[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – March 2020


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).

What do these numbers mean exactly?

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).


Top 20 sites by volume delivered daily (MAR20, 1-23)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     937536  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     837120  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  3     435132  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     321599  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  5     309203  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  6     295042  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  7     265626  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     259353  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  9     255768  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.27.1.el6.x86_64)
 10     250444  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-957.12.2.el7.x86_64)
 11     248771  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 12     238549  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 13     231960  LISTSERV.AAP.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 14     219279  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 15     219073  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
 16     218986  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 17     215904  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18     207807  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 19     182257  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 20     181445  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (23 Mar 2020)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     4851433  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     4020187  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  3     2255468  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     1559129  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     1443925  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  6     1255441  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  7     1228538  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     1224701  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  9     1090304  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 10     1086952  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 11     1076987  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 12     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13      865216  LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 14      852708  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 15      840739  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 16      838507  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
 17      819861  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18      793386  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 19      749189  LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 20      688371  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (23 Mar 2020)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 27793  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  2 16573  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 13666  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  4  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  5  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  6  8079  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32)
  7  7291  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  8  6714  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
  9  6203  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10  5610  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 11  5585  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 12  5235  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 13  5038  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 14  4979  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 15  4178  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 16  4091  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 17  4013  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 18  4009  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19  3609  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 20  3298  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (MAR20, 1-23)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     908337  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     835441  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  3     430776  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     320834  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  5     300909  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  6     262325  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7     255084  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     253971  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.27.1.el6.x86_64)
  9     250196  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-957.12.2.el7.x86_64)
 10     245823  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 11     238366  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 12     231492  LISTSERV.AAP.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 13     218735  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 14     214693  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 15     214362  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 16     214123  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
 17     207475  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18     179992  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 19     176252  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 20     170720  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (23 Mar 2020)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1       59370  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  2       54050  AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0)
  3       52360  ECF-EDNY@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 3.10.0)
  4       44151  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5       41794  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14)
  6       36461  CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  7       34587  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  8       33596  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       28309  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 13       28154  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       25009  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       24690  ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 20       24436  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)