of websites. Giantitp.com has a relatively good traffic rank in the city of Gainesville (#58).

just wanted to share what my random curiousity yielded :smallbiggrin:

if any of you guys want to follow how I get this list, here's my search result

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/category;0/Top?q=webcomic

If any of you know a better way to get 'top webcomic' list, feel free to do it, I'm still curious.

[Mewtarthio]

Amazing super power too, I rarely heard about it. It beats a lot of more heard webcomic by far... what a surprise.

I think it gets promoted occasionally on CollegeHumor. Being funny doesn't hurt, either.

[Kurald Galain]

Those are rather curious results. There are some widely-derided and disliked comics in that top list, and some rather famous ones missing (e.g. Irregular). How accurate is such a list, and how vulnerable would it be to linkspam?

Also, #7 and #9 run from the same server, I'm not sure if that would influence their rankings.

[Fri]

I don't know, that's why I mentioned it first. But still, being hated doesn't make something not widely popular I guess. You read everywhere about how everyone hate michael bay movies for example, but they still always got top box office spots. If you only mind the haters, you'd think that he'd be bankrupt already or something...

[Necroticplague]

Snafu was all done by one person? Dang, that seems like a good way to keep busy.

[cdrcjsn]

Alexa mainly tracks traffic from those using its toolbar and using various algorithms, extrapolates from that. See http://www.alexa.com/faqs/?p=134

It's hard to get an accurate read on traffic numbers. I know I have google analytics installed on my website and it gives different numbers than the internal hit tracker my host uses and that in turn is different from what third party sources give.

So in terms of accuracy? Hard to say. For the most part, tracking traffic is fairly consistent when comparing different sites using the same tool. So even though google analytics might give different numbers from alexa, they'll both probably agree about what order they rank certain sites as.

[Bobikus]

CAD being top 5 is saddening but unsurprising. Same for LICD.

[Traab]

I happen to like CAD dangit! Also, im surprised 8bit is still there as its been finished for quite awhile now hasnt it? Or are they including all the other comics on that site as well?

[Bobikus]

Also, xkcd on top? Really?

[Fri]

why are you so surprised? It's been on top for like years. since 2007 at least. Maybe much longer.

[banthesun]

Just as a note, Alexa doesn't seem to count MSPA as a webcomic. If it did, it'd be sitting at spot 10 on your list.

http://www.alexa.com/search?q=mspaintadventures.com&r=topsites_index&p=bigtop

[Porthos]

Alexa mainly tracks traffic from those using its toolbar and using various algorithms, extrapolates from that. See http://www.alexa.com/faqs/?p=134

It's hard to get an accurate read on traffic numbers. I know I have google analytics installed on my website and it gives different numbers than the internal hit tracker my host uses and that in turn is different from what third party sources give.

So in terms of accuracy? Hard to say. For the most part, tracking traffic is fairly consistent when comparing different sites using the same tool. So even though google analytics might give different numbers from alexa, they'll both probably agree about what order they rank certain sites as.

As for accuracy, you can also look at sites that have Project Wonderful ad banners and get a look at site traffic that way. One of the big problems here though is there are a lot of sites that don't use Project Wonderful as a source of funding. This website being one of them. And then there's the whole issue of ad blockers.

Still, it can give a nice comparision between sites.

[Bobikus]

why are you so surprised? It's been on top for like years. since 2007 at least. Maybe much longer.

In 07 xkcd was still good.

[Aidan305]

I find VG Cats' presence there to be odd, considering how sparse its updates tend to be.

[Kiroth6]

I find VG Cats' presence there to be odd, considering how sparse its updates tend to be.

I don't really get it either, the regularity of updates and the quality of the humor really haven't been that great for the past couple of years.

Actually no, I know exactly why. Companies pay Google to be tagged on certain search terms. This bumps them up higher on the search list when the term is searched and can increase traffic especially if the site was popular at one point.

And the collection of comics on Snafu are done by multiple people. I know because guys who works on the comics visited a con, I was at and had to explain this to fans that thought he was one of the other artists.

[DiscoBear]

Here's a list I found on Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_self-sufficient_webcomics). These are the comics that make enough money that their creators can maintain their lifestyles without having to work. Really, it's not a great metric for talking about which comics are the "top webcomics," but if these cats and kittens are getting enough traffic to support ads and merch, they must be doing something right.

[Prime32]

Here's a list I found on Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_self-sufficient_webcomics).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Don%27t_abbreviate_as_Wiki_%28English_version%29.p ng/600px-Don%27t_abbreviate_as_Wiki_%28English_version%29.p ng
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_abbreviate_Wikipedia_as_Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_abbreviate_Wikipedia_as_Wiki)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

[Bobikus]

Here's a list I found on Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_self-sufficient_webcomics). These are the comics that make enough money that their creators can maintain their lifestyles without having to work. Really, it's not a great metric for talking about which comics are the "top webcomics," but if these cats and kittens are getting enough traffic to support ads and merch, they must be doing something right.

Seeing that LICD, CAD, Deegan, Megatokyo, and xkcd all make enough to support the authors saddens me.

[Gaelbert]

In 07 xkcd was still good.

And since it continues to be good, it shouldn't be a surprise that it's remained on top. I haven't talked to a single person who's disliked it (until now, I guess). And that's saying something.

[Mewtarthio]

And since it continues to be good, it shouldn't be a surprise that it's remained on top. I haven't talked to a single person who's disliked it (until now, I guess). And that's saying something.

Meh. I don't exactly harbor an intense, vitriolic hatred for the comic and by extension Munroe himself (though I have encountered such people on the internet), but XKCD is really hit-or-miss for me. And, lately, there have been a lot of misses. I haven't seen an XKCD that really stuck with me since, oh, 720 (https://xkcd.com/720/).

[Bobikus]

Meh. I don't exactly harbor an intense, vitriolic hatred for the comic and by extension Munroe himself (though I have encountered such people on the internet), but XKCD is really hit-or-miss for me. And, lately, there have been a lot of misses. I haven't seen an XKCD that really stuck with me since, oh, 720 (https://xkcd.com/720/).

The only thing I dislike about Munroe himself is his smug attitude towards liberal arts and any profession/education that isn't based in a hard science, even though he just has a BS in applied physics and worked just intern level stuff before quitting due to making money off his comic. He's also shown a big MIT obsession despite not going to the school himself.

I think xkcd's quality has dropped significantly over the last year or two, although it's not as bad as LICD, or nearly as awful as CAD.

[Welf]

Huh, I really didn't expect that ranking. Erfworld is missing, and Girl Genius is not even in the Top 20.

[Reverent-One]

The only thing I dislike about Munroe himself is his smug attitude towards liberal arts and any profession/education that isn't based in a hard science, even though he just has a BS in applied physics and worked just intern level stuff before quitting due to making money off his comic.

And by smug attitude you mean that he, a comic writer, makes a few jokes about them?