Hacker News Insights research
Hacker News in 2011
The strongest tracked Hacker News title themes in 2011, with annual shares and historical context.
Data through 2026-07-13
This page ranks the tracked topics by their share of retained Hacker News story titles in 2011. It is a full calendar year; topic patterns can overlap and the list is not a taxonomy of every story.
| Rank | Topic | Category | Title share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Startups | Meta | 3.398% |
| 2 | JavaScript | Languages | 0.889% |
| 3 | Security | Crypto & privacy | 0.776% |
| 4 | Open source | Meta | 0.641% |
| 5 | Python | Languages | 0.636% |
| 6 | Linux | Infra | 0.597% |
| 7 | Privacy | Crypto & privacy | 0.367% |
| 8 | jQuery | Web | 0.327% |
| 9 | Bitcoin / crypto | Crypto & privacy | 0.251% |
| 10 | MongoDB | Data | 0.148% |
| 11 | Redis | Data | 0.116% |
| 12 | AI / LLM | AI | 0.102% |
Context markers
- 2011-01 — Bitcoin hits $1 / Silk Road: BTC reaches ~$1; Silk Road launches, pulling crypto into the news.
Method
Every percentage uses that year's retained story-title count as its denominator. Visit the Attention Lab for 2011 or read the methodology.