TheTopTens: 239K Keywords from User-Generated Lists
926K
Monthly Visitors
$1.2M
Traffic Value/yr
69
Domain Rating
8.4K
Ref. Domains
TheTopTens ranks for 239,000 keywords—and users created almost all of that content for free.
Here's what makes this site fascinating: it launched in 2005, two years before the iPhone, four years before Reddit had any traction. The founders bet that people love ranking things and arguing about those rankings. They were right.
Twenty years later, TheTopTens attracts 926,000 monthly visitors and generates an estimated $68,000+ annually from what's essentially a glorified voting platform. It's one of the oldest user-generated content sites still operating profitably.
This is the story of a simple idea that survived two decades of internet evolution.
The Challenge
In 2005, finding curated opinions on the internet was chaos.
Want to know the best metal bands? You'd wade through a dozen forums with contradictory takes. Curious about the hardest languages to learn? Good luck aggregating opinions from scattered blog posts. There was no central place where collective wisdom could emerge through voting.
The Web 2.0 era was exploding with blogs and forums, but each community existed in isolation. No one had figured out how to aggregate opinions at scale across thousands of topics.
The result: Internet users spent hours triangulating opinions from fragmented sources, never confident they were getting the real consensus view.
Directory Overview
| Website | thetoptens.com |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Niche | Crowdsourced top-ten lists across 200+ categories |
| Target Users | Internet users seeking curated rankings and debates |
| Business Model | Display advertising (Google AdSense, Amazon Native) |
| Listings | 200,000+ user-generated lists |
Key Metrics (2025)
Monthly Traffic
926,100
Pre-dates Reddit and Quora
Domain Rating
69/100
Top 5% of UGC sites
Ranking Keywords
239,000
Long-tail domination
Est. Annual Revenue
~$68,900
Low-overhead model
Search Performance
Total Monthly Traffic
926,100
Organic Traffic
298,000
Traffic Value
~$1.2M/year
Authority & Engagement
Domain Rating
69/100
Backlinks
183,000
Referring Domains
8,400
Visitor Engagement
3.10
Pages/Visit
1:42
Avg. Time
63.4%
Bounce Rate
Traffic Sources
What The Numbers Tell Us
The 35% direct traffic is their survival moat. When Google's algorithm updates devastated user-generated content sites in 2017-2020, TheTopTens lost significant organic traffic. But their loyal community kept coming back directly. That direct traffic cushion prevented collapse.
Traffic peaked around 2016-2017 before Google's core updates hit user-generated content sites hard
20-year domain age compounds authority. A domain registered in 2005 carries significant weight with search engines. You can't buy that history—you can only earn it through time.
Monetization Strategy
Revenue Model
TheTopTens runs on the simplest monetization possible: display ads on user-generated content with near-zero editorial costs.
Google AdSense (Primary)
Display ads across all pages. High page views (3.10 per visit) multiply ad impressions.
Amazon Native Shopping Ads
Product recommendations integrated into relevant lists (electronics, books, games).
Revenue Estimate: ~$68,902/year based on 926K visitors × 3.10 pages × 2 ads × $1.00 CPM × 12 months. Actual revenue may vary.
Why This Model Works: Users create the content, users vote on rankings, users generate the debates. The platform provides infrastructure and collects ad revenue. Overhead stays minimal while content scales infinitely.
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Top Ranking Keywords
| Keyword | Volume | Position | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|
| hardest languages to learn | 18,000 | #6 | 1,600 |
| twisted dandy | 21,000 | #6 | 1,300 |
| helluva boss characters | 23,000 | #5 | 1,100 |
| ugly disney characters | 6,500 | #1 | 1,100 |
| top tens | 1,000 | #1 | 833 |
SEO Insights
Long-tail strategy at massive scale: 239,000 ranking keywords means TheTopTens captures searches most sites would never think to target. "Ugly Disney characters" gets 6,500 monthly searches—and someone at TheTopTens made a list for it.
Users create SEO content organically. People naturally create lists around terms they search for. This creates a self-reinforcing cycle: users make content about what people search for, which ranks, which brings more users.
Music leads with 36K monthly visitors, followed by anime (28K) and people (26K)
Domain age is the ultimate SEO advantage. A 2005 domain with consistent content and natural backlinks has authority that new sites simply can't replicate.
Competitive Landscape
Key Competitors
| Competitor | Keywords | Traffic | Differentiation |
|---|---|---|---|
| ranker.com | 1.46M | 92K | Bigger, but TheTopTens has deeper niche focus |
| watchmojo.com | 287K | 43K | Video-first; TheTopTens is text/voting-first |
| tiermaker.com | 114K | 12K | Visual tier lists; TheTopTens has 20-year authority |
| loudwire.com | 357K | 20K | Metal-focused; TheTopTens covers all niches |
Why TheTopTens Survives: Ranker is bigger and better-funded, but TheTopTens has 20 years of domain authority and a loyal community. In SEO, time is an asset that money can't buy.
Key Lessons for Directory Builders
1. User-Generated Content = Infinite Scalability
200,000+ lists with minimal editorial oversight. Users create value while you build infrastructure. The math works: zero content cost × infinite content potential = massive leverage.
2. First-Mover Advantage Compounds Over Decades
TheTopTens pre-dated Reddit (2005), Quora (2009), and major social platforms. That head start created domain authority that competitors can't easily replicate.
3. Simple Monetization Beats Complex Models
Just Google AdSense and Amazon affiliate links. No subscriptions, no premium tiers, no complex revenue streams. Simple and sustainable for 20 years.
4. Algorithm Changes Can Devastate (Failure Lesson)
TheTopTens lost major traffic in 2017-2020 algorithm updates. Pure SEO dependence is risky. The 35% direct traffic saved them—without community loyalty, they might not have survived.
5. Community Loyalty Creates a Traffic Moat
When search traffic cratered, direct visitors kept coming. Build a community that returns regardless of Google rankings—that's true defensibility.
6. Debate-Worthy Topics Drive Organic Engagement
People love arguing about rankings. Best metal bands? Hardest languages? These topics generate votes, comments, and shares without marketing spend.
Conclusion
TheTopTens proves that simplicity plus time creates defensibility.
The core mechanic hasn't changed in 20 years: users make lists, users vote, rankings emerge. That's it. No AI, no complex algorithms, no pivot to video. Just a voting platform that lets people argue about rankings.
What makes this instructive for directory builders isn't the revenue ($68K isn't life-changing). It's the durability. TheTopTens survived the rise of social media, multiple Google algorithm updates, and well-funded competitors like Ranker.
How? Simple mechanics, low overhead, community loyalty, and the irreplaceable asset of 20 years of domain authority.
The question for you: What simple platform could you build today that might still be running profitably in 2045?
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Sources: Ahrefs (traffic/SEO data), SimilarWeb (traffic sources, engagement metrics), TheTopTens public pages.