[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – December 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 (DEC20, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     623636  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
  2     329544  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     267860  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     199685  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     193397  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
  6     186100  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  7     177630  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  8     167632  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  9     166346  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.35.1.el6.x86_64)
 10     158334  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 11     149289  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 12     142518  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13     141962  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 14     129980  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 15     123275  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 16     117736  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 17     110569  LISTSERV.AAP.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18     107692  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 19     102569  LISTSERV.WUSTL.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 20     100106  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (30 Dec 2020)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     5188324  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  2     4923378  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     2245367  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     1579325  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  5     1453789  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  6     1284519  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7     1217494  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  8     1176607  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  9     1132317  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 10     1093334  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 11     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12      962700  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 13      941393  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
 14      922941  LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 15      850947  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16      826900  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 17      822583  LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18      811467  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 19      804692  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 20      743438  LISTS.MAINE.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (30 Dec 2020)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 34750  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  2 16993  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 11838  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  7513  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  8  6734  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
  9  5779  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 10  5482  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 11  5258  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 12  5024  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 13  4912  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 14  4854  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 15  4225  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16  4161  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 17  4001  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 18  3837  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19  3710  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 20  3337  LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (DEC20, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     597636  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
  2     326456  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     259267  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     191149  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
  5     185313  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  6     177042  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  7     166299  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     165658  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.35.1.el6.x86_64)
  9     158091  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 10     149105  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 11     139528  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12     129792  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 13     117954  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 14     115827  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 15     110223  LISTSERV.AAP.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 16     103655  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 17      98469  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18      92916  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 19      90795  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 20      88332  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (30 Dec 2020)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1       59282  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  2       54050  AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0)
  3       42232  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  4       41805  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14)
  5       36016  CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  6       34587  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  7       33582  L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  8       30835  FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  9       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 10       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 11       28305  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 12       27708  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 13       27479  TAU4U@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
 14       27390  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 15       27288  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 16       26418  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 17       25575  ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 18       24992  NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 19       24317  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20       23332  ECF-MIWD@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 3.10.0)