![[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]](https://www.lsoft.com/images/HDR-LISTSERV-sm.gif)
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).
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).
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 777552 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 692020 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 3 481499 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 300432 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.98-6-pve) 5 291284 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 6 267185 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 254152 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 8 248524 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 244998 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 10 235691 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 11 235377 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 12 233909 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 229737 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 229193 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.20.1.el6.x86_64) 15 205133 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 203291 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 17 199357 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 18 196117 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 194729 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 20 175443 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5232506 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 4141308 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 2044325 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1558931 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1426972 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 1375464 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1350030 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 8 1332007 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 1039045 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 12 1034819 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 13 998260 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 944029 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 15 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 787826 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 775003 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 772856 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 752223 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 729276 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 30443 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 15723 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14785 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 4 14088 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 13473 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 6 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 7 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 8 8029 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 7372 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6836 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6601 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 6482 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5721 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 5498 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 5329 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 4422 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 4200 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3895 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3792 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 750864 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 690554 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 3 476671 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 278742 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 5 264278 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 249409 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 7 244931 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 235544 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 9 228534 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 228258 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.20.1.el6.x86_64) 11 224365 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 200380 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 13 200050 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 195540 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 192491 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 178160 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 173773 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 166941 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 159479 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 150854 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 62435 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 4 41758 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 5 38845 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 35721 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 33609 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 9 30836 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 29086 IONIEUWSBRIEF@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 11 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 12 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28758 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28335 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 15 27709 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 27411 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 26418 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 18 25295 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 19 24990 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 23825 ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)