2019 is winding down, and with this being the last Sunday of the year, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to look back at the most popular posts of 2019.

These posts aren’t necessarily the best posts—although that’s an entirely subjective measure—just the ones that received the most hits.

When looking through the most popular posts, there were a few surprises.  One thing I’ve learned from blogging is that posts I pour my heart and soul into may walk away with five views (and, oftentimes, only one!).  Then other posts that I dash off in a hurry to make my self-imposed daily goal take off like Rossini rockets, garnering dozens of hits.

Some of that is timing and promotion.  I find that the posts I have ready to launch at 6:30 AM do better on average.  But some generous linkbacks from WhatFinger.com really created some surprises here at the end of the year, surpassing even the exposure I received from Milo Yiannopoulos.  Writing posts about hot, current news items, the dropping links about said items in the comment sections of prominent news sites, also helps drive traffic, but I often lack the time required to do such “planting” (and it is a practice that can come across as spammy if not done with finesse).

Some posts take on a life of their own; I see consistent daily traffic from one of the posts on this list, “Tom Steyer’s Belt.”  Apparently, a bunch of people are as mystified as I am with Steyer’s goofy, virtue-signalling belt.

Well, it’s certainly been an adventure.  And while it may be premature—there are still two days left in the year!—here are the Top Five Posts of 2019:

1.) “Napoleonic Christmas” (~400+ Hits) – Talk about a sleeper hit.  I wrote this post as a hasty throwaway the Monday before Christmas.  I’d watched an interesting PragerU video about Napoleon, and found it interesting enough to jot down some general reflections about leadership, government, etc.  That same day, blogger buddy photog of Orion’s Cold Fire suggested to me that I submit some headlines to WhatFinger News.  I didn’t even submit this post, but the moderators apparently liked the PragerU video and linked to it, resulting in hundreds of hits over the next couple of days.

2.) “Tom Steyer’s Belt” (~240 Hits) – Another surprise hit, this post hasn’t seen huge bursts in traffic like Number 1, but it gets several visits everyday.  I imagine this will continue as long as Steyer is running those ridiculous ads on Hulu, et. al.  Like the tortoise racing the hare, this piece quietly and steadily worked its way into the Top 5.

3.) “Milo on Romantic Music” (~224 Hits) – I sent this post to Milo on his private Telegram page the morning it published.  I figured he would look at it and that would be that—if I were lucky.  Well, Milo loves fawning praise, and he reposted this to his public Telegram channel and (I believe) to his rollicking Telegram chatroom.  Dr. Rachel Fulton Brown also linked to it in a long post on her popular blog, Fencing Bear at Prayer.  Until WhatFinger News showed up, this post was Number 1.  Maybe Milo’s competitive spirit will kick in and he can rally the troops to put it back into first.

4.) “Warrior for Life” (~149 Hits) – I wrote this piece after Father Bob at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Florence, South Carolina denied former VP and current presidential candidate Joe Biden Communion, citing Biden’s support for abortion.  I posted this link to some comment sections on conservative news sites, offering up a local perspective (I’ve heard Father Bob preach a number of times, and he is a kindly but committed man of God).  At the time I wrote it, it was the most successful post of the year.

5.) “Christmas and its Symbols” (~138 Hits) – My Christmas Day post for 2019, which pulled heavily from the Christmas devotional from The Daily Encouraging Word, explored the symbols of Christmas, and how Christians reused old pagan symbols, giving them new life and meaning in the context of Christ’s Birth, Death, and Resurrection.  I figured this post might garner five or ten clicks because, well, it was Christmas Day!  I submitted the link to WhatFinger News, who (to my astonishment) posted it in the “Community” section of their main page.  Because it was a less political post, I shared it to my personal Facebook page, too, which helped bring in some traffic.

Honorable Mention: “The Desperate Search for Meaning” (~127 Hits) – To finish up this list, I’m including the sixth-place finisher, as it’s one of my favorite posts (it spawned an entire series).  It’s enjoyed good numbers, though I can’t account for why or how.  People keep reading it, though.

These are some of the most popular, and I am thankful for their success.  Of course, blogging is a mixed bag:  a quick count of my post views indicates a whopping twenty-seven posts have only a single view.  Yikes!  Maybe I’ll do a “Bottom 30” post next Sunday to try to get these forgotten posts some love.

Thank you to everyone who has helped keep this yearlong blogging project going.  Here’s to one year—and to a new one!

Happy New Year!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

• Lazy Sunday – APR Pieces
• Lazy Sunday II – Lincoln Posts
• Lazy Sunday III – Historical Moments
• Lazy Sunday IV – Christianity
• Lazy Sunday V – Progressivism, Part I
• Lazy Sunday VI – Progressivism, Part II
• Lazy Sunday VII – Deep State
• Lazy Sunday VIII – Conservatism
• Lazy Sunday IX – Economics, Part I
• Lazy Sunday X – Economics, Part II
• Lazy Sunday XI – Walls
• Lazy Sunday XII – Space
• Lazy Sunday XIII – Immigration
• Lazy Sunday XIV – Gay Stuff
• Lazy Sunday XV – Work
• Lazy Sunday XVI – #MAGAWeek2018
• Lazy Sunday XVII – #MAGAWeek2019
• Lazy Sunday XVIII – SubscribeStar Posts
• Lazy Sunday XIX – Music
• Lazy Sunday XX – The Laziest Sunday
• Lazy Sunday XXI – Travel
• Lazy Sunday XXII – Reading
• Lazy Sunday XXIII – Richard Weaver
• Lazy Sunday XXIV – Education
• Lazy Sunday XXV – Techno-Weirdos
• Lazy Sunday XXVI – Small Town Living
• Lazy Sunday XXVII – Bric-a-Brac
• Lazy Sunday XXVIII – World History
• Lazy Sunday XXIX – The New Criterion
• Lazy Sunday XXX – Trump, Part I
• Lazy Sunday XXXI – Trump, Part II
• Lazy Sunday XXXII – Festivals
• Lazy Sunday XXXIII – Virtue Signalling
• Lazy Sunday XXXIV – The Desperate Search for Meaning Series
• Lazy Sunday XXXV – Corporate Grind
• Lazy Sunday XXXVI – Best of the Reblogs, Part I
• Lazy Sunday XXXVII – Best of the Reblogs, Part II
• Lazy Sunday XXXVIII – Best of the Reblogs, Part III
• Lazy Sunday XXXIX – A Very Dokken Christmas Series
• Lazy Sunday XL – Christmas Carols
• Lazy Sunday XLI – Food