The Most Read Stories of Q3 2026
News sites publish lists of the stories their own readers click most, and I record those lists around the clock. Their headings vary, from "Most Read" and "Most Popular" to "Most Viewed" and "Trending"; for short, I call them all Most Read lists. This report covers the sixteen I recorded for the whole of the third quarter of 2026, from the BBC and Al Jazeera to The Wall Street Journal, The Verge and New Scientist, all in English. Between them, they carried 19,216 stories dated from 1 July to 30 September.
The question here is which news events those sixteen lists, taken together, gave the most room to. I grouped the stories into events by hand, from their headlines: the Iran war's July escalation, the collapse of the US–Canada trade talks, a glacial flood in Nepal. Each event is then measured by how much of each list's quarter it held. A story counts for more the longer it stayed on its list and the higher it climbed there. Every list counts the same, whether it shows five stories or twenty, and whether its stories last hours or days. The ranking below is set entirely by what these sixteen sites' readers clicked.
The Q3 overview compares how the sixteen lists behave; this report is about what was on them. How events were grouped and measured is under About these numbers, and how the lists are recorded is on the methodology page.
The twenty biggest stories of the quarter
Each row is one event, and it brings together every story the lists carried about it. On a busy list, that could be dozens of stories. The rank comes from all of those stories: how long each one stayed on its list and how high it climbed, as a share of that list's quarter, with every list counting the same. The two columns beside it show reach, not rank. Lists is how many of the sixteen carried at least one of its stories. #1 on is how many of the ranked lists that carried it had one of its stories at the top at some point.
| Rank | Event | When | Lists | #1 on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Iran war resumes: nightly US strikes, and US soldiers killed in Jordan | July | 12 | 10 of 11 |
| 2 | The US–Canada trade war: 50% tariffs, and talks that collapsed | July–September | 12 | 10 of 11 |
| 3 | A glacial flood on the Nepal–Tibet border | August | 9 | 6 of 8 |
| 4 | Apple's first foldable iPhone | September | 10 | 3 of 8 |
| 5 | An alarm over AI risk: a researcher quits, AI leaders call for a slowdown | September | 15 | 8 of 13 |
| 6 | The sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham | July | 10 | 8 of 9 |
| 7 | Tens of thousands cross into Ceuta, Spain's enclave in Africa | July–August | 9 | 7 of 8 |
| 8 | The far-right AfD wins a German state election | September | 8 | 5 of 7 |
| 9 | Talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran's demands | August | 12 | 8 of 11 |
| 10 | America's 250th birthday | July | 10 | 7 of 9 |
| 11 | Trump renames Lake Ontario "Lake America" | August–September | 14 | 9 of 12 |
| 12 | The Iran war widens: Houthi attacks on Saudi tankers, and a US–Saudi nuclear deal | July | 10 | 7 of 9 |
| 13 | "Economic D-Day": sanctions to isolate Iran | August | 9 | 5 of 8 |
| 14 | The cyclospora outbreak in the US | July | 10 | 6 of 9 |
| 15 | Graham Platner's Senate campaign collapses | July | 7 | 4 of 6 |
| 16 | Canada's bid to become an "associate member" of the EU | September | 12 | 7 of 11 |
| 17 | Trump promises every adult $5,000 if Republicans keep Congress | September | 11 | 8 of 10 |
| 18 | The Treasury's intervention in the bond market | August | 8 | 5 of 7 |
| 19 | Tesla's Cybercab launches, and is investigated | September | 5 | 1 of 4 |
| 20 | Dolly Parton dies | August | 9 | 4 of 8 |
The New York Times and TechCrunch count towards Lists, but never towards #1 on: their lists have no popularity order, as the methodology explains.
Four of the twenty are episodes of one war, between the United States and Iran, and three belong to Canada's quarrel with Washington. No event reached all sixteen lists. The alarm over AI risk in September came closest, missing only Ars Technica, and the renaming of Lake Ontario reached fourteen.
Reach and rank are different things. The Nepal flood reached only nine lists, yet ranks third, because the lists that carried it carried it heavily: The Guardian (World) alone had 51 stories about it, more than any list had about any event except Al Jazeera's 63 on the Iran war's July escalation. Lake Ontario's renaming reached fourteen lists but ranks eleventh, because most of those lists carried only a handful of stories about it. And because every list counts the same, one list can carry an event a long way. Apple's foldable iPhone ranks fourth mostly on The Verge, which gave the launch nearly 5% of all the time stories spent on its list in the quarter, and Tesla's Cybercab made the top twenty on five lists, thanks to TechCrunch and Ars Technica.
The sections below take the events by subject: what happened, as the lists' own stories told it, how far each event travelled, and how differently the lists read it.
One war, many lists
The war between the United States and Iran began before the quarter did. A ceasefire, and a memorandum of understanding signed in June, were meant to end it. In the second week of July, after Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump declared the ceasefire over, and from then on the war came back to the lists in waves. Taken together, its episodes reached thirteen of the sixteen lists, every one except New Scientist, TechCrunch and The Verge, and put a story at #1 on eleven of the twelve ranked lists among them.
The war resumes (July). The US struck Iran night after night, and Iran answered with attacks across the Gulf and declared the strait closed again. On 18 July the Pentagon said an Iranian missile and drone attack in Jordan had killed two American service members and left a third missing; within days, reports put the dead at three. This was the quarter's biggest event: on twelve lists, and at #1 on every ranked one that carried it except Forbes. Each list had its own angle. Al Jazeera carried 63 stories on it in two weeks, and The Guardian (World)'s live coverage of the ninth night of strikes was its seventh-biggest story of the quarter. The Wall Street Journal's biggest was the deaths in Jordan, at #1 for 28 hours. Politico's was Trump formally notifying Congress of a new war. CNBC's followed the strikes alongside the disruption to shipping and the price of oil.
The war widens (late July). Yemen's Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi Arabia and claimed attacks on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea; the FT reported oil at $98 a barrel, and Saudi-led forces struck the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah. In the same week the US signed a deal to help Saudi Arabia build a civilian nuclear programme, which Trump then made conditional on the kingdom joining the Abraham Accords and recognising Israel. Ten lists carried the episode, and seven of the nine ranked ones had it at #1. The nuclear deal was The Wall Street Journal's angle, at #1 for 25 hours; Al Jazeera's biggest story of the episode was an opinion piece on the limits of Saudi Arabia's patience with the Houthis. A pause in the fighting followed, and ended on 28 July, when Iran fired ballistic missiles at US forces and the US resumed its strikes.
Talks to reopen the strait (early August). For a week, a deal looked close. Iran and Oman agreed shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, the US Treasury secretary said a deal could come "today or tomorrow", and US stocks rose to record highs. Then, on 8 August, Iran's Supreme National Security Council set out its demands and said the strait would not reopen until the United States changed its behaviour. Twelve lists carried the talks, and eight of the eleven ranked ones had them at #1. Al Jazeera's explainer on what each side wanted was its twelfth-biggest story of the quarter, at #1 for 19 hours; The Wall Street Journal's biggest was the reversal: "Trump Thought Opening the Strait of Hormuz Was Imminent. Iran Had Other Plans."
A carrier under strain (mid-August). Reports of food shortages, broken plumbing and a mental-health crisis aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, deployed for more than 250 days, led the Navy to send another carrier to relieve it; Trump dismissed the concerns. Ten lists carried it, seven of the nine ranked ones at #1. The Hill alone had 19 stories about the ship, and The Wall Street Journal's account of the war's commander visiting it was its eighth-biggest story of the quarter, at #1 for 31 hours.
"Economic D-Day" (late August). With the 60-day deadline set in June for ending the war now passed, the Treasury secretary announced what he called the toughest sanctions in history, meant to isolate Iran's economy, and threatened the countries that kept trading with it. China said it would protect its interests. Nine lists carried it. Al Jazeera had 21 stories on it, and on the Financial Times "An economic D-Day is coming for Iran" held #1 for 18 hours.
A seven-day offer (late September). Iran offered, through Qatar, to reopen the strait and restart nuclear talks within seven days if Washington accepted its terms. Trump rejected it, saying Iran had made the offer only because "they're losing so badly". The offer was the BBC's third-biggest story of the quarter, at #1 for 17 hours, and the rejection gave Al Jazeera its fourth- and seventh-biggest.
The lists gave the war very different shares of their time. Stories tagged with Iran as a subject took 27% of all the time stories spent on Al Jazeera's list, 16% on CNBC's and 14% on The Wall Street Journal's, but 6% on the BBC's and The New York Times's, about 1% on Forbes's and Business Insider's, and none at all on New Scientist's, TechCrunch's or The Verge's. Ars Technica covered the war through its technology: drones, restrictions on satellite images of the war zone, and Iranian strikes on Amazon's data centres. The table near the end of this report compares the lists on four subjects, and the Middle East archive for Q3 ranks the quarter's stories on the region from every list on the site.
Canada's quarter
Three of the twenty biggest events were Canada's quarrel with the United States. Between them they reached fifteen of the sixteen lists, all but New Scientist.
The trade war (July–September). On 20 July Trump announced a 50% tariff on a range of Canadian goods, from wine to hockey sticks, to take effect within 30 days. On 18 August he announced a deal and paused the tariffs; within days the talks had collapsed, and on 22 August the tariffs took effect. Mark Carney, Canada's prime minister, called them a "miscalculation" and promised to match them "dollar for dollar", with Canadian tariffs on hundreds of American goods due from 8 September. The trade war reached twelve lists and was at #1 on ten of the eleven ranked ones that carried it.
It was also the BBC's biggest story of the quarter: Carney's "miscalculation", 44 hours on the list, 30 of them at #1, on a list where a typical story lasts six. On the other lists it took different forms. Politico's biggest was about political will: "Canada has one important edge in the North American trade war" held #1 for 30 hours. The Hill's was a report that the Commerce Secretary's last-minute demands had derailed the talks. On The New York Times's list, a guide to the strange goods now taxed at 50%, from buoys to dog muzzles, stayed two days. And Business Insider's longest-running Canada story was a viral, AI-made trade-war anthem starring Mountie bears and beavers, at 58 hours.
Lake Ontario becomes "Lake America" (late August). Days after the talks collapsed, Trump signed an order renaming Lake Ontario. Google Maps changed the name for its American users within days, and Apple Maps followed. MapQuest refused, and its app shot up the download charts in the US and Canada. On the Canadian shore, Ontario's premier put up a sign reading "Lake Ontario. Now and Always." The renaming reached fourteen lists, a reach only the AI alarm beat, and was at #1 on nine of the twelve ranked ones.
On the tech lists, and on Forbes, it was a story about map companies. MapQuest's surge was TechCrunch's longest-running story of the quarter, 157 hours on its list, and on Forbes the MapQuest story stayed 62 hours, while Forbes's report of the order itself lasted two. On Politico, the biggest was how the order "hits a nerve" in the Republican-leaning towns along the lake's American shore.
An EU "associate membership" (September). In mid-September Carney pressed for closer ties with Europe. The European Commission's president said the EU wanted Canada as its first "associate member", a status that doesn't yet exist; Trump called the idea "laughable" and a "hostile act", and threatened the EU with tariffs. Twelve lists carried it, seven of the eleven ranked ones at #1. The Wall Street Journal's account of Carney's "audacious bid" was its tenth-biggest story of the quarter, at #1 for 33 hours. On that list, Canada's turn to Europe outranked both the tariffs and the lake.
The Economy archive for Q3 holds the trade war's stories from every list on the site.
Washington
Lindsey Graham dies (July). Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died suddenly on the evening of 11 July, aged 71, a day after returning from Ukraine; the medical examiner's preliminary findings gave the cause as an aortic dissection. His sister, Darline Graham Nordone, was appointed to serve out his term. The news reached ten lists, and eight of the nine ranked ones had it at #1. Each list's biggest Graham story took its own angle. The Wall Street Journal's, and its seventh-biggest of the quarter, was an account of the emergency response at his home pieced together from dispatch audio, at #1 for 32 of its 44 hours. The New York Times and Forbes explained the condition that killed him. Politico's was the scramble for his seat, led by the news that Nancy Mace was considering a run, at #1 for 23 hours. The Financial Times's report of his death held #1 for 21 of its 24 hours.
Graham Platner's campaign collapses (July). On 6 July Politico published an account by a woman who said that Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for the Senate in Maine, had sexually assaulted her in 2021. Platner denied it. Within days much of his party had withdrawn its support, and on 8 July he suspended his campaign, saying this was not an admission of guilt. Maine's Democrats then had an 18-day race to replace him. The exclusive was Politico's biggest story of the quarter: 93 hours on its list, 52 of them at #1. Seven lists carried the story; The Hill had 21 stories on it, and The New York Times 11.
America's 250th birthday (July). The United States marked 250 years of independence with Trump at the centre of the celebrations: a speech at Mount Rushmore on 3 July, in which he warned of a "communist menace", and a long address in Washington on the Fourth, delayed by thunderstorms during a heatwave. Ten lists carried the anniversary, seven of the nine ranked ones at #1. The anniversary's biggest story on The Hill, and The Hill's fifth-biggest of the quarter, was a pickle company pulling out of the Great American State Fair on the National Mall over a Confederate flag: 53 hours on the list, 38 at #1. On The New York Times, the longest-running was a march by white nationalists near Capitol Hill (41 hours); on Politico, an account of how Trump took over the celebrations (#1 for 22 hours).
A $5,000 promise (September). At a first-of-its-kind midterm convention, Trump promised every American adult $5,000 if Republicans kept control of Congress in November. He gave no details of how a payout that could cost more than $1 trillion would be funded, and Republicans including Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, criticised it. Eleven lists carried it, eight of the ten ranked ones at #1, with CNBC's report at the top of its list for 18 hours.
Several other Washington stories crossed many lists without ranking as high: the collapse of the Reflecting Pool vandalism case, after prosecutors admitted the damage came from botched repairs, and Trump's attacks on the prosecutor who dropped it (ten lists); the fight over Trump's name on the Kennedy Center, during which the centre closed its doors in September (eight); Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House (nine); and the sudden fame of Natalie Harp, the aide who prints out the news for Trump (seven). The US Politics archive for Q3 has the quarter's political stories from every list on the site.
Money and markets
The Treasury and the bond market (August). In mid-August the yield on 30-year US Treasury bonds rose to its highest in 19 years. On 19 August the Treasury said it would step up its buybacks of long-term debt to bring yields down; they fell for a day, then rebounded, and Wall Street turned sceptical of the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent. Eight lists carried it, five of the seven ranked ones at #1. CNBC alone had 24 stories, the biggest of them Ray Dalio's warning that the move was a sign of an approaching debt crisis, at #1 for 14 hours. On The Hill, Vice President JD Vance's claim that Bessent had a "very discreet plan" to shrink the national debt stayed 54 hours.
An AI hedge fund's collapse (late July). Situational Awareness, the AI-focused hedge fund of the former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, lost two-thirds of its value in July and sold most of its stock portfolio to Citadel. Every business list but Forbes carried it, and four of them had it at #1. CNBC's account of how he built the fund "and lost most of it in days" was its 18th-biggest story of the quarter, and the FT's portrait of the "golden child" of the AI trade its 16th.
Venezuela's oil (late August). Trump announced a deal giving the United States majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's oil reserves. Twelve lists carried it, though only six of the eleven ranked ones had it at #1. The Financial Times's report held the top of its list for 21 of its 25 hours.
The wider world
Ceuta (late July). On 30 and 31 July tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, Spain's enclave on the North African coast, by land and by sea. The counts differ: about 49,000 according to the officials the BBC and The Guardian quoted, up to 60,000 according to Ceuta's regional leader and the Financial Times. Most had gone back to Morocco by the next evening. Early reports put the dead at 18 or 19; later ones, at 67 to 72. Italy suspended the Schengen arrangement with Spain, and Spain threatened to retaliate. Nine lists carried the crossings, and seven of the eight ranked ones had them at #1. Al Jazeera's explainer, Why does Spain have "enclaves" in North Africa?, was its third-biggest story of the quarter. Deutsche Welle kept its report that most had returned at #1 for 36 of its 48 hours, and the FT's "How 60,000 people swam to Spanish territory" was its 11th-biggest story of the quarter.
The AfD wins in Saxony-Anhalt (September). On 6 September the far-right Alternative for Germany won the election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt with about 44% of the vote in exit polls, three seats short of a majority. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the result "changes all of Germany". Eight lists carried it, five of the seven ranked ones at #1. For Deutsche Welle it was the sixth-biggest story of the quarter, 73 hours on the list and 46 at #1. Of the American lists, only The New York Times gave it more than a few hours, with an opinion column published before the vote.
India's "Cockroach" protests (July). A youth movement that began over leaked exam papers, organised by a self-styled Cockroach Janta Party, marched on India's parliament and, on 25 July, forced out the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. Six lists carried it. Deutsche Welle put three different stories about it at #1 for 14 to 23 hours each, and Al Jazeera, the BBC and The Guardian (World) had 43 stories between them. Of the American lists, only The New York Times and CNBC carried it, for 15 hours and 3.
Berlin Pride (25 July). A van drove into a crowd near Berlin's Pride celebrations, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen. The suspect was shot dead by police the next day, and German authorities called it an Islamist terrorist attack. Seven lists carried it, and on Deutsche Welle, The Guardian (World), the BBC and Al Jazeera it reached #1.
The UN and Xi's visit (late September). The last fortnight of the quarter brought the UN General Assembly, where dozens of delegates walked out as Israel's prime minister rose to speak, and Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington: a greeting on the tarmac, a state dinner full of tech billionaires, two giant pandas, and differences over trade, Taiwan and Iran left unresolved. The Assembly reached ten lists and the visit eleven. The Guardian (World)'s biggest story of the visit was the US ambassador's account that Trump had asked Xi whether China would like to buy American weapons, at #1 for 16 hours.
Flight 1073 (30 September). The quarter's last day produced one more story that crossed ten lists within the day. On a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, one pilot stabbed the other, the plane plunged some 17,000 to 18,000 feet, and it diverted to Saudi Arabia; Israel's prime minister said the attacker had tried to crash it. The Wall Street Journal's account of the flight held #1 for 20 hours, and Deutsche Welle's report for 26.
The Immigration & Migration and European Politics archives for Q3 hold more of these stories, from every list on the site.
Disasters and health
Nepal (from 26 August). A flash flood swept down valleys on the border between Nepal and Tibet, most likely set off, scientists said, by the collapse of a glacier high in the Himalayas. It carried away villages, roads and hydropower sites, and hundreds of foreign tourists were among the missing. The toll rose for days, from a handful of deaths in the first reports to 939 by 31 August, according to the BBC, with thousands still missing. Nine lists carried it, six of the eight ranked ones at #1. The Guardian (World) had 51 stories about it, Al Jazeera 28. On The New York Times's list, a story about pilgrims who had set out for a sacred mountain on the Nepal–Tibet border stayed 75 hours. New Scientist's explanation of the glacier collapse held its #1 for 12 hours. The politics and business lists barely carried it: one story each on The Hill (about missing Americans), CNBC and the Financial Times, and none on Politico, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes or Business Insider.
Cyclospora (mid-July). An outbreak of cyclosporiasis, caused by a parasite and known in the headlines for "explosive diarrhoea", spread to at least nine US states and sickened thousands; Forbes reported an estimated 7,000. Federal investigators linked it to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, sold at Taco Bell and Walmart, and Taylor Farms recalled lettuce in 27 states. Then the FDA said its positive test had been a false positive, while still suspecting the lettuce. Ten lists carried it, six of the nine ranked ones at #1. The Hill's biggest story was the practical one: which foods are most likely to carry the parasite, at #1 for 17 hours. The New York Times had 12 stories on it, and The Wall Street Journal reported that Taylor Farms had called the White House to try to delay the recall. The lists outside the US gave it less: five stories on the BBC, one on Al Jazeera, and none on The Guardian (World), Deutsche Welle or the Financial Times.
Europe's wildfires (late July). Wildfires near Bordeaux and Madrid forced more than 300,000 people from their homes and holiday lets in France and Spain. Eight lists carried them, and The Guardian (World) had 24 stories.
The Disasters & Extreme Weather and Medical & Health archives for Q3 have more.
Tech and AI
The foldable iPhone (September). At its first launch event under its new chief executive, John Ternus, Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, its first foldable phone, at $1,999, and raised the prices of its Pro models by $100. Ten lists carried the launch, but only three had it at #1: the BBC, CNBC and The Verge. The Verge had 14 stories on it, and its preview of the event was its fifth-biggest story of the quarter, 90 hours on the list and 35 at #1. On TechCrunch's slow list, its launch story stayed 132 hours; on Forbes, four stories about the launch stayed between one hour and three.
The alarm over AI risk (September). On 8 September an Anthropic researcher, Jacob Coxon, quit, warning that the AI labs were "gambling with our lives". Days later Anthropic's chief executive, Dario Amodei, called on the industry to slow down, and Sam Altman and Elon Musk backed him; Trump dismissed the fears, and the heads of Meta and Nvidia rejected a slowdown. The alarm reached fifteen of the sixteen lists, the widest reach of any event this quarter; the one list without it was Ars Technica. It was at #1 on eight of the thirteen ranked lists that carried it. On the Financial Times it was the biggest story of the quarter: Altman and Musk rallying behind Amodei, at #1 for 32 of its 36 hours. The Wall Street Journal's explainer "How Would AI Actually Kill Us All?" was its sixth-biggest story of the quarter, at #1 for 35 hours. On New Scientist, "Why is everyone suddenly worried about the risks of AI?" stayed 60 hours. On The Guardian (World), the alarm appeared only as China's dismissal of it.
AI that broke out (July and September). In July OpenAI said that models it was testing had escaped their test environment and hacked Hugging Face, an AI company, and later that they had gone on to other targets. In September Google said its Gemini models had hacked three companies during a security test, and OpenAI said its agents had broken into an Australian government health website and acted improperly at dozens of organisations. The July story alone reached fourteen lists. Its biggest run was on the BBC, where "OpenAI says its AI went rogue" was the 23rd-biggest story of the quarter.
OpenAI's maths claim (September). On 8 September OpenAI said its AI had solved the Navier–Stokes problem, one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems in mathematics. Within a day the claim had stirred controversy, including a clash over credit with a New York University mathematician who had been working towards a proof. Nine lists carried it, four of the seven ranked ones at #1. New Scientist put all four of its stories about it at #1, and TechCrunch's story on the mathematician's accusation that OpenAI had "fought dirty" stayed 154 hours, its third-longest of the quarter.
Tesla's Cybercab (September). Tesla began public rides in its steering-wheel-free Cybercab in Austin, and within a day the federal road-safety regulator had opened an investigation. Only five lists carried it, but two of them gave it unusual room: it was Ars Technica's fourth-biggest story of the quarter, at #1 for 64 of its 76 hours, and three TechCrunch stories about it stayed between 113 and 149 hours.
Apple sues OpenAI (July). Apple sued OpenAI, accusing it of stealing Apple's hardware trade secrets. Only six lists carried the lawsuit, but on the Financial Times it was the sixth-biggest story of the quarter, at #1 for 22 hours.
The Artificial Intelligence and Consumer Tech & Gadgets archives for Q3 have more.
Culture and sport
Dolly Parton (August). Dolly Parton died on 25 August, aged 80, after a brief illness with cancer; Trump ordered flags flown at half-staff for a week. Nine lists carried her death, four of the eight ranked ones at #1, and stories about her kept reaching the lists for days, in very different forms. CNBC's biggest story of the whole quarter was published six days after her death: a communication expert's advice built on "Dolly Parton's simple trick" for dealing with people who talk down to you, 99 hours on its list, 40 at #1. Forbes's biggest were about her fortune and her philanthropy; on The New York Times, a story about her 60-year marriage stayed 54 hours.
Ed Sheeran and Macklemore (September). The rapper Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran's American tour after saying "Free Palestine" on stage while opening for him. Macklemore said the billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was behind his removal; Sheeran's other opening acts quit in solidarity, and Sheeran later apologised to his fans. Ten lists carried it, five of the nine ranked ones at #1. The Wall Street Journal had two stories on it at #1 for most of a day: the 40-minute phone call in which Kraft threatened to cancel Sheeran's stadium dates (21 hours), and Sheeran's tearful apology in Philadelphia (27 hours).
Trump, FIFA and a red card (July). FIFA lifted the World Cup suspension of the US striker Folarin Balogun after Trump called its president, Gianni Infantino; The New York Times reported it was the first time since 1962 that FIFA had cancelled a suspension for a red card received at a World Cup. The United States then lost 4–1 to Belgium. Seven lists carried it, five of the six ranked ones at #1. Al Jazeera's explainer on why the decision was so controversial was its fifth-biggest story of the quarter, and CNBC's report of Trump thanking FIFA its 15th.
The World Cup final (July). Spain beat Argentina 1–0 after extra time in New Jersey to win their second World Cup. Seven lists carried the semi-finals and final, five of them at #1; Al Jazeera had 40 stories, and Forbes's biggest was a list of the celebrities at the final.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding (July). The singer and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end married at Madison Square Garden on 3 July, in a ceremony officiated by Adam Sandler. Seven lists carried it; The New York Times's longest-running wedding story was an opinion piece by a writer who was dreading it (72 hours). Two months later, The Wall Street Journal's biggest story of the quarter was Kelce's purchase of a lakefront house in Ohio, bought a few months before the wedding.
The Deaths & Tributes and Soccer archives for Q3 have more.
Where each list's attention went
Events come and go. Some subjects ran through the whole quarter, and the lists gave them very different shares of their time. This table shows, for four of those subjects, the share of all the time stories spent on each list that went to stories tagged with that subject.
| Source | Trump | Iran | AI | Russia and Ukraine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Politico (US) | 51% | 5% | 2% | 2% |
| The Hill | 43% | 10% | 1% | 1% |
| CNBC | 28% | 16% | 8% | 2% |
| The New York Times | 27% | 6% | 4% | 2% |
| Al Jazeera | 25% | 27% | 1% | 10% |
| Forbes | 16% | 1% | 5% | 1% |
| The Wall Street Journal | 14% | 14% | 8% | 3% |
| BBC | 14% | 6% | 3% | 6% |
| The Guardian (World) | 12% | 11% | 1% | 17% |
| Deutsche Welle | 10% | 9% | 1% | 14% |
| Ars Technica | 6% | 1% | 14% | 1% |
| Business Insider | 5% | 1% | 16% | 4% |
| The Verge | 2% | 0% | 17% | 0% |
| TechCrunch | 2% | 0% | 32% | 0% |
| New Scientist | <1% | 0% | 9% | 1% |
A story can carry more than one subject, so a row doesn't add up to anything. The Financial Times isn't included, because its stories carry no subject tags.
Stories tagged with Trump took half of Politico's time and more than two-fifths of The Hill's. Al Jazeera was the only list that gave more time to Iran than to Trump. The two European world lists, The Guardian (World) and Deutsche Welle, gave the most time to Russia and Ukraine, and the tech lists to AI, a third of TechCrunch's time. New Scientist's list gave almost none of its time to any of the four except AI.
Each list's biggest story of the quarter
Every list also had its own biggest story, and most of them were not part of any event above: only five of the sixteen were. Each list's archive for the quarter ranks all of its stories the same way.
World news
- Al Jazeera: "Russia's advance collapses in Ukraine, '40,000' troops killed in June" (3 July), 56 hours on the list, 24 at #1. On the list that gave more of its time to the Iran war than any other, the single biggest story was about Ukraine.
- BBC: "Carney calls Trump's fresh tariffs a 'miscalculation' after trade talks collapse" (22 August), 44 hours, 30 at #1.
- The Guardian (World): "'I felt my spine and body split': the woman who was hit by a child on a Lime bike – and denied compensation" (7 July), 123 hours, 19 at #1: a personal story, on a list that is mostly world news.
- The New York Times: its longest-running story was "The 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century" (21 September), 203 hours among its 20 most-viewed, more than eight days.
- Deutsche Welle: "Germany's richest man takes on Big Tech" (10 July), 150 hours, 56 at #1.
US politics
- Politico (US): its own exclusive, "Woman who dated Graham Platner says he sexually assaulted her" (6 July), 93 hours, 52 at #1.
- The Hill: an opinion column, "Trump's approval plunges into the 20s, and Republicans give up" (23 September), 100 hours, 47 at #1, on a list where a typical story lasts five.
Business
- Business Insider: "A woman built her parents a 725-square-foot cottage in her backyard so they could be closer to their grandchildren" (9 August), 261 hours, 64 at #1. It kept returning to the list into October, and it was the longest stay of the quarter outside New Scientist.
- CNBC: "When someone talks down to you, use Dolly Parton's simple trick to 'maintain your dignity and disarm' them, says expert" (31 August), 99 hours, 40 at #1, on the fastest list of the sixteen, where a typical story lasts three.
- Forbes: "Scientists Discover The Fourth Transmissible Cancer Known To Science" (25 July), a melanoma passed between catfish in a Vermont lake: 102 hours, 96 of them at #1, more hours at #1 than any story outside New Scientist.
- Financial Times: "Rivals Altman and Musk rally behind Dario Amodei's call for an AI slowdown" (12 September), 36 hours, 32 at #1.
- The Wall Street Journal: "Travis Kelce Buys Lakefront Ohio Home for $5.35 Million" (1 September), 70 hours, 49 at #1.
Tech and science
- Ars Technica: "New Twitter launches, says Musk's X gave up the name" (26 August), 116 hours, 69 at #1.
- TechCrunch: its longest-running story was MapQuest's surge after refusing to rename Lake Ontario (31 August), 157 hours, one hour more than the story of an American accused of wiping his phone with a "duress" password during a border search.
- The Verge: "Tesla sunsets its Solar Roof tiles" (21 August), 88 hours, 59 at #1.
- New Scientist: "The shock revelation that light bulbs are wrecking your metabolism" (10 August), 312 hours on the list and 118 at #1, more hours at #1 than any other story this quarter.
The lists agreed on the news. Their favourites were their own: a cottage in a backyard, a cancer in catfish, a list of television shows, light bulbs, a tight end's lake house.
About these numbers
- The stories. Every story on the sixteen lists dated 1 July to 30 September 2026, by its publication time or, where none was available, by when it first appeared on a list: 19,216 stories.
- Hours. A story's hours on its list, and at #1, count every reading up to the point at which I took these figures, the same point as the Q3 overview's; by then the quarter's stories held 15 places on the lists, down from all 131 when it ended. As the methodology does for a single story, they include short gaps filled in from the readings either side.
- Events. I grouped the stories into 82 events by hand, reading their headlines, and checked each event story by story; a story belongs to at most one event. The Iran war appears as its separate episodes, because each had its own run on the lists. Subjects that ran all quarter without becoming one event, such as Trump or AI, are in the table of attention instead.
- How events are ranked. An event's place depends on how much of each list's quarter it held, measured the way the site ranks stories, which counts both how long a story stayed on a list and how high it climbed. Every list counts once, so a list with long stays or twenty places can't outweigh the others. Lower down the top twenty, neighbouring events are close.
- A list's biggest stories. "Its third-biggest story of the quarter" is the story's place in that list's archive for the quarter on this site, ranked the same way.
- #1 on. The ranked lists on which at least one of the event's stories reached the top, for however long.
- The New York Times and TechCrunch publish their lists without a popularity order, so they never count towards a #1, and their biggest stories are their longest-running ones.
- Subjects in the table of attention are the subject tags a language model assigns to each story. Sorting stories into categories and tagging them is all a model does on this site; it has no part in ranking them. The table's shares count hours on the list, not stories: a story listed for two days counts eight times as much as one listed for six hours. Unlike the event ranking, they ignore how high a story climbed.
- The Guardian (World) is the Guardian's World news list.
Metric definitions and the full data-collection method are on the methodology page.
Corrections: errors are fixed in place with a dated note at the foot of this page. Spotted something wrong? Get in touch.