MattGeri

WP Geeks

WP Most Popular was born out of frustration in finding a decent plugin which performs one simple task and that is to rank your most popular blog posts.
The plugin keeps a log of your most popular posts based on views and lets you display them in your blog theme with custom styling. You can display popular posts from the last day, 7 days, 30 days or all time.
It also comes with a sidebar widget to let you display your popular posts on your blogs sidebar.
If you are a developer and integrate the plugin in to a theme, you will get a lot more flexibility out of the plugin including the ability to show the most popular custom post types etc.
This plugin was built and is maintained by <a href="https://wpgeeks.com" rel="nofollow ugc">WP Geeks</a>. For extra documentation, videos, snippets and support, visit the <a href="https://wpgeeks.com/product/wp-most-popular/" rel="nofollow ugc">WP Most Popular</a> product page.
<h3>Usage</h3>
There are two ways in which you can use this plugin.
<ol>
<li>As a sidebar widget</li>
<li>Custom function in your theme files</li>
</ol>
Using the widget is the easiest way and recommended for most users. If you are a developer and want to integrate the plugin in to your existing theme, then read the information below.
Firstly, the main function which you will need to include in your theme to fetch the popular posts is called <code>wp_most_popular_get_popular()</code>.
You can pass that function the following parameters in array form:
<ul>
<li>limit (integer)
<ul>
<li>The number of posts you would like to display i.e. 5</li>
<li>Default: 5</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>post_type (string) / (array)
<ul>
<li>The post type you would like to display</li>
<li>Example: post</li>
<li>Default: All post types</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>range (string)
<ul>
<li>In what date range would you like to display popular posts in</li>
<li>Accepted: all_time, monthly, weekly, daily</li>
<li>Default: all_time</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
Those are the current parameters that the plugin supports. Let’s look at an example of how to display the most recent popular posts in a unordered list.
<pre><code><?php
echo '<ul>';
$posts = wp_most_popular_get_popular( array( 'limit' => 10, 'post_type' => 'post', 'range' => 'all_time' ) );
global $post;
if ( count( $posts ) > 0 ): foreach ( $posts as $post ):
 setup_postdata( $post );
 ?>
 <li><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php echo esc_attr(get_the_title() ? get_the_title() : get_the_ID()); ?>"><?php if ( get_the_title() ) the_title(); else the_ID(); ?></a></li>
 <?php
endforeach; endif;
echo '</ul>';
?>
</code></pre>
<h4>Filters</h4>
The following filters are available to you:
<ul>
<li>wp_most_popular_list_before – used to filter the </li>
</ul>
<ul> element of the outputted widget list 
* **wp_most_popular_list_after** – used to filter the </ul>
element of the outputted widget list 
* wp_most_popular_list_item_single – filters for a the list item generated by the widget
<h4>Actions</h4>
<ul>
<li>wp_most_popular_list_item – used for modifying the list output</li>
</ul>

WP Most Popular

Works just as expected :)
Triggers the stat update from JS on the frontend so it works with cache.

Great plugin

WP Most Popular is a simple plugin which tracks your most popular blog posts based on views and lets you display them in your theme or blog sidebar.

WebberZone

Ajay

WordPress lacks built-in page view tracking or a popular posts feature. <a href="https://webberzone.com/plugins/top-10/" rel="nofollow ugc">Top 10</a> solves this by counting views across posts, pages, and custom post types, then letting you showcase your most popular content.
Top 10 provides blocks, widgets, shortcodes, and template functions for displaying popular posts and view counts across your site. All tracking data is stored locally in your WordPress database, with no external services involved.
Top 10 includes comprehensive features such as thumbnail support, flexible display options, custom post type support, and developer-friendly extensibility. A built-in caching layer reduces server load, while AJAX-based tracking avoids page cache interference and works with most popular caching plugins.
Top 10 also exposes a powerful API with WordPress actions and filters, allowing developers to customise queries, tracking behaviour, and output rendering without modifying core plugin files.
<h4>Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Page Counter: Tracks hourly post views on posts, pages, and custom post types. Display counts automatically using blocks, shortcodes, or template functions</li>
<li>Popular Posts: Display most viewed posts by total counts or within custom time periods</li>
<li>Gutenberg Support: Dedicated “Popular Posts [Top 10]” block with configurable display options</li>
<li>Multisite Dashboard: Network-wide aggregated statistics across all sites in a multisite installation</li>
<li>Widgets: Sidebar widgets for daily and overall popular posts with extensive customisation</li>
<li>Shortcodes: Use <code>[tptn_list]</code> to display popular post lists and <code>[tptn_views]</code> to show view counts</li>
<li>Thumbnails:
<ul>
<li>WordPress post thumbnail support with custom <code>tptn_thumbnail</code> image size</li>
<li>Automatic extraction of the first image from post content</li>
<li>Manual thumbnail URLs via Edit Post screens</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Exclusions: Exclude posts by category or post ID from popular post lists</li>
<li>Styling: Output wrapped in semantic CSS classes. Add custom CSS via settings or use included styles</li>
<li>Admin Interface: View daily and overall popular posts from the dashboard. Adds sortable view-count columns to post and page lists</li>
<li>Export/Import: Export count tables and settings, and restore them on the same site or other installs</li>
<li>Caching Compatibility: Works with WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, Quick Cache, and similar plugins</li>
<li>Developer-Friendly: Extensive filters and actions to customise queries, tracking behaviour, and output rendering</li>
</ul>
<h4>Features in Top 10 Pro</h4>
<ul>
<li>
Enhanced Tracking and Performance
<ul>
<li>Fast and High-Traffic Trackers: Alternative tracking methods for improved performance on busy sites</li>
<li>Query Optimisation: MySQL <code>MAX_EXECUTION_TIME</code> directive to prevent long-running queries, configurable via settings and the <code>top_ten_query_max_execution_time</code> filter</li>
<li>Data Retention Override: Customizable data retention period (default 180 days via <code>TOP_TEN_STORE_DATA</code>)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Advanced Blocks and Widgets
<ul>
<li>Top 10 Query Block: Query and display popular posts directly from the block or site editor</li>
<li>Enhanced Top 10 Featured Image Block: Support for multiple image sources with fallbacks</li>
<li>Popular Posts Block Enhancements:</li>
<li>Save and clear default block settings with a single click</li>
<li>Auto-insert default and global settings attributes with an option to disable</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Enhanced Admin Tools
<ul>
<li>Admin Bar Integration: Admin bar menu item to view daily, total, and overall post counts, access admin pages, and clear cache</li>
<li>Disable Admin Bar menu: Setting to disable the Admin Bar menu</li>
<li>Dashboard Access Control: Setting to control which user roles can view the Top 10 dashboard</li>
<li>Display Settings: Setting to choose which post type screens display admin columns</li>
<li>Mini “Top 10 Views Overview” widget: Compact views-over-time chart on the WordPress Dashboard</li>
<li>Multisite Settings Copy: Tool to copy settings between sites in a multisite network</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Custom Display Options
<ul>
<li>Taxonomy-Specific Displays: <code>display_only_on_tax_ids</code> parameter to restrict popular post displays to specific taxonomy terms</li>
<li>Category Inclusion: Edit Post meta box option to include popular posts from specific categories</li>
<li>RSS Feed Filtering: Filter RSS feeds by category or post type via settings or URL parameters</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Developer-Friendly Features
<ul>
<li>Custom Post Type Sortable Columns: Admin columns on supported custom post types with sortable functionality</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>GDPR</h4>
Top 10 does not collect personal visitor data out of the box. Tracking data is stored locally in the <code>wp_top_ten</code> and <code>wp_top_ten_daily</code> database tables (table prefix may vary).
You are responsible for ensuring GDPR compliance on your website.
<h4>Translations</h4>
Top 10 is available for translation on <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/top-10" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress.org</a>. 
See the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/rosetta/theme-plugin-directories/" rel="nofollow ugc">Translator Handbook</a> to contribute.
<h4>Contribute</h4>
Top 10 is developed openly on <a href="https://github.com/webberzone/top-10" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub</a>. 
Fork the project and submit pull requests for bug fixes or improvements. Please do not use GitHub for support requests.
<h3>Other WebberZone Plugins</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/contextual-related-posts/" rel="ugc">Contextual Related Posts</a> – Display related posts on your WordPress site and feeds</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-search/" rel="ugc">Better Search</a> – Enhance WordPress search with relevance-based results</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/knowledgebase/" rel="ugc">Knowledge Base</a> – Create a knowledge base or FAQ section</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/add-to-all/" rel="ugc">WebberZone Snippetz</a> – Manage custom HTML, CSS, and JavaScript snippets</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/autoclose/" rel="ugc">Auto-Close</a> – Automatically close comments, pingbacks, and trackbacks</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/popular-authors/" rel="ugc">Popular Authors</a> – Display popular authors widgets. Addon for Top 10.</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/where-did-they-go-from-here/" rel="ugc">Followed Posts</a> – Show related posts based on reader journeys</li>
</ul>

WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts

A very good plugin that helps to display top 3 popular posts via shorcode.

Good Plugin

Track post views and page views, and display popular posts and trending content on your WordPress site.

WP Most Popular vs WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts