From 25K to 1M+: The Substack Writers Dominating Their Fields

a glimpse into which categories are popular for Substack creators

Apparently, Substack doesn’t want to bring too much attention to its league tables of top writers. This link is hidden in an obscure corner. So I took a tour and a snapshot of all the bestselling writers that are topping the 29 categories.

With 20 million active monthly subscribers, Substack has grown into one of the biggest platforms for content creators and writers. Many thought leaders have migrated to Substack from Twitter and Medium. Since launching my own Substack newsletter three months ago, I’ve seen many copywriters and marketers on Substack teaching people how to write newsletters. This begs the question: which industries have the largest communities on Substack?

If we use the top bestselling writer’s subscribers count as a proxy of the size of the related category, this snapshot suggested that Technology and Business lead all 29 categories. Their top writers have more than 1 million subscribers.

Crypto, as one of the more avant-garde emerging industries, surprisingly is a category of its own. It’s good as it gives Web3 writers more spotlight. It’s bad as Substack doesn’t think crypto is part of Technology. It really should be. Technology’s top writer has 10x more subscribers than Crypto’s.

(Category, Bestselling Writer, Subscribers Count)

1. Technology, Gergely Orosz, 1M+

2. Business, Lenny Rachitsky, 1.1M+

3. U.S. Politics, The Free Press, undisclosed, but at least more than first runner-up The Bulwark’s 826K+

4. Food & Drink, Caroline Chambers, 500K+

5. News, Aaron Parnas, 474K+

6. World Politics, Timothy Snyder, 379K+

7. Science, Katelyn Jetelina, 371K+

8. Literature, George Saunders, 309K+

9. Music, Ted Gioia, 236K+

10. Sports, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 235K+

11. Health Politics, A Midwestern Doctor, 221K+

12. Health & Wellness, Dan Harris, 203K+

13. Fashion & Beauty, Joanna Goddard, 184K

14. History, Darryl Cooper, 165K+

15. Faith & Spirituality, Jimmy Evans, 162K

16. International, Tim Mak, 160K+

17. Culture, Selvaggia Lucarelli, 142K

18. Education, Aella, 120K+

19. Crypto, BowTied Bull, 106K+

20. Art & Illustration, Ann Telnaes, 100K+

21. Climate & Environment, Bill McKibben, 84K+

22. Design, India Knight, 68K+

23. Philosophy, Sarah Blondin, 60K+

24. Finance, Citrini, 47K

25. Fiction, The Shit About Writing Team, 45K+

26. Travel, David Coggins, 41K+

27. Comics, 3 Worlds / 3 Moons, 35K+

28. Parenting, Emily Ley, 32K+

29. Humor, Cartoons Hate Her, 25K+

Where is the category of Self-Improvement or How To Get 1,000 Subscribers in 3 Months? That deserves a separate category.

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