[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – April 2020


There are many possible ways to measure the relative "importance" or "size" of LISTSERV sites: number of lists, number of subscribers, number of messages delivered, etc. In most cases, the number of messages delivered is used to rank mailing list managers, because it is the most accurate measurement of the amount of activity on the server. But, depending on what you are looking for, other variables may be more appropriate. There are currently three LISTSERV "Top 20" lists, ranking the various servers according to:

In addition, you can view a list of the Top 20 lists in the network (by number of subscribers).

What do these numbers mean exactly?

The statistics are gathered daily by a monitor at L-Soft which polls all the LISTSERV sites that participate in the "open" LISTSERV network over the worldwide Internet. Corporate servers operating in a "closed" environment are not included.

The statistics are organized in monthly reports. The message volume figures are a flat average of the accumulated traffic for the entire month. Thus, a server that delivers 300,000 messages per month will show a daily average of 10,000 messages. In practice, there is a lot less traffic during the weekend, and even during business days there can be significant fluctuations (~30%). The list statistics (number of lists, number of subscribers, largest lists in the network) are measured as of the last day in the month.

For the current month, the message volume figures are averaged based on the number of days that have elapsed. In practice, the figures are not very meaningful in the first few days, especially if the month starts on a weekend. In that case it is best to refer to the previous month for more accurate figures.

A fourth "Top 20" list is available for the more technically oriented: Number of messages generated by the server. This corresponds to the number of mail messages created by the server while processing postings to its mailing lists. LISTSERV delivers its mail using an intelligent mail delivery function called DISTRIBUTE, which improves mail delivery times and reduces bandwidth usage by spreading the delivery chore over scores of participating servers. Each of these servers processes the recipients for its service area (typically its organization or campus). In most cases, DISTRIBUTE simply alters the manner in which the mail is delivered, and the number of messages forwarded to other sites for optimized delivery is roughly equal to the number of messages received by other sites for the same purpose. In some cases, however, this is not the case, either because the server elected to serve a much wider service area than its own organization, or because it is explicitly forwarding all its deliveries to another machine (for instance, many mainframe-based servers forward their mail to a workstation or PC for delivery).


Top 20 sites by volume delivered daily (APR20, 1-29)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1    1210264  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  2     789294  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
  3     411397  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     265997  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  5     241282  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  6     239958  LISTSERV.AAP.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  7     229814  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  8     208795  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-957.12.2.el7.x86_64)
  9     207675  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.28.1.el6.x86_64)
 10     203978  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 11     200673  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12     191553  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 13     178564  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
 14     176248  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 15     173638  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 16     166721  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 17     166476  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 18     163293  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 19     151513  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 20     150233  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (29 Apr 2020)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     4847976  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     4568934  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  3     2282892  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     1578630  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     1455488  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  6     1311310  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  7     1225904  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     1214713  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  9     1129026  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 10     1090567  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 11     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12      970443  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 13      865456  LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 14      852031  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 15      846307  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
 16      844982  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 17      836470  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18      793614  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 19      775361  LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 20      690746  LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (29 Apr 2020)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 30843  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  2 16569  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 13737  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  4  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  5  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  6  8079  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32)
  7  7361  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  8  6719  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
  9  6236  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10  5638  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 11  5259  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 12  5052  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 13  5034  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 14  4867  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 15  4186  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 16  4116  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 17  4031  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 18  4009  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19  3625  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 20  3286  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (APR20, 1-29)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1    1207886  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  2     760503  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
  3     406915  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     265225  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  5     239481  LISTSERV.AAP.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  6     208597  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-957.12.2.el7.x86_64)
  7     207148  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.28.1.el6.x86_64)
  8     201300  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
  9     196479  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     184628  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 11     179176  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 12     173690  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
 13     173572  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 14     168591  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 15     166179  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 16     165406  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 17     163118  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18     151296  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 19     148545  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 20     146409  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (29 Apr 2020)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1       59366  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  2       54050  AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0)
  3       52359  ECF-EDNY@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 3.10.0)
  4       44431  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5       41797  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14)
  6       36457  CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  7       34587  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  8       33596  L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  9       30835  FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 11       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 12       28309  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 13       28004  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 14       27709  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 15       27398  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 16       26419  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 17       25009  2019-STEM-EVENT-L@LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows Server 2012 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18       24992  NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 19       24693  ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 20       24405  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)