You’ve spent countless hours creating great content for your WordPress site. Now it’s time to make sure your readers see your best work. WordPress popular post plugins help you highlight your most-read articles, keeping visitors on your site longer and coming back for more.

Let’s explore why these plugins are so useful and check out the top 8 options you can add to your site today.

Why You Need a WordPress Popular Post Plugin

Most website owners struggle to keep visitors engaged and direct them to their best content. New users often feel overwhelmed by all the information on a site. The solution? Show them your best articles right away. This builds trust and gets them interested in what you have to say.

WordPress popular post plugins do exactly that. They display your most-read or most-commented articles in easy-to-spot places on your site, like the sidebar or at the end of your posts.

When you show off your top articles, more people read them. This often leads to more social shares and can even increase your sales or sign-ups. While WordPress doesn’t come with a built-in way to show popular posts, there are many great plugins that can add this feature to your site.

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Top 8 WordPress Popular Post Plugins

This top-rated plugin lets you customize how you display your popular posts. You can show posts based on views or comments, and you have lots of options to make it look just right.

You can choose a specific time range for your popular posts, change how the list looks, and even display posts based on average daily views instead of total views or comments.

This plugin stands out for its flexibility and detailed statistics. Here’s what makes it special:

  • Customizable time ranges: Show popularity over the last 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, or any custom range
  • Multiple display options: Use widgets, shortcodes, or PHP functions to show popular posts
  • Thumbnail support: Automatically fetch and display post thumbnails
  • Advanced statistics: Track views, comments, and even author popularity
  • Multilingual support: Works with WPML and Polylang for multilingual websites
  • Exclude posts: Option to exclude specific posts or categories from rankings

Ideal for: Sites that want detailed control over how popularity is measured and displayed.

2. Top 10

Top 10 keeps track of how many times each post is viewed and lets you show your most popular posts and pages. You can customize how it looks, and it works with widgets. It also has built-in caching to make your site load faster.

Top 10 focuses on simplicity and speed. Key features include:

  • Lightweight design: Minimal impact on site loading speed
  • Daily and overall rankings: Track both long-term and recent popularity
  • Customizable styles: Change colors, font sizes, and layouts without coding
  • Maintenance tools: Clean up the database and reset counts easily
  • Multisite support: Works well with WordPress multisite setups
  • Extensive hooks: Developers can extend functionality with custom code

Ideal for: Sites prioritizing speed and those with developers who want to customize further.

3. Trending/Popular Post Slider and Widget

This plugin makes it easy to show your most-viewed or most-commented posts. It gives you several shortcodes for different views and lots of ways to customize the look.

This plugin offers unique display options:

  • Multiple layout choices: Grid, list, or slider views
  • Advanced sorting: Order by views, comments, or custom criteria
  • Responsive design: Looks great on all devices
  • Custom post type support: Works with regular posts and custom post types
  • Customizable CSS: Fine-tune the appearance to match your site
  • Shortcode generator: Easy-to-use interface for creating custom displays

Ideal for: Sites wanting visually appealing displays of popular content, especially in slider format.

4. Jetpack

Jetpack is a big plugin with over 30 different features. One of these is the Top Posts & Pages Widget. This lets you show your most-liked or most-viewed posts from the last 48 hours.

Jetpack’s popular posts feature is part of a larger suite of tools:

  • Real-time updates: Popular posts are updated in real-time
  • Image filters: Automatically exclude posts without featured images
  • Customizable widget: Change the number of posts, display options, and more
  • Site stats integration: Uses Jetpack’s own analytics for accuracy
  • Cross-post popularity: Works across multiple sites if you use WordPress.com
  • Additional features: Comes with security, backup, and performance tools

Ideal for: Sites already using other Jetpack features or wanting an all-in-one solution.

5. MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights is known for helping you understand your website traffic. It also lets you show your best-performing articles anywhere on your site. You can choose to show popular posts based on Google Analytics data, or sort by comments, shares, or pick them randomly.

While pricier, MonsterInsights offers unique benefits:

  • Google Analytics integration: Uses actual GA data for accuracy
  • Automatic updates: Popular posts refresh without manual intervention
  • WooCommerce integration: Show popular products as well as posts
  • Advanced tracking: Measure conversions and other key metrics
  • Custom dimensions: Track author popularity, post categories, and more
  • GDPR compliance tools: Helps with data privacy regulations

Ideal for: Sites serious about analytics and wanting to base popularity on comprehensive data.

6. Relevant

Relevant might not be as well-known as some other plugins, but it does a great job. You can use it to show related posts, featured posts, and popular posts from your website. It works with shortcodes or widgets.

Relevant combines popular posts with related content features:

  • Context-aware recommendations: Shows posts relevant to the current content
  • Multiple algorithms: Choose how to determine relevance and popularity
  • Cache support: Works with popular caching plugins for better performance
  • Taxonomy support: Use categories, tags, or custom taxonomies
  • Elementor widget: Easy integration with Elementor page builder
  • A/B testing: Compare different recommendation strategies

Ideal for: Sites wanting to combine popular and related post functionality.

7. Recent Posts Widget Extended

This plugin lets you show posts based on how many comments they have, which can be a good way to measure popularity. You can write custom code for your popular posts widget or block, and add your own CSS to make it look just right.

Despite its name, this plugin offers robust popular post features:

  • Flexible sorting: Order by comment count, random, or custom field
  • Multiple widgets: Create several widgets with different settings
  • Custom post type support: Works beyond just standard posts
  • Thumbnail options: Resize, crop, and style post images
  • CSS ready: Comes with CSS classes for easy styling
  • Developer-friendly: Extendable with hooks and filters

Ideal for: Developers who want a lightweight solution they can extend.

8. PostX – Gutenberg Blocks for Post Grid

If you use the Gutenberg editor, PostX is a great choice. It comes with ready-made blog post blocks that let you list your most popular posts in different ways. You can customize each block to fit your needs.

This Gutenberg-focused plugin offers:

  • Block-based design: Create complex layouts without coding
  • Multiple block types: Grids, lists, sliders, and more
  • Dynamic filtering: Let users sort content by popularity or other criteria
  • Advanced query builder: Create complex rules for displaying posts
  • Design presets: Start with pre-made designs and customize
  • Performance optimization: Lazy loading and other speed enhancements

Ideal for: Sites using the Gutenberg editor and wanting advanced layout options for popular posts.

How to Choose the Right Plugin for Your Site

When picking a plugin, also think about:

  1. Performance impact: Test how the plugin affects your site’s load time
  2. Compatibility: Make sure it works with your theme and other plugins
  3. Support and updates: Check how often the plugin is updated and the quality of support
  4. Scalability: Consider if the plugin will still work well as your site grows
  5. Learning curve: Some plugins are more complex and may take time to master

Also, picking the best WordPress popular post plugin depends on what you want to achieve with your website. Think about these questions:

  1. What defines “popular” for your site? Is it views, comments, or something else?
  2. Where do you want to display popular posts? In the sidebar, at the end of articles, or somewhere else?
  3. How much customization do you need? Do you want to change colors, fonts, or layout?
  4. Do you need additional features like caching or analytics integration?

Answer these questions, and you’ll have a better idea of which plugin fits your needs.

Once you’ve installed a popular posts plugin, try these strategies to get even more from it:

  1. Test different locations: Try showing popular posts in various places on your site to see what works best.
  2. Update regularly: Set your plugin to show recent popular posts, not just all-time favorites.
  3. Use eye-catching images: Include thumbnails with your popular post listings to grab attention.
  4. Write compelling titles: Make sure your post titles are interesting and clear.
  5. Categorize popular posts: If possible, show popular posts from the same category as the current article.

Remember, your best content is your strongest asset. These plugins help you showcase your top articles, building trust with your readers and creating a community of loyal fans. Take some time to explore these plugins and find the one that works best for your site. Happy blogging!