![[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 1032386 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 2 720079 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 3 422455 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.71.1.el7.x86_64) 4 375473 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0) 5 365913 LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 6 276088 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 7 213112 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.76.1.el7.x86_64) 8 210299 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 9 203519 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 10 197653 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 193683 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.59.1.el7.x86_64) 12 185557 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 13 169475 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 14 163521 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 15 162447 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 16 159876 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 149220 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 139548 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 19 134721 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 3.10.0-1062.9.1.el7.x86_64) 20 132848 LISTSERV.TDBANK.CA (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5316320 LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 4979562 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 1893950 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 1777535 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 1523264 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 6 1246798 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14) 7 1184218 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1081091 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 1076732 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 10 1065269 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 959610 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 13 933477 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 14 901116 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 15 853488 LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 845946 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 17 785422 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 18 742746 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 19 727373 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0) 20 705271 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 28412 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16767 LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 3 14174 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 4 10883 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 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 7215 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0) 9 6784 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 10 6453 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 11 5440 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 12 4977 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 13 4831 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 14 4511 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 15 4361 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 3898 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 17 3863 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 18 3546 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3532 LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 20 3329 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 1030896 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 2 688638 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 3 422291 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.71.1.el7.x86_64) 4 367612 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0) 5 362908 LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 6 275936 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 7 212767 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.76.1.el7.x86_64) 8 198823 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 193492 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.59.1.el7.x86_64) 10 185363 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 11 169261 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 12 160346 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 13 159078 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 14 158607 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 156338 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 16 146809 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 17 137365 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 132801 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 3.10.0-1062.9.1.el7.x86_64) 19 112740 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 20 99123 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 2 42733 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 3 41826 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14) 4 39294 SUCCESS@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 6 33093 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 31621 TAU-STU-ACADEMICSEC-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 8 30181 UG2021FALL@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 28899 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 10 28887 TAU-INNOVTL-ALL-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 11 28260 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 12 27705 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 13 27479 TAU4U@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 14 27374 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 15 27347 UTENNSRP@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 16 26421 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 17 25498 ECF-MIWD@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 3.10.0) 18 24992 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 19 24288 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 22991 DSSAT@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)