Biggest websites for news US: Top 50 updated each month

February 11, 2026 • Every week, more than 100,000 people ride bikes, skates and rollerblades past some of the best-known parts of Mexico’s capital. A Vote Here sign is posted amongst political signs as people arrive to vote at the Rutherford County Annex Building, an early voting site, Oct. 17, 2024, in Rutherfordton, N.C. Experts say Affordable Care Act sign-up data won’t be clear until people who were enrolled have paid — or not — their new, often much higher, premiums.

Fastest-growing month-on-month in the top 50 was Advance Local-owned New Jersey news site nj.com (23.5 million visits, up 33% month-on-month) while third fastest-growing was Business Insider (74.4 million, up 21%). It was followed for month-on-month growth in visits by progressive news website Rawstory (20.4 million, up 24%) and Newsweek (up 10% month-on-month). Month-on-month the fastest-growing newsbrand was The Cool Down (24.3 million visits, up 52% compared to January).

Kentucky’s Real People Radio

• Among the broader top 50 by far the greatest year-on-year growth came at Athlon Sports (41.4 million), which registered an 854% increase in visits compared with the same month last year.
• British news site The Independent (34.8 million), which claimed in November to have become the biggest British-born news site in the US according to Comscore data, also notched 70.4% year-on-year growth.
• Why Nancy Guthrie’s Disappearance Is Breaking Through the Noise
• Colorado is second in the nation for hail insurance claims, and new data shows just how much hail is impacting insurance premiums for homeowners.
• The investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is intensifying, with FBI agents conducting an extensive search along roads in the area near her home in Tucson, Arizona.

Far-right website Gateway Pundit, which entered the chart at 48th last month, has in turn fallen out of the top 50. The site has since rolled out its inaugural paywall, the effects from which will only become visible next month. In September the shallowest traffic falls were recorded at The New York Times (down 1.9% to 355 million) and Forbes (down 2.1% to 113 million). Major news events in the US in September included Hurricane Helene hitting North Carolina, a second failed assassination attempt against Trump, and the first TV debate between him and Kamala Harris. In August eight of the top ten publishers saw month-on-month decline, Besök Svenskhistoria which marked a correction after an eventful July (in which the Paris Olympics kicked off, Joe Biden left the US presidential race and Donald Trump was shot).

Boy, 13, charged after two boys stabbed in school

The Washington Post was also among the eight news sites not to increase its web traffic compared to February, instead dropping 6%. The biggest year-on-year drop among the top ten was seen at Gannett’s USA Today, which shed 17% of its March 2024 traffic to attract 134.7 million visits last month. Three in five of the top 50 news websites in the US recorded year-on-year growth, with the biggest percentage increase seen at sports news site Athlon Sports. Rival title The Mirror, which is yet to feature in the top 50 US news websites, grew 631% year on year to 15.1 million visits in April 2025 according to Similarweb data. Substack rose to 19th position with growth of 42.5% year on year to 67.7 million visits in the US for its network of newsletter-driven websites. Only 15 out of the top 50 news websites in the US grew traffic year on year in May, according to the latest data from Similarweb.

The Daily Mail (down 7.5% month-on-month to 113 million), which was the ninth most popular news site in the US in both July and August, dropped in September to tenth. The contraction was sharpest at Yahoo Finance (down 11.3% month-on-month to 144.4 million visits) and third-placed Fox News (down 11.2% to 260.2 million). But for most publishers visits have nonetheless improved year-on-year, with three-fifths of the top 50 recording traffic increases of at least 10% compared with September 2023. Almost all the top 50 news sites in the US saw traffic fall in September, deepening a decline that began in August.

MSNBC (29.2 million) increased visits by 66%, NBC News (128 million) by 62%, Axios (40 million) by 54% and The Atlantic (28.2 million) by 52%. Mail Online (136.1 million) gains a place, rising to ninth, and Newsweek (133.3 million) leaps from 16th to tenth place. The figures for July are the first Press Gazette has published since Similarweb updated its data model. The site received 374% more visits in August 2024 than in August 2023, reaching 29.6 million. It was followed by UK news site The Independent (up six places with 37.6 million) and the Los Angeles Times (up five places with 28.5 million).

One of the most expressive singer-songwriters of her generation, Sarah McLachlan’s deeply felt and virtuosic performance is miraculous. After dropping out of modern rap’s defining conflict, the Fayetteville MC contemplates the making and breaking of a legacy. Months after the killing of Charlie Kirk, a growing number of lawsuits by people claim they were illegally punished, fired and even arrested for making negative comments about Kirk. Click here to download the BBC app for Apple and Android devices.

The US Sun followed on both growth metrics, up 52% year on year and 59% month on month to 34.9 million visits. In contrast to the annual figures, however, all of the ten biggest sites saw month-on-month growth of at least 3% in January. It was followed by People (161.4 million visits, up 16% year-on-year) and both were the only large sites to see year-on-year growth for the second month in a row. The Independent also featured among the fastest-growing websites year-on-year coming in fifth place having seen visits up 40% compared to last January. It was followed by independently run consumer-focused science news site sciencealert.com (24.4 million visits, up 66% month-on-month). Month-on-month, both Newsweek (up 31% compared to February) and The Cool Down were beaten by publishing group Advance Local’s Alabama-focused site al.com (22.6 million visits, up 67% month-on-month).