Top 50 news websites in the world: The Hill and AP saw largest growth in February

The majority of the top English-language news sites in the world saw visits fall in February 2025, with just six recording web traffic higher than in January.

Month-on-month growth was seen at US political news site The Hill (48 million visits, up 17%) and the Associated Press (139.9 million, up 6%), followed by Canadian sites CBC (74.4 million, up 6%) and Reuters (109.8 million, up 5%) and Indian ones Indian Express (109.1 million, up 3%) and News18 (164 million, up 2%).

Top 50 most popular news websites in the UK (monthly ranking)
Top 50 most popular news websites in the US (monthly ranking)

All other top titles – including every UK-based site in the top 50 – lost traffic. The sharpest drop was at another US current affairs brand, CBS News (87 million, down 25% month-on-month), followed by business publisher Forbes (137.9 million, down 24%) and India.com (143.5 million, down 24%).

Among the ten most-visited English-language news sites in the world every brand lost traffic compared to February. The biggest fall was at the BBC (still the world’s most popular English language news website), where visits fell 14% from more than a billion in January to 991.9 million last month. CNN (487.2 million, down 13%) was the next hardest-hit, followed by the UK’s Daily Mail (248.4 million, down 12%).

The shallowest month-on-month declines were seen at Fox News (289.8 million, down 5%), People magazine (186 million, down 6%) and aggregator MSN (526.2 million, down 7%).

Indian news sites have risen up the charts rapidly over the last year and now make up 11 of the top 50 and a quarter of the top 20 titles. CNN affiliate News18 had the most visits of these Indian sites in February, ranking 12th overall, and was followed by India Times (162.1 million) at 13th.

India.com, the 15th-most visited site in the month, also saw the greatest year-on-year growth of any top-50 publisher, increasing its visits 191% compared with February 2024. It was followed by the AP (up 71%) and publishing platform Substack (112 million visits, up 59%).

Among the top ten largest sites half grew year-on-year, despite their month-on-month falls. The largest growth was recorded by The New York Times (616.1 million, up 6%) followed by People (up 4%), the BBC (up 4%), Fox News (289.8 million, up 2%) and CNN (487.2 million, up 1%).

The Daily Mail, meanwhile, saw the largest fall, dropping 19% but remaining in the top ten at eighth place. It was followed by MSN (down 7%), The Guardian (300.6 million, down 2%), and aggregators Yahoo Finance (227.3 million, down 2%) and Google News (313.8 million, down 1%).

Despite their rise in 2024, several Indian sites were also among the largest fallers year-on-year in February. The biggest decline compared with February 2024 was seen at India Today (67.5 million, down 36%), while fellow Indian sites Livemint (60.5 million, down 35%), News18 (down 23%) and Rediff (53.3 million, down 19%) all appeared among the ten largest losers of traffic.

Other notable sites to shed visitors year-on-year included Business Insider (68.1 million, down 35%), UK tabloids The Sun (53 million, down 29%) and Daily Mirror (49.5 million, down 29%) and Huffpost (49.8 million, down 22%).

Continue reading for previous months’ coverage of the world’s top 50 websites for news:

January 2025

India.com was the fastest-growing top 50 global English-language news website in December.

Its 177% year-on-year growth put it just outside the top ten with 188m visits according to Similarweb.

Overall there are 11 India-based sites in the top 50 compared with nine UK-based websites and 24 US-based ones. India.com was launched 14 years ago and offers readers the option of viewing it in English or Hindi.

Among the 50 most-visited English-language news sites in the world last month, the three largest month-on-month increases were seen at CBS News (116.2 million, up 39%), global news agency Reuters (104.9 million, up 25%) and the Associated Press (132.6 million, up 23%).

The Washington Post (112.8 million, up 17%), NBC News (110.3 million, up 21%) and CNN (556.6 million, up 12%) were all also among the ten-fastest growing sites compared to December 2024.

Other sites in the top ten fastest-growing list included publishing platform Substack (115.6 million, up 22%), Indian broadcaster NDTV (130.1 million, up 16%) and British opinion-led broadcaster GB News (50.1 million, up 18%), which in January re-appeared in the global top 50 after previously spending two months on the chart at the start of 2024.

Each of the ten most-visited news sites in January saw visits increase compared with December, with CNN, The Guardian (323.3 million, up 11%) and People magazine (197.3 million, up 10%) the biggest beneficiaries.

Compared with January last year, however, the picture was more mixed, with almost half of the top 50 recording a year-on-year decline in visits.

The biggest grower compared with last January was India.com (187.7 million, up 177%), one of several Indian publishers to have worked their way up the chart in 2024. It was followed by the Associated Press (up 57%), Substack (53%), CBS News (30.5%) and NBC News (110.3 million, up 21%).

Mirroring the broader top 50, among the ten most-visited sites six publishers gained traffic year-on-year while four lost it. The biggest growth was at The New York Times (671.1 million, up 12%), followed by People (10.1%), CNN (8.7%), the BBC (1.1 billion, up 7.9%) and aggregator Yahoo Finance (252.6 million, up 7.2%). Another aggregator, Google News (351.8 million), recorded a 0.7% rise.

Year-on-year the Daily Mail (282.9 million) saw the greatest fall among the top ten, shedding 15.3% of its traffic compared to last January despite a 3% uptick compared with December 2024. It was followed by MSN (565.5 million, down 9%), The Guardian (323.3 million, down 6%) and Fox News (306.2 million, down 3%).

The biggest year-on-year drops overall came at Indian news sites IndiaToday.in (73.7 million, down 40%) and LiveMint.com (66.1 million, down 37%). Significant falls were also registered at un-paywalled UK news sites The Sun (60.6 million, down 29%), the Daily Mirror (57.7 million, down 26%) and the Daily Mail (282.9 million, down 15%).

Month-on-month only one site, the New York Post (143.5 million) lost double-digit percentage points of traffic, recording 10% fewer visits than in December. Indian news sites made up five of the ten sites to drop traffic month-on-month, led by OneIndia.com (102 million visits, down 7%).

December 2024

Two-fifths of top English-language global news sites saw month-on-month web traffic declines of 10% or greater in December.

The largest falls were seen at the major US political and hard news sites who had been the biggest beneficiaries of November’s US election traffic boost.

They include NBC News (91.5 million visits in December, down 46.5% from November), the Associated Press (108.1 million, down 39.5%) and CBS News (83.9 million, down 25.7%).

Overall 36 of the top 50 sites in the world saw fewer visits in December than in November. The picture was more mixed when compared against December 2023, however, with 23 of the top 50 gaining traffic year-on-year.

Month-on-month, the majority of the ten most-visited sites lost traffic, with CNN (497.3 million, down 25%) falling fastest followed by Fox News (278.7 million, down 19.8%), The New York Times (633.5 million, down 13.8%) and The Guardian (292.5 million, down 12.4%).

The Daily Mail (274.6 million, up 5.8% month-on-month) and India.com (188.8 million, up 9.4%) were among the few top ten sites to grow visits compared with November.

The greatest monthly growth among the broader top 50 came at sports news site Athlon Sports (57 million visits), which spent 2024 rising up the US top 50 and in December appeared on the global top 50 for the first time. The site saw 38% month-on-month growth in December. It was followed by the UK’s Daily Express (59.6 million, up 17.6%).

Athlon Sports was also the fastest-growing site on the top 50 year-on-year, increasing its visits 353% compared with December 2023. The second biggest growth year-on-year was Indian news site India.com (up 146.6%), which has entered the top ten global English-language news sites for the first time.

Despite their month-on-month visitor contractions, there was strong annual growth at the AP (up 50.8% year-on-year) and NBC News (up 20.4%), as well as other large publishers ABC News (64.5 million, up 36.6%) and The New York Times (up 9.6%).

CNN (2.9%) and the BBC (1.1 billion, up 1.8%) also saw modest annual growth, but half the ten biggest sites by visits lost traffic compared with December 2023. These included the Daily Mail (down 18.9%), Fox News (down 10.1%) and The Guardian (down 9.6%).

The five sharpest year-on-year declines were all felt at British and Indian news sites. The fastest faller was India Today (74.1 million, down 37.7% year-on-year), followed by Live Mint (63.6 million, down 35.6%), The Sun (60.3 million, down 33%), CNN affiliate News18 (167.1 million, down 28.8%) and the Daily Mirror (56.4 million, down 24.8%).

November 2024

American hard news providers saw visits surge in November amid the 2024 US presidential election and its aftermath, data from Similarweb shows.

NBC News (170.9 million views) saw the biggest month-on-month traffic gain among the 50 most-visited English-language news sites in the world in November, growing 56.3%.

Narrowly behind was news agency the Associated Press (178.8 million visits in November) up 56% compared with October.

Both sites were also the fastest-growing sites year-on-year among the top 50, with the AP notching a 161.4% increase in its traffic compared to November 2023, and NBC up 120.9%. They were followed by another US hard news mainstay, ABC News (85.1 million visits, up 92.2% year-on-year and 19% month-on-month).

Other websites to experience notable traffic surges in November included broadcasters Fox News (347.3 million, up 21.8% month-on-month), CBS News (112.8 million, up 19.7%) and CNN (662.8 million, up 11.5%), US paper of record The New York Times (734.8 million, up 11.6%) and agency Reuters (105.7 million, up 14.3%).

There were month-on-month traffic declines at nearly half of the sites in the top 50, although they were relatively mild: of the 24 that dropped, nine saw visits dip by 2% or less and 17 by less than 5%. The biggest month-on-month traffic fall was at Huffpost (58.1 million visits, down 12% month-on-month), followed by Indian CNN affiliate News18 (185.9 million, down 11%).

Among only the ten biggest English-language news sites in the world, Fox News saw the strongest month-on-month growth in November, followed by USA Today (233.9 million, up 12%), The New York Times, CNN, The Guardian (333.8 million, up 4.1%) and the BBC (1.1 billion, up 3.3%), which remains the largest publisher on the ranking.

Google News (326.3 million, down 4.7%) saw the biggest drop among the top ten, followed by fellow aggregator MSN (593.4 million, down 3.4%).

After the AP, NBC and ABC, the biggest year-on-year growth in the global top 50 came at India.com (172.5 million, up 92%), one of several Indian news sites to have seen substantial growth in the past year. Politico (63.2 million, up 60.6% year-on-year), creator platform Substack (94.3 million, up 65.9%) and Newsweek (128.9 million, up 65.9%) were also among the ten fastest-growers.

Among the top ten sites USA Today saw by far the biggest year-on-year growth, with visits increasing 65.4% compared to November last year. It was followed by The New York Times (up 35.1%), CNN (up 34.1%) and Fox News (17.2%).

Two sites in the top ten lost traffic compared with a year ago: Google News (down 1.5%) and DailyMail.co.uk (259.6 million, down 16.9%). The Mail is among several UK tabloids to have taken a traffic hit from recent Google algorithm changes — rival publisher The Sun (60.9 million) recorded the second-steepest overall year-on-year traffic drop in November, with visits falling 21.1%.

Overall nine publishers in the top 50 saw year-on-year traffic decline. The largest was at News Corp’s news.com.au (69.5 million, down 21.9%), with double-digit drops also seen at another UK tabloid, the Mirror (57.5 million, down 14%) and Indian sites News18 (down 16.6%), India Today (93.6 million, down 15%) and Live Mint (75.1 million, down 14.7%).

October 2024

Most of the world’s top 50 English-language news sites lost traffic year-on-year in October, but saw month-on-month growth after two months of decline.

Newsweek (131.6 million visits in October 2024), which has repeatedly ranked as the fastest-growing news site year-on-year in 2024, again topped the chart for visitor growth, seeing a 105.6% increase compared with October 2023.

It was followed by India.com (191.2 million, up 86% year-on-year), and publishing platform Substack (86.9 million, up 44.4%), which may have been a beneficiary of interest in the run-up to the US election on 5 November.

Other US hard news outlets, including CBS News (94.3 million, up 26.3% year-on-year), ABC News (71.5 million, up 23.1%) and the Associated Press (114.6 million, up 13.8%) also saw year-on-year growth.

But among the top 50, 31 publishers saw their total visits drop compared with October 2023. The biggest fall was at Middle Eastern-focused world news publisher Al Jazeera (66.2 million), where visits fell more than a third compared with last year.

News Corp Australia’s News.com.au (68.9 million, down 24%), as well as British mass-market publications Mail Online (268 million, down 28%), the Daily Mirror (62.4 million, down 23.5%) and The Sun (61.6 million, down 23.4%) were also among the biggest fallers.

Among the ten most-visited English-language news sites in the world there was similarly little growth. The greatest increase in visits came at The New York Times (546 million), which grew its traffic by 6.3% compared with October 2023, followed by Yahoo Finance (229.4 million, up 4.6%) and aggregator MSN (614 million, up 3.5%).

Every other site in the top ten lost traffic year-on-year, with the biggest falls observed at Mail Online, Fox News (285.1 million, down 20.9%) and Indian CNN partner News18.com (208.9 million, down 19.6%).

The picture was different when compared to September 2024, however. Seven of the top ten grew month-on-month, with Yahoo Finance (up 7.3%) notching the greatest increase. It was followed by the BBC News website (1 billion, up 5.7% month-on-month), The New York Times (up 5.6%) and The Guardian (320.6 million, up 5.5%).

Among the wider top 50 meanwhile it was Al Jazeera, which recorded the biggest year-on-year traffic decline, that saw the largest month-on-month traffic increase, growing visits 38.4%.

Six other sites increased their traffic by double-digit percentages, including India.com (up 36.1% month-on-month), fellow Indian site NDTV (118.9 million, up 15.9%), Newsweek (20.6%) and Canada’s CBC (11.4%). Another Indian news site, The Hindustan Times (137.5 million), fell just outside this group with 9.4% month-on-month growth.

Among the ten top 50 sites that did see a month-on-month traffic decline, the largest falls came at Business Insider (93.6 million, down 10.3%), followed by News18 (down 8.8%), CBS News (down 7.9%) and British tabloid the Daily Express (down 6.8%).

September 2024

Half of the world’s top 50 most-visited English-language news sites grew their traffic year-on-year in September – but all but two saw visits decline month-on-month.

The only sites to grow their web traffic month-on-month were CBS News (102.3 million visits, up 18% month-on-month) and India.com (140.54 million, up 42%).

The latter, which was also the fourth-fastest growing site on the top 50 year-on-year, continues a trend of healthy growth at Indian news sites in recent months.

As well as the growth at CBS News, the sites with the shallowest month-on-month declines in September included US hard news staples NBC News (106.6 million visits, down 2.4% month-on-month), The New York Times (517.3 million, down 3.6%) and CNN (571.2 million, down 5.9%), possibly reflecting the approach of the US presidential election in November.

Last month English language news sites outside India saw a sharp pull-back coming out neof an eventful July that saw the opening of the Paris Olympics, Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race and an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Indian sites generally fared well, however, increasing traffic compared with July or remaining largely stable.

This month India.com, OneIndia.com and IndianExpress.com were among the ten sites with the most growth (or the least shrinkage) month-on-month, but several Indian sites were also the fastest droppers, including The Hindu newspaper (72.2 million, down 17.6% month-on-month), LiveMint.com (69.1 million, down 17%) and NDTV (102.6 million, down 25.8%).

Canadian broadcaster CBC saw the biggest month-on-month decline in the top 50 (60.3 million visits in September, down 37.9% on August), and UK newspapers The Sun (60.2 million, down 23.3%), The Telegraph (109.1 million, down 19.8%), the Daily Express (59.4 million, down 16.2%) and the Daily Mirror (59.5 million, also down 16.2%) were all among the biggest fallers.

This picture was repeated year-on-year, with the Mirror (down 34.9% year-on-year), The Sun (down 23.2%) and Daily Mail (279 million visits, down 20.2%) among the top ten largest fallers compared with September 2023. They were, again, joined by Indian news sites Live Mint (down 26.8% year-on-year), India Today (down 26.8%), The Hindu (down 20%), NDTV (down 17.2%) and Rediff (61 million visits, down 14.2% year-on-year) also in the top ten.

Meanwhile Newsweek (109 million visits, up 108.3%) was once again the fastest year-on-year grower, followed by CBS, fellow US news site ABC News (69.4 million, up 51.8% year-on-year) and India.com.

Approximately a third of sites in the top 50 saw double-digit growth compared with September 2023.

Among the ten most visited English-language news sites in the world no site grew its web visits month-on-month. The New York Times, CNN, MSN (601.2 million visits, down 6.1% month-on-month) and Google News (329.2 million, down 6.3%) saw the shallowest declines while the deepest occurred at The Guardian (303.8 million, down 11.7%), the Daily Mail and Yahoo Finance (213.7 million, down 11.1%).

Year-on-year, meanwhile, as many top-ten sites grew their traffic as shrank. The New York Times grew the most compared with last September, with visits rising 14%, followed by CNN (10%), MSN (5%) and Fox News (288.5 million visits, up 2.8% on last year).

The Mail saw the fastest drop, shedding 20% of its traffic, followed by the BBC’s sites (986 million, down 10.6%), despite which they remained the most-visited English-language news sites in the world. The Guardian also shrank year-on-year (down 4%), meaning all the British top ten sites lost traffic year-on-year.

August 2024

Most of the world’s most-visited English-language news sites grew traffic year-on-year in August, despite month-on-month traffic declines.

American and British news sites saw the sharpest month-on-month contractions coming out of a busy July that saw the opening of the Paris Olympics, Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race and an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

Indian news sites, on the other hand, were among the most resilient of the top 50 newsbrands in August. Five of the 12 sites that grew their traffic were Indian, and a further two Indian brands kept visits steady compared with July.

Year-on-year, the fastest-growing site in August was again Newsweek (up 141% to 134.9 million visits), which has registered as either the fastest or second-fastest growing brand year-on-year every month since December 2023.

Newsweek was followed by ABC News (78.1 million visits, up 71% year-on-year), People (205.2 million, up 53%) and newsletter platform Substack (82.9 million, up 45%).

Here too Indian websites are well-represented, with Indiatimes (194.2 million, up 41% year-on-year) and DNAIndia.com, (72.1 million, up 38%), also known as Daily News and Analysis, ranking as the sixth and eighth-fastest growing top 50 news sites respectively.

Among the ten most-visited English language news sites the picture is mixed, with another Indian site, CNN partner News18.com (254 million visits) growing traffic 11% year-on-year to enter the top ten for the first time in ninth place. The next fastest-growing among the top ten was The New York Times (536.4 million, up 9%) and msn.com (640.4 million, up 3%).

The fastest decliner among the top ten was Mail Online, which saw visits drop 18% year-on-year to 314.8 million.

The Mail saw the third-largest drop year-on-year among the whole top 50. The second largest, despite the success of other Indian sites, was IndiaToday.in (99.6 million visits, down 22%) and fellow British tabloid Mirror.co.uk (71 million, down 35%).

Month-on-month DNAIndia was the fastest grower, seeing visits rise 49% compared with August. It was followed by India.com (99 million, up 29%) and Canada’s CBC (97.1 million, up 31%).

Relatively few sites saw rapid month-on-month growth in August, however, with five of the top 50 registering double-digit traffic increases.

Most of the biggest fallers were big names in breaking news who saw traffic correct after the bumper July. NBC News shed the most visitors month-on-month, dropping 28% to 109.2 million. It was followed by ABC News which – despite seeing the second-greatest growth year-on-year – lost 17% of its visitors compared with July.

Among the ten largest English-language sites globally there was little growth month-on-month, with Yahoo Finance (240.5 million) growing visits 2% and News18 growing them 0.2%. The rest of the top ten saw traffic contractions, led by CNN (607.2 million, down 14% month-on-month), Fox News (324.5 million, down 12% month-on-month) and Mail Online (down 8% month-on-month).

July 2024

Most of the world’s biggest news website saw strong growth in July in what was a bumper month for news.

July saw an assassination attempt against Donald Trump, Joe Biden announcing he would not stand for re-election as US president and the start of the Paris Olympics (see in-depth coverage of Olympics news web traffic here).

The fastest-growing English language news websites in the world were mainly based in the US with Newsweek, ABC News and AP News all up more than 100% year on year. All of the fastest-growing sites in our top 50 were US-based with the exception of India-based NDTV.com.

Seven out of the top ten English language news websites in the world grew year on year, with CNN and Fox News both up more than 20%.

The biggest news website in the world remains the BBC with 1.2 billion visits per month (although it should be noted this includes the entire BBC website domain, not just the news section).

Month on month ABC News in the US was the fastest-growing global top-50 news website, up 79%, with UK-based Sky News the third fastest-growing site globally up 47%.

May 2024

Note: Figures from May 2024 and earlier were calculated using an old Similarweb data model that has since been updated.

The BBC was the fastest-growing of the ten biggest news websites in the world in May, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.

Visits to the website of the UK’s flagship broadcaster were up 9% in May compared to April to 1.1 billion. While Similarweb data includes traffic to the BBC’s entertainment and other content too, the site has a major news offering.

It was followed by Fox News (292 million, up 8%), New York Times (685.5 million, up 4%) and Google News (383.2 million, up 3%), according to digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

None of the top ten sites saw smaller audiences in May compared to April, although the audiences to the Daily Mail (364.9 million) and India Times (287.9 million) were largely unchanged from last month.

Year-on-year, among the top ten news sites by number of visits India Times was again the fastest-growing site (up 67% compared to May 2023). It was followed by the New York Times (up 19%), Yahoo Finance (248.2 million, up 10%), The Guardian (368.2 million, up 5%) and the BBC (up 4%).

Among the wider top 50, AP saw the biggest growth with visits to the newswire’s site up 20% month-on-month to 115 million. British newsbrands Sky News (77.2 million visits, up 14% month-on-month) and the Express (92.6 million, up 11%) also made the fastest-growing list.

Year-on-year Newsweek was the fastest-growing top 50 site in a list largely dominated by Indian newsbrands. Visits to newsweek.com were up 170% compared to last May to 107.4 million. Al Jazeera (63.9 million, up 55%), AP News (up 48%) and People (205.2 million, up 39%) also made the list.

The BBC was again top of the table for visits. It was followed by MSN (686 million), New York Times, CNN and Google News. The order of the top five is unchanged from last month. The Guardian in sixth place was the best-ranked UK newsbrand after the BBC.

April 2024

India Times was the biggest-growing news website in the world in April, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.

Visits to the website of digital giant were up 87% year-on-year to 287.6 million as the world’s most populous country undertakes elections. It was followed by Yahoo Finance (243.9 million, up 20%), The New York Times (657 million, up 15%) and The Guardian (366.5 million, up 10%).

The remainder of the top ten newsbrands in contrast did not see traffic grow year-on-year. Fox News slumped furthest with traffic falling to 269.3 million, down 14% in April, while BBC saw a smaller fall of 5% year-on-year to 1 billion visits, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

Month-on-month, among the top ten news sites by number of visits the picture was more positive with six seeing more traffic in April than in March. Top of the list was again India Times (up 8% month-on-month), followed by The Guardian (up 5%), CNN (558.2 million visits, up 3%) and the BBC (up 2%). Traffic for the remainder of the top ten was static, increasing or decreasing by less than 1% compared to March.

Among the wider top 50, five of the fastest-growing new sites year-on-year were from India with financial news site Livemint seeing the largest surge in visits compared to April 2023 (up 139% to 83.7 million). Newsweek maintained its strong growth and was the second-fastest growing, close behind Livemint with visits up 132% to 103.4 million. This echoes teh US news magazine’s strong performance in our US top 50 ranking as well.

Al Jazeera meanwhile also saw a strong month with visits up 67% year-on-year to 70.8 million. Continued interest in the war in Gaza likely lies behind the Qatari newsbrand’s strong performance in April.

Among the top 50 many of the same names that performed well year-on-year also did well in terms of month-on-month growth in visits. Indian Express led the list with visits up 36% to 156.8 million compared to March, while Al Jazeera (up 28%) and CBS News (95.4 million visits, up 24%) also saw a strong April.

The BBC was again top of the table for visits. Its monthly growth meant that it crossed the 1 billion visit threshold in April below which it had remained for the previous two months. It was followed by MSN (678.8 million), New York Times, CNN and Google News (370.9 million). The order of the top five is unchanged from last month. The Guardian fell just short of the top five in sixth place. It was the best-ranked UK newsbrand after the BBC.

March 2024

Newsweek was the biggest-growing news website in the world in March, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.

The news magazine saw visits to its website more than double in March, up 128% year-on-year to 104.1 million, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

Newsweek has seen a recent run of strong growth, and was also the fastest-growing site in recent Press Gazette rankings of the top 50 news sites in the US. The newsbrand recently appointed a new executive editor, Jennifer H. Cunningham, formerly of Business Insider, who told Press Gazette her brief is to broaden Newsweek’s audience and “to enhance and augment the journalism“.

Newsweek was followed by three Indian newsbrands, ahead of national elections in the country coming between April and June: financial news specialist Livemint (82.4 million visits, up 100% year-on-year), India Times (265.4 million, up 60%) and the Hindustan Times (170 million, up 45%).

Similarly month-on-month India.com (65.9 million visits, up 44%) topped the table for growth.

Two British newsbrands also featured in the fastest growing sites month-on-month. Visits to the website of Reach’s tabloid brand Express.co.uk were up 17% compared to February to reach 76.8 million, while visits to The Independent were up 12% to 109.5 million.

Among the ten biggest sites by number of visits in March, fastest-growing year-on-year was India Times. It was followed by The New York Times (666 million visits, up 11%) and Yahoo Finance (245.9 million, up 5%).

The remainder of the ten biggest sites slumped year-on-year, with Fox News seeing the sharpest decline (269.4 million visitors, down 18%), followed by aggregator MSN (676 million, down 11%).

However all top ten sites grew month-on-month. The biggest increase in visits was for India Times, followed by New York Times (up 10% month-on-month) and CNN (539.9 million, up 9%). UK newsbrands The Daily Mail (369.3 million, up 8% compared to February) and The Guardian (349.7 million, up 7%) also saw growth of more than 5% in their number of visits.

The BBC was again top of the table for visits (992.4 million) although it remained below the one billion visit mark for the second month in a row. It was followed by MSN, New York Times, CNN and Google News (375.6 million). The order of the top five is unchanged from last month.

February 2024

India Times was the fastest-growing top ten news website in the world in February, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.

Visits to the Indian daily newspaper’s website were up 48% year-on-year to 234.5 million, possibly due to increased interest in news about the country given India’s upcoming general election in April.

It was followed by Yahoo Finance (241.4 million visits, up 18% year-on-year) and The New York Times (606.7 million visits, up 10%) which were second and third fastest growing among the ten biggest sites by number of visits, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

The Guardian made a smaller gain of 2% (327.4 million visits) and the rest of the top ten reported declines compared to February last year.

Microsoft news aggregator MSN (642.2 million visits, down 14% year-on-year) and Fox News (262.9 million, down 16%) were the two top ten sites to see double-digit drops.

Month-on-month all of the top ten sites except the India Times (up 3%) saw less traffic in February compared to January. Fox News (down 16%) and the Daily Mail’s website (343.6 million visits, down 10% month-on-month) saw the biggest falls.

Yahoo Finance (down 1% month-on-month) and New York Times (down 5%) also slumped compared to January despite growing year-on-year.

Fastest-growing year-on-year among the whole top 50 was again Newsweek (79.5 million visits, up 114%) which similarly saw strong growth in its home market of the US this month. Newsweek was followed by Indian financial newsbrand Livemint (71.8 million, up 90%) and Al Jazeera (53.4 million, up 55%), repeating the order of the fastest-growing sites year-on-year in January.

Month-on-month Newsweek (up 7% compared to January) was beaten by another Indian site, Indian Express (96.8 million, up 9% month-on-month). It was followed by GB News (55.2 million, up 4%) which entered the global top 50 for the first time last month.

The BBC was again top of the table for visits (963.4 million) although it fell below the one billion visit mark it has topped in recent months. It was followed by MSN (642.2 million), New York Times (606.7 million), CNN (497.7 million) and Google News (360.9 million). The order of the top five is unchanged from last month.

Similarweb generates its traffic data by applying machine learning and modelling to the statistically representative datasets that the company collects. Datasets are based on direct measurement (i.e. websites and apps that choose to share first-party analytics with Similarweb); contributory networks that aggregate device data; partnerships and public data extraction from websites and apps. The sites in the list are based on Similarweb’s classification of news and media publishers, although Press Gazette refines the list to exclude some sites with a less news-based focus.

Continue reading for previous months’ coverage of the world’s top 50 websites for news:

January 2024

CNN was the fastest-growing top 10 news website in the world month-on-month in January, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.

Visits to the US cable broadcaster’s site were up 7% to reach 537.2 million compared to December, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb. It reverses last month’s pattern for CNN which was the only top ten sites in December to see visits down, falling 2% between November and December.

Second fastest-growing among the biggest ten sites by number of global visits was The Guardian (360.9 million, up 7% month-on-month), while Microsoft aggregator MSN (699.6 million, up 5%) was third. All top ten sites saw month-on-month growth.

Year-on-year all of the top ten sites saw audience drops however, The Guardian, New York Times (636.3 million visits) and Yahoo Finance saw comparatively small drops in visits of less than 1% compared to January 2023. MSN saw the biggest slump in traffic for the third month in a row (down 23% year-on-year), followed by Fox News (294.8 million visits) and CNN which were both down 16% year-on-year.

Fastest-growing year-on-year among the whole top 50 was again Newsweek (74.1 million visits, up 83%) – although its traffic was lower than December. Newsweek was followed by Indian financial newsbrand Livemint (77 million, up 76%) and Al Jazeera (57.8 million, up 56%).

Month-on-month UK-based news aggregator newsnow.co.uk was top for growth with visits up 40% compared to December (58.4 million visits). It was followed by GB News (53 million, up 21%) which entered the top 50 for the first time in 50th position, and Business Insider (107.7 million, up 21%).

The BBC remained top of the table for visits and was the only site to top the 1 billion visit-threshold as in past months (1.1 billion visits), followed by MSN, New York Times, CNN and Google News (393.4 million). The order of the top five is unchanged from last month.

December 2023

All the world’s top ten English-language news websites saw year-on-year traffic drops in December for the second consecutive month, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.

The drops may be the result of updates rolled out by Google to its search algorithm since September, which have tended to downgrade SEO-explainer style articles.

Among the top ten news sites by number of visits, Microsoft aggregator MSN saw the biggest slump in traffic for the second month in a row (663.8 million visits, down 25% year-on-year), followed by Google News (381 million) and CNN (500.9 million) both down by 17%, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

Fox News (286.6 million visits, down 14% year-on-year), Daily Mail (376.4 million, down 13%) and the BBC (1 billion, down 12%) also saw double-digit falls.

Month-on-month the top ten news sites fared better with all but CNN (down 2% month-on-month) seeing their traffic increase or remain stable. The Daily Mail saw the biggest month-on-month growth in visits at 8%, followed by the New York Times (up 7%, 612.3 million visits).

Fastest-growing year-on-year among the whole top 50 was Newsweek (83.6 million visits, up 101%), which knocked The Times of Israel, the fastest-growing news website in the world in November and October, out of its top position. The Times of Israel also fell out of the top 50 altogether in December).

Newsweek was followed by Indian financial newsbrand Mint (72.8 million, up 60%) and Gannett’s USA Today (161 million, up 30%).

The BBC remained top of the table for visits, followed by MSN, The New York Times, CNN and Google News.

November 2023

Most of the world’s major English news websites saw steep traffic drops in November, possibly as a result of a series of Google updates.

Since September, updates rolled out by Google have included a “helpful content update” deemed to have been “noticeably more impactful” than the last of its kind in December 2022, an October core update and another in November, and a reviews update also this month. Websites with a traditional focus on scale, often built with the aid of SEO explainer-style articles, appear to be among the hardest hit by the updates.

All of the top ten news sites tracked by Press Gazette saw double-digit falls in traffic despite the busy news agenda. Among this group the largest year-on-year slumps were seen by MSN (down 28% year-on-year), Fox News (273.8 million, down 26%), CNN (down 25%), and Google News (down 19%).

Among the whole top 50, The Times of Israel was the fastest-growing news website in the world for a second consecutive month in November. Visits to the English-language Israeli news site were up 429% year-on-year to 56.3 million. Second fastest-growing was Newsweek (66.8 million, up 71%), while third fastest-growing was Qatari newsbrand Al Jazeera (up 69% to 70.9 million). Like The Times of Israel, Al Jazeera very likely saw its audience surge due to high interest in news linked to the situation in Palestine and Israel.

Month-on-month the status of the top ten news sites by number of visits echoed that for year-on-year changes with none seeing an increase in traffic when compared to October. Among the top 50, fastest-growing month-on-month was Newsweek (up 21%) followed some way behind by India Times (up 2%).

October 2023

The Times of Israel was the fastest growing news website in the world in October, according to Press Gazette’s latest ranking.

The English language Jerusalem-based site saw visits increase 604% year-on-year to 64.2 million and entered our top-50 ranking for the first time in 42nd place, according to digital intelligence platform, Similarweb.

It was followed by another new entrant, Al Jazeera, which was this month’s second-fastest news site with visits up 147% to 102.9 million, which propelled the Qatari newsbrand to rank 27.

Both increases are likely linked to the increase in demand for news about the Middle East following the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Gaza in October.

They were followed by AP (117.1 million visits, up 63% year-on-year), US broadcaster ABC News (62.5 million visits, up 61%) and The Independent (104.9 million, up 49%).

Overall 29 sites in the top 50 reported year-on-year growth in October, while 21 saw a traffic slump. All but five news websites (The Sun, the Mirror, Indian Express, India Today and Indian financial news site, Livemint) saw traffic grow month-on-month, which may be linked to October’s increased interest in news such as the war between Israel and Hamas.

Among the ten biggest news websites by number of visits during the month, fastest-growing was CNN which saw visits up 25% year-on-year to 805.2 million, Fox News (up 17% to 331.8 million) and Daily Mail (up 7% to 415.1 million). (Similarweb data to dailymail.co.uk captures redirects from other Daily Mail country domains).

The BBC in contrast saw a slight year-on-year fall in traffic, down 4% to 1.2 billion visits. Similarweb’s data includes visits to all the BBC’s content and not just news. The Guardian also saw traffic fall by 7% to 376.9 million.

Aggregators Google News and MSN again saw the biggest slumps in visits in the top ten. Visits to Google News were down 15% to 398.1 million, while the Microsoft news aggregator was down 16% to 665.6 million visits on the same metric.

While the BBC remained the top newsbrand in the world by number of visits, CNN once again overtook MSN to regain second place, pushing MSN into third place. The New York Times and Mail Online rounded out the top five, remaining unchanged from September, as did the rest of the top ten.

Other than new entrant The Times of Israel, Reuters saw the biggest jump in rank, climbing seven places to 23rd (113.2 million visits), followed by ABC News. The Mirror saw the biggest fall, down seven places to rank 30th.

Continue reading for previous months’ coverage of the world’s top 50 websites for news:

September 2023

None of the ten biggest news websites in the world increased their traffic year-on-year in September.

Visits to CNN were up 6% year-on-year to 703.3 million, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb, while visits to dailymail.co.uk were up 3% to 427.7 million. (Similarweb data to dailymail.co.uk captures redirects from other Daily Mail country domains).

Among September’s top ten, Google News saw the biggest slump in visits (371 million, down 20% compared to last September), followed by another news aggregator, Microsoft’s MSN (639.7 million, down 15%) and The Guardian (329.8 million, down 14%).

Mail Online recorded the smallest fall among the ten biggest sites by number of visits (392 million, down 5%). Similarweb data to dailymail.co.uk captures redirects from other Daily Mail country domains. CNN saw the second smallest fall at 6% (608.6 million visits).

Among the whole top 50, last month’s fastest-growing news site AP News was second by that metric in September (92.3 million visits, up 47%). Fastest-growing was Indian financial news site Livemint (69.9 million visits, up 49%). It was among four Indian newsbrands among the ten fastest-growing sites in the top 50, along with timesofindia.com, thehindu.com and hindustantimes.com.

The tenth fastest-growing site in the ranking was British newsbrand The Independent, with 101.9 million visits (up 13%). In August The Independent was the sixth fastest-growing site in our ranking with visits up 36% year-on-year.

The BBC retained its spot as the biggest newsbrand in the world with a combined one billion visits to the bbc.com and bbc.co.uk domains, although this does include visitors to its entertainment and other content.

Last month’s second placed site, CNN, dropped down to third, changing places with MSN which resumed its previous second place position. The New York Times (569.4 million visits) and Mail Online rounded out the top five.

Hindustantimes.com, People and RT.com made the biggest jumps in rank compared to August, each climbing four places. Express.co.uk made the biggest fall, dropping eight places to rank 35.

August 2023

The remainder of the world’s biggest English-language news sites by number of visits recorded a fall in traffic compared to last August. Google News saw the biggest slump (407.7 million visits, down 17% year-on-year), followed by the site of US cable broadcaster Fox News (290 million, down 9%).

Among the whole top 50, AP News was the fastest-growing news site in August (97.9 million visits, up 51%), narrowly knocking CBS News which has seen a recent strong run of growth off the top spot. Visits to the US broadcasting giant’s site were up 49% year-on-year to 77.5 million.

Two Indian news sites – financial news site livemint.com (58.6 million, up 41%) and timesofindia.com (210.3 million, up 40%) – and nbcnews.com (210.3 million, up 40%) rounded out the top five biggest-growers.

British newsbrand The Independent also made the top ten for growth with visits up 36% year-on-year to 114.2 million, making it the sixth fastest-growing site in our ranking.

The BBC was again the biggest newsbrand in the world with a combined 1.1 billion visits to the bbc.com and bbc.co.uk domains, although this does include visitors to its entertainment and other content.

CNN rose one place up the ranking to take second place from MSN (690.5 million visits), which fell to third. The order of the remainder of the top ten remained unchanged with the New York Times (618.8 million visits) and Mail Online completing the top five.

AP made the biggest jump in rank, climbing 11 places to 28.

July 2023

Mail Online was one of only two top-ten news websites worldwide to grow by number of visits in July, according to Press Gazette’s monthly ranking of global online traffic.

Visits to dailymail.co.uk were up 3% year-on-year to 429.6 million, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb. CNN was the only other top ten website in the world to grow (643.4 million visits, up 1%).

Google News was the top ten site that saw the biggest fall in traffic (397.7 million visits, down 19%), while the New York Times continued to slump. Visits to the legacy publisher’s site were down 6% compared to last July at 596.8 million, although the fall was less marked than in recent months. Last month, the New York Times saw visits fall by 15% to 579.6 million.

Among the top 50 as a whole, CBS News was again the fastest-growing news site as in June. Visits to the US broadcasting giant’s site were up 67% year-on-year to 82.5 million.

It was followed by Indian financial news website Mint (56.9 million visits, up 61%), which re-entered the top 50 this month in 43rd position, while the Associated Press (78.6 million, up 50%) was third-fastest growing.

British news website independent.co.uk (121.6 million visits, up 33%) was the sixth-fastest growing. Along with the BBC and The Sun, The Independent is among the UK newsbrands that have recently ramped up their US presence. Last month thetelegraph.co.uk also featured among the ten fastest-growing sites in our ranking, although it did not reappear on that list in July.

The BBC maintained its position as the biggest newsbrand in the world with a combined 1.1 billion visits to the bbc.com and bbc.co.uk domains, although this does include visitors to its entertainment and other content.

It was followed by Microsoft news aggregator msn.com (689.1 million visits), CNN, the New York Times and Mail Online which earlier this year overtook Google News to enter the top five.

The position of all the sites in the top ten remained unchanged from June. Across the whole top 50, the Express made one of the biggest jumps, climbing five places compared to June (98.6 million visits, rank 27). It was second only by this metric to UK news aggregator Newsnow.co.uk (92.3 million visits, rank 30) which was up seven places compared to June.

June 2023

The news division of US broadcaster CBS was the fastest-growing English-language news website in the world in June, according to Press Gazette’s monthly ranking of global online traffic.

It was followed by apnews.com (87 million visits, up 53%), which recently signed a deal with Open AI to license its archive, and timesofindia.com (194.3 million, up 35%).

Eighth-fastest growing was British news website independent.co.uk (115.9 million visits, up 21%). Along with the BBC and The Sun, The Independent is among the UK newsbrands that have recently invested in their US presence.

Fellow British news website Telegraph.co.uk (67.9 million visits, up 21% year-on-year) was also among the fastest-growing websites in the top 50, in tenth spot.

Among the ten biggest websites by number of visits in June, CNN saw the biggest growth. Visits to CNN.com and its non-US domain edition.cnn.com were up 7% year-on-year in June (708.4 million visits), in contrast to its performance in May when visits fell 9%.

While no top ten newsbrand saw traffic grow in May, the picture in June was more mixed. Among the large news sites that saw their traffic increase, CNN was followed by Microsoft aggregator MSN (733.9 million visits, up 4%), the BBC (1.1 billion visits, up 3% year-on-year) and the Guardian (349.3 million visits, up 1%).

Google News saw the largest fall in traffic among the top ten. Visits to the site of the tech giant’s news aggregator were down 18% year-on-year (392.2 million visits), while the New York Times (579.6 million visits, down 15%) and Yahoo Finance (227.1 million visits, down 14%) also saw double-digit falls. Nytimes.com has seen a sustained year-on-year fall in visits in 2023, according to Similarweb figures.

The BBC maintained its position as the biggest newsbrand in the world. It was followed by msn.com, CNN, the New York Times and Mail Online (409.6 million visits) which last month overtook Google News to enter the top five.

The position of all the sites in the top ten remained unchanged from May.

Cbsnews.com and newsnow.co.uk made the biggest jumps in rank, climbing six places each compared to May. UK-based aggregator News Now was also the biggest climber last month.

Meanwhile cosmopolitan.com (down seven places) and businessinsider.com (down nine) made the largest falls.

May 2023

None of the top ten English-language newsbrands in the world saw year-on-year growth in May, according to Press Gazette’s monthly ranking of global online traffic.

It is a second slow month for visits to the world’s biggest news names. In April, Fox News was the only top ten newsbrand by number of visits to avoid a fall in traffic.

Among May’s top ten, the New York Times saw the biggest fall, with year-on-year visits down 30% to 575.3 million, continuing several months of steady decline.

Google News (390.9 million visits, down 22%) and Yahoo Finance (224.8 million visits, down 21%) also saw drops of above a fifth.

Microsoft news aggregator MSN was the only top ten site to see a drop of less than 5% (715.6 million visits, down 2% year-on-year).

The BBC was again the biggest newsbrand in the world with 1.1 billion visits. It was followed by msn.com, CNN (653.8 million visits), and the New York Times.

Mail Online overtook Google News to enter the top five this month (394.8 visits, down 15% year-on-year). The DMGT-owned site saw faster month-on-month growth than Google News (7% compared to 5% for Google News) leading it to climb one position in this month’s ranking. The positions of the remaining top ten sites by number of visits were unchanged from April.

Among the top 50 as a whole, the fastest-growing was Indian site timesnownews.com (51 million visits, up 80% year-on-year). Times Now, which is owned by Indian media giant Times Group, was one of four English language news sites from the sub-continent in the fastest-growing list. Also included were hindustantimes.com (149.6 million visits, up 28%), news18.com (168.8 million, up 17%) and timesofindia.com (178.3 million, up 16%).

Combined visits to the websites of Sun’s UK and US editions were up 17% year-on-year to 176.7 million, making it the fifth-fastest growing name in the top 50.

UK-based aggregator News Now jumped the most places in this month’s ranking, climbing five spots compared to April to rank 43 (54.5 million visits).

Buzzfeed, which shuttered its news operation earlier this year, meanwhile saw one of the biggest drops, falling three positions to rank 28 (94.4 million visits) as did US News (down four places to rank 50, 49.4 million visits).

Timesnownews.com was a new entrant in this month’s top 50, while US political news site, thehill.com re-entered the ranking in 48th position.

April 2023

Fox News was the only one of the world’s top ten newsbrands by number of visits to avoid a fall in traffic in April, according to Press Gazette’s monthly ranking of global online traffic to English-language newsbrands.

Visits to Fox News were up by 4% year-on-year in April to 314.5 million, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

The remaining top ten sites fell by between 7% and 35% compared to April 2022.

The New York Times recorded a large year-on-year decline for the third month in row as visits fell 35% to 569.4 million, reflecting a similar fall in Press Gazette’s US top 50 ranking. The fall in visits was potentially linked to a less intense news cycle one year after the invasion of Ukraine, something that has likely affected many general news sites, and as well as lower interest in the Wordle puzzle.

It was followed by Google News (372.8 million visits, down 24%) and Yahoo Finance (203.8 million visits, down 21%). Seven of the top ten newsbrands saw double-digit falls in growth.

The BBC remained the biggest newsbrand in the world with 1.1 billion visits. It was followed by Microsoft news aggregator msn.com (655.2 million visits), CNN (626.1 million visits), the New York Times and Google News.

Among the top 50 as a whole, fastest-growing was US site cbsnews.com (60.1 million visits, up 44% year-on-year). It was followed by AP News (69.2 million visits, up 33%) and Substack (51.1 million visits, up 28%) – which was slightly less growth than the newsletter platform saw last month.

While the order of the top 11 sites in our ranking remained unchanged for another month, there were significant ranking shifts further down the list. Independent.co.uk (92.4 million visits) was the biggest climber, jumping six places to 26, while cnbc.com (139.3m visits) and Indian broadcaster NDTV.com (110.9 million visits) each fell four places to rank 17 and 24 respectively.

Politico re-entered the top 50 this month (49.1 million visits, rank 47), while British regional title Manchester Evening News which was ranked 50 in March did not make the list this month.

March 2023

The New York Times saw one of the biggest year-on-year declines in traffic among the biggest news websites in the world in March, according to Press Gazette’s monthly ranking of global online traffic to English-language newsbrands.

Visits to the New York Times site fell 42% in March to 599.7 million, the biggest decline among the top ten news brands and the third biggest in Press Gazette’s top 50 list.

It was the second month in a row that the New York Times, which bought popular word game Wordle in January 2022, recorded a large year-on-year decline in traffic after a 27% drop in February. This follows a long period where it regularly appeared as the fastest-growing website in the world, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

The New York Times’ decline in traffic may be at least in part reflective of declining interest in Wordle. The BBC recently reported on Google trends data indicating that interest in the viral word game is currently a third of the level at its peak.

None of the top ten largest sites grew in March, which may reflect a lower level of interest in news compared to March last year when audiences were keen to get regular updates on Russia’s newly-launched invasion of Ukraine.

The majority of the top ten sites saw declines of more than 20% year-on-year. The biggest falls after the New York Times were recorded by CNN (visits down 31% year-on-year), Google News (down 28%), Mail Online (24%) and the BBC (down 23%).

The BBC continued to top the list by number of worldwide visits at 1.1 billion. It was followed by Microsoft news aggregator msn.com (752.1 million), CNN (675 million) and the New York Times.

Similarweb’s data includes traffic to all pages within these domains and not just news, which will increase the number of visits to sites such as the BBC with a large entertainment offering.

The order of the 12 biggest sites in the ranking remained unchanged from February. The fastest-climbing site in the ranking was India.com, the country’s largest digital media publishing company by page views, which was up four places from 26 to 22 between February and March (130.5 million visits).

Reach site manchestereveningnews.co.uk (47.5 million visits) saw the biggest fall in places, down six positions since last month to rank 50.

The biggest year-on-year decline in the number of visits among the sites in the top 50 were seen by RT (down 64% to 94.1 million visits) and Sky News (down 47% to 58.7 million), ahead of NY Times which saw the third-largest decline in the top 50.

The fastest-growing site year-on-year among the top 50 was Substack, which has recently seen a strong run of growth, having grown 26% year-on-year in February’s ranking. Visits to the newsletter platform were up 32% year-on-year in March to 56.4 million.

It was followed by last month’s fastest-growing site cbsnews.com (up 25% to 61.9 million) and timesofindia.com (up 15% to 202.5 million).

February 2023

The New York Times website saw its traffic fall year-on-year for the first time in over 12 months, according to Press Gazette’s monthly ranking of global online traffic to English-language newsbrands.

Until February the publisher, which acquired popular word game Wor