![[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 799582 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 2 714424 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 453513 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 283029 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 5 267683 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 6 255105 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 7 238751 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 234241 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.12.1.el6.x86_64) 9 222424 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 219228 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 218783 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 12 210352 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 13 208690 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 202995 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.17.1.el6.x86_64) 15 184674 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 167889 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 17 167289 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 167240 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 167139 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 20 166449 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5108481 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3827441 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 2161162 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1485048 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 1383267 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 1381649 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1305626 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 9 1222767 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 860295 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 857017 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 15 843275 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 796683 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 795294 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 19 776747 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 709642 LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27519 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16652 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14094 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 4 11104 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 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 7949 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 9 7168 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6696 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 11 6017 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5467 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5055 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 4648 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 16 4264 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 4020 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 4017 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 3998 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 20 3542 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 798147 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 2 687611 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 448789 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 282901 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 5 247201 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 6 234025 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.12.1.el6.x86_64) 7 232450 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 216488 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 213899 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 10 207662 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 11 207607 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 202325 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.17.1.el6.x86_64) 13 184152 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 14 178992 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 167719 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 16 167091 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 166821 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 18 163302 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 161354 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 126478 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 55449 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 4 43343 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 41763 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14) 6 36538 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 33600 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 28313 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 13 27900 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 27709 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 15 27399 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 26419 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 17 25008 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 24766 ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 20 24480 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)