![[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 770702 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 723394 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 3 458010 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 299738 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 5 252357 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 6 236386 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 7 235049 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 233115 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 230380 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 228604 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 11 227747 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.11.1.el6.x86_64) 12 219490 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 213350 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 14 197012 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 195910 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 191754 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 177170 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 172268 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 164662 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 156798 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.11.1.el6.x86_64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5080719 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 4308466 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 2158197 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1430414 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 1400374 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 1397426 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 8 1262587 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1130377 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 982099 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 944029 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 13 841905 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 14 836328 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 15 824040 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 816533 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 813250 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 809790 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 20 761305 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 30493 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16953 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14297 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 13714 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 8079 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 8 7622 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 9 7013 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6677 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 5772 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5467 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5099 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 4537 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4437 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 17 3988 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 18 3979 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3926 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3744 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 743103 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 722544 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 3 453363 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 299593 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 5 243382 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 6 234519 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 231139 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 8 227947 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 225615 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.11.1.el6.x86_64) 10 216590 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 210627 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 12 194015 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 190457 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 189026 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 174753 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 172099 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 162927 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 156572 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.11.1.el6.x86_64) 19 154809 LISTSERV.ALBANY.EDU (Linux 4.1.12) 20 154202 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 62297 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 61742 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 5 44843 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 41763 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.4.162) 7 36552 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 8 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 33601 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 10 30835 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 29442 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28315 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 15 27709 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 27401 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 27079 HINDU-D@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 26418 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 19 25145 2019-STEM-EVENT-L@LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows Server 2012 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 24991 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)