Simple Popular Posts
by jimmysun · Admin & Utilities
Creates a very simple and basic widget for your sidebar to display most popular posts on your blog based on the number of comments only.
41 health vs 56 average across 1,826 Admin & Utilities plugins
High removal-risk signals
63/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Long abandoned. No update in 16+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 2.9.2, well behind 6.8.
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Under-optimized
Biggest win: Update recency
To rank higher: Last updated 5906 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Daily downloads
Since 2022-10-05 · 1,381 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges
48
now · peak 135
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Downloads per 1k installs · 30d
Engagement proxy · release spikes are signal, a long slide is an aging base
Estimated active installs
wp.org reports only “10+”. The real number sits in this band.
Modeled within the band wp.org reports; tightens as we track daily.
Install history · since 2022-10-04 · 1,381 observations
Details
Growth timeline
Install-band crossings we have observed, and how long each band took to outgrow
No band crossings observed yet.
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach — closest match first
-
Statify Widget 4K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags A -
Better Recent Comments 2K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags C -
Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection 6M+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A -
Widgets for Google Reviews 900K+ installs · 4.9★ · 1 shared tag A -
Antispam Bee 700K+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
Blocksy Companion 300K+ installs · 4.6★ · 1 shared tag A
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<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/simple-popular-posts" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Simple Popular Posts — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Simple Popular Posts: 10+ active installs, 0.0★ (0 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-07-17. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/simple-popular-posts