It’s officially 2022, but this Sunday I’m going to cast one more look back at 2021.  As is tradition, in addition to my annual “Worst of” lists, I always do a “Top Five Posts” retrospective as well.

Like the “Worst of” lists, I don’t base these posts off of their quality, but by the number of views they received.  Some of them probably are very high-quality posts; others just got a lot of eyeballs.

I’ve also included the next three highest posts, which serendipitously worked out to be unique in their own ways, with two being of particular significance to the growth of the blog this year.

While I did not have any huge breakthrough posts in 2021—those garnering quadruple digits, like “Tom Steyer’s Belt“—my posts on average had more views, and my WordPress subscriber count increased substantially.  It turns out that if you keep at something for a thousand days, you start gaining some traction!  I also had substantially more commenter participation, thanks to folks hopping over from The Conservative Woman and Nebraska Energy Observer.

With that, here are 2021’s Top Five Posts:

1. “Reclaim the Rainbow” (222 views) – The LGBTQIA2+etc. movement has hijacked the entire month of June, with every major corporation turning their logos into rainbows to celebrate sodomy.  I argued that Christians should take the rainbow back as a symbol of God’s Promise to never destroy the Earth again by means of a global flood.  That Promise also points to an earlier slide into wickedness that was so severe, God wiped out humanity.  That those engaged in abiological and immoral lifestyles have appropriated a deeply Christian symbol for their own debauched purposes is pretty much asking for God to deliver His Judgment.  This post did so well because Orthodox Christian, America Firster, former US Senate candidate for Delaware, and current babe Lauren Witzke shared the post on her Telegram page, for which I am very grateful.
2. “The Joy of Live Music” (219 views) – I had the opportunity to hear my buddy, poet Jeremy Miles, play a gig with his new band, Jeremy and the Blissters, at a hopping coffee shop back in September.  It was one of the first live music experiences of 2021 outside of my front porch concerts.  The excitement of that evening really reminded me of how wonderfully joyous live music is.
3. “National Night Out in Lamar” (182 views) – My neighbor organized a kind of “decentralized” festival here in Lamar to observe National Night Out, an evening dedicated to supporting law enforcement and encouraging strong community building.  It was a great time, and I’m hoping he’ll repeat the experiment in 2022.
4.  “Lamar Elections Results 2021” (173 views) – This post is probably the first time I have “scooped” the local news media.  I had this post slapped together probably twenty minutes before my local paper, the Darlington News & Press, posted the final results on their Facebook page.  It’s difficult to get up-to-the-minute election results for small town elections, so being there when the results were posted at Town Hall gave me an edge on reporting.  I suspect the high view count was due to my sharing the link on the News & Press‘s Facebook page underneath their own election results.
5. “TBT: Things That Go Bump in the Night” (171 views) – The only TBT to make the list, this one received quite a bit of activity in the comments section (as of the time of writing, it has a whopping sixty-six comments), sparking a lot of conversation about the “other side” of our reality—and the dangers of plumbing those shadowy depths unmoored from faith in Christ.

• Honorable Mention: “The Weather” (159 views) – I thought it was amusing that a post about the weather did so well.  I make the point that even the most emptily benign topic of conversation has become politicized.
• Best Movie Review: “Monday Morning Movie Review: Dracula (1931)” (140 views) – This probably is the “best” movie review I’ve ever written (I think it was pretty good), but it did receive the most views of any of them by far.  It’s a great flick!
• Mrs. Congeniality: “Supporting Friends Friday: Audre Myers” (134 views) – The eighth most-popular post of 2021, this post about Audre Myers is directly responsible, I would argue, for increasing my views and, more enjoyably, commenter interaction.  This post brought several readers over from The Conservative Woman, due—I gather—sheerly out of their loyalty to Audre.  Whatever the case, the blog has been greatly enriched with their contributions, both in the comments section and to the blog itself.

And that’s it!  A lot of great posts for you to enjoy before everyone goes back to work tomorrow.

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
• Lazy Sunday XLII – 2019’s Top Five Posts
• Lazy Sunday XLIII – Music, Part II: More Music
• Lazy Sunday XLIV – SubscribeStar Saturday Posts, Part II: The Search for More Money
• Lazy Sunday XLV – Techno-Weirdos II
• Lazy Sunday XLVI – Man Time
• Lazy Sunday XLVII – Winning
• Lazy Sunday XLVIII – Culture
• Lazy Sunday XLIX – Family
• Lazy Sunday L – The Best of Lazy Sunday
• Lazy Sunday LI – Just for Fun
• Lazy Sunday LII – Democratic Candidates, Part I
• Lazy Sunday LIII – Democratic Candidates, Part II
• Lazy Sunday LIV – Coronavirus
• Lazy Sunday LV – Animals
• Lazy Sunday LVI – Movies
• Lazy Sunday LVII – Christianity, Part II
• Lazy Sunday LVIII – Spring Break Short Story Recommendations Recap
• Lazy Sunday LIX – The God Pill Series
• Lazy Sunday LX – Music, Part II: Gigging
• Lazy Sunday LXI – The Tuck
• Lazy Sunday LXII – The South
• Lazy Sunday LXIII – Holidays
• Lazy Sunday LXIV – Grab Bag
• Lazy Sunday LXV – Rioting
• Lazy Sunday LXVI – Video Games
• Lazy Sunday LXVII – Phone it in Fridays, Part I
• Lazy Sunday LXVIII – Phone it in Fridays, Part II
• Lazy Sunday LXIX – Phone it in Fridays, Part III
• Lazy Sunday LXX – Phone it in Friday, Part IV
• Lazy Sunday LXXI – Road Trips
• Lazy Sunday LXXII – Forgotten Posts, Volume I
• Lazy Sunday LXXIII – Forgotten Posts, Volume II
• Lazy Sunday LXXIV – Forgotten Posts, Volume III
• Lazy Sunday LXXV – Forgotten Posts, Volume IV
• Lazy Sunday LXXVI – Forgotten Posts, Volume V
• Lazy Sunday LXXVII – Rural America
• Lazy Sunday LXXVIII – Space, Part II
• Lazy Sunday LXXXIX – SCOTUS
• Lazy Sunday LXXX – Big Ideas
• Lazy Sunday LXXXI – Education, Part II
• Lazy Sunday LXXXII – Universal Studios
• Lazy Sunday LXXXIII – The Mountains
• Lazy Sunday LXXXIV – Halloween Hijinks
• Lazy Sunday LXXXV – Elections
• Lazy Sunday LXXXVI – Questions, Part I
• Lazy Sunday LXXXVII – Questions, Part II
• Lazy Sunday LXXXVIII – Questions, Part III
• Lazy Sunday LXXXIX – 100 Week Review
• Lazy Sunday XC – Questions, Part IV
• Lazy Sunday XCI – Questions, Part V
• Lazy Sunday XCII – Christmas
• Lazy Sunday XCIII – 2020’s Top Five Posts
• Lazy Sunday XCIV – My Favorite Things
• Lazy Sunday XCV – The Best of Lazy Sunday
• Lazy Sunday XCVI – More Movies: Movie Reviews, Part I
• Lazy Sunday XCVII – More Movies II: Movie Reviews, Part II
• Lazy Sunday XCVIII – More Movies III: Movie Reviews, Part III
• Lazy Sunday XCIX – Romantic Music
• Lazy Sunday C – Valentine’s Day
• Lazy Sunday CI – Obituaries, Part I
• Lazy Sunday CII – Obituaries, Part II
• Lazy Sunday CIII – Begging
• Lazy Sunday CIV – Time
• Lazy Sunday CV – Grab Bag II
• Lazy Sunday CVI – Adventures
• Lazy Sunday CVII – Easter
• Lazy Sunday CVIII – Spring Break Short Story Recommendations 2021 Recap
• Lazy Sunday CIX – Pillow Talk
• Lazy Sunday CX – Inspector Gerard Reviews
• Lazy Sunday CXI – Bric-a-Brac II
• Lazy Sunday CXII – Responsibility
• Lazy Sunday CXIII – Short Stories
• Lazy Sunday CXIV – More Movies IV: Movie Reviews, Part IV
• Lazy Sunday CXV – Memorable Mondays
• Lazy Sunday CXVI – Delays
• Lazy Sunday CXVII – More Movies V – Movie Reviews, Part V
• Lazy Sunday CXVIII – More Movies VI – Movie Reviews, Part VI
• Lazy Sunday CXIX – Summer Camps
• Lazy Sunday CXX – Animals, Part II
• Lazy Sunday CXXI – MAGAWeek2021 Posts
• Lazy Sunday CXXII – MAGAWeek2020 Posts
• Lazy Sunday CXXIII – Murphy
• Lazy Sunday CXXIV – Bible Posts
• Lazy Sunday CXXV – More Movies VII – Movie Reviews, Part VII
• Lazy Sunday CXXVI – Joy, Part I
• Lazy Sunday CXXVII – Joy, Part II – Music
• Lazy Sunday CXXVIII – Civilization
• Lazy Sunday CXXIX – Friends, Part I
• Lazy Sunday CXXX – Friends, Part II
• Lazy Sunday CXXXI – Friends, Part III
• Lazy Sunday CXXXII – Milestones
• Lazy Sunday CXXXIII – Inspector Gerard
• Lazy Sunday CXXXIV – Friends, Part IV
• Lazy Sunday CXXXV – More Movies VIII – Movie Reviews, Part VIII
• Lazy Sunday CXXXVI – More Movies IX – Movie Reviews, Part IX
• Lazy Sunday CXXXVII – More Halloween Hijinks
• Lazy Sunday CXXXVIII – Friends, Part V
• Lazy Sunday CXXXIX – More Movies, Part X – Movie Reviews, Part X
• Lazy Sunday CXL – More Movies, Part XI – Movie Reviews, Part XI
• Lazy Sunday CXLI – Thanksgiving Stuff(ing)
• Lazy Sunday CXLII – More Movies, Part XII – Movie Reviews, Part XII
• Lazy Sunday CXLIII – More Movies, Part XIII – Movie Reviews, Part XIII
• Lazy Sunday CXLIV – More Christmas Carols
• Lazy Sunday CXLV – Christmas Cheer