![[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 742464 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 321250 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 3 297676 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 262530 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 5 232134 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 6 229036 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.12.1.el6.x86_64) 7 220760 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 213349 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 197739 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 10 196223 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 11 185912 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 12 183168 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 174115 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 164983 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 163983 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 161084 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 140301 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.14.2.el6.x86_64) 18 131504 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 130293 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 130059 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5083937 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3691030 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 2165594 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1467689 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1446370 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 1444917 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 8 1237243 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1124997 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 827677 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 15 815936 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 808127 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 807029 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 18 751384 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 745934 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 727957 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27326 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16988 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14328 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 13787 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 7024 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6678 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 5826 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5467 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5091 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 4559 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4429 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 17 3994 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 18 3978 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3923 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3463 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 714429 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 310803 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 3 293024 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 231935 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 5 228804 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.12.1.el6.x86_64) 6 219535 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 7 212799 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 193452 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 9 192731 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 10 185723 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 11 170933 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 162232 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 157559 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 139399 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.14.2.el6.x86_64) 15 133882 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 128678 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 128606 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 128563 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 124975 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 124345 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 61686 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 4 41763 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.4.162) 5 40864 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 36549 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 33601 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 28829 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28315 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 14 27709 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 15 27401 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 26418 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 17 26391 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 25145 2019-STEM-EVENT-L@LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows Server 2012 Datacenter x64 Edition) 19 24991 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 24766 ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)