# Popular
The **Popular** tab shows which of a channel's posts got the most views, how far they outperformed a regular post, what hooked readers and where the posts spread. It also shows how often the channel has hits and flops, and under which conditions a post is more likely to take off.
## Where to find it
Open any channel page on and pick the **Popular** tab in the row of tabs under the channel header. If you don't see it, it is hidden in the **More** menu on the right. A direct link to the tab is the channel address with `#popular` at the end, for example — this opens the tab of the demo channel, where every block can be viewed without signing in or subscribing.
The tab loads when you open it, so for the first few seconds you may see "Loading…".
## Key concepts
Every block of the tab relies on a few definitions. Read them once and the rest will be easy.
- **Mature post** — a post older than 48 hours. A fresh post is still gaining views, so it is not part of the "regular post".
- **Regular post** — the median views of the period's mature posts, excluding ads. The median is the middle value: half the posts got more, half got less. One viral post would push an average up a lot, but it barely moves the median.
- **Multiplier (×)** — how many times more than a regular post a post got: ×2 is twice as much, ×0.5 is half. For a fresh post, the multiplier is compared with a regular post *of the same age*: a 3-hour-old post is compared with what the channel's posts usually have at three hours.
- **Hit** — a non-ad post with **×1.5 or more** against a regular post. A fresh post can become a hit no earlier than **12 hours** after publication.
- **Flop** — a mature non-ad post with **×0.67 or less** — one and a half times fewer views than a regular post.
- **Floor for small channels.** If a regular post gets fewer than **50 views**, the gap is calculated as if it got 50. Otherwise, at 20 views, a post with 30 would count as a "hit", which is just noise.
- **ER (engagement rate)** — reactions ÷ views × 100%. Only posts whose reactions we have already read are counted.
Ads are never hits or flops: they are shown by arrangement, not because people liked them. Hit and flop thresholds are relative to the channel itself, so a channel with very even views may have no hits at all — that is an honest result, not an error.
Calculation details are in [Post popularity](/en/metrics/popular/) and [Key metrics](/en/metrics/basics/).
## Period
At the top of the tab is the period row: **7 days**, **30 days**, **90 days**, **Year**, **All time** and **Custom dates** (a calendar). One period applies to every block of the tab. Guests get 7 days, signed-in users (free) get up to 30 days, the channel owner and subscribers get every period; **Custom dates** is available with a Premium or Business subscription. Closed periods show a lock. **All time** and custom dates cover at most the last 365 days.
Charts use steps that suit the period: by day for 7 and 30 days, by week for 90 days, by month for a year and all time. How the period row, the "i" hints and locked blocks work is explained in [How the channel page works](/en/channel/overview/).
## Blocks of the tab
| Block | What it shows | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Key numbers | six tiles: regular post, best post, hits, top 10%, ER, regular post reach | everyone; the "Top 10% of posts" and "Regular post reach" tiles — after signing in (free) |
| Popularity at a glance | the same numbers in three sentences | after signing in (free) |
| Key numbers: now and before | a table: this period, the previous one and the change | after signing in (free) |
| Top posts | the ten most popular posts | everyone — places 1–5 by views; places 6–10 and other sort orders — after signing in (free) |
| Post No. 1: what hooked readers and where it spread | reactions to the best post and who reposted it | everyone |
| Hits and flops: every post is a square | every post as a coloured square | after signing in (free) |
| Every day is a stack of posts | each day's posts as a column | after signing in (free) |
| Gaining now | a 48-hour forecast for fresh posts | after signing in (free) |
| Channel formats in numbers | video, photo, text, links, reposts, ads | after signing in (free) |
| Posts by reaction mood | posts with the most approval, laughter, negativity… | after signing in (free) |
| When a post more often becomes a hit | the conditions under which hits happen more often | with a Premium or Business subscription |
| Post topics | frequent topics and how they perform | with a Premium or Business subscription |
| Who reposts the channel most often | public channels that repost the channel | with a Premium or Business subscription |
| Best post of each month (week, day) | the best post at each step of the period | after signing in (free) |
| Best post of every format | all-time records | after signing in (free) |
| How many views a regular post gets (vs similar channels) | the regular post of the channel and of similar channels | with a Premium or Business subscription |
| What it means for you | conclusions for subscribers, advertisers and the owner | after signing in (free) |
A locked block is shown as a blurred sample with invented data and a badge saying "Available after signing in" or "Available with a subscription" — you can see what will appear, but none of the channel's data is in the locked block. What exactly is open at each level is set by the access-by-plan table; the table above shows its current state. More in [What's free and what needs a subscription](/en/start/access/).
### Key numbers
Six tiles with the period's figures.
- **Regular post** — the median views of mature non-ad posts.
- **Best post** — the views of the most-viewed non-ad post and its multiplier against a regular post ("×5.6 vs regular").
- **Hits** — how many posts became hits and what share of all posts that is.
- **Top 10% of posts** — what share of the period's total views went to the most-viewed tenth of posts.
- **ER** — reactions ÷ views.
- **Regular post reach** — regular post ÷ number of subscribers. It can exceed 100%: people who aren't subscribed also see the post (via reposts, search, links).
**How to read it.** Under the number you see its value in the previous period of the same length, and the badge shows the change: green is better, red is worse. If the number moved by less than 1%, the badge says "≈ same as before". A growing top-10% share is neither good nor bad, so its badge is grey. Reach is not compared with the previous period: the subscriber count at that time may be missing. The mini chart shows the same figure by day (week, month); hover over a point to see the date and value.
**Example.** "Top 10% of posts — 31%" means one tenth of the posts collected almost a third of all views. From 10% to 25% means views are spread evenly; 35% or more means the channel relies on a few hits.
**Who can see it:** the block — everyone; the "Top 10% of posts" and "Regular post reach" tiles — after signing in (free).
### Popularity at a glance
The same key numbers in three sentences: the regular post and reach, the best post and hits, the top 10% of posts and ER — with the change against the previous period of the same length. Handy for quickly summarising the picture for a colleague or client.
**Who can see it:** after signing in (free).
### Key numbers: now and before
A table with "This period", "Previous period" and "Change" columns. The previous period is the same number of days right before the selected one. Shares (hits, top 10%, ER) are compared in percentage points (pp): 13.9% before and 12.6% now is −1.3 pp. Under the table — the dates of the previous period and how many posts came out in each.
**Who can see it:** after signing in (free).
### Top posts
The ten most popular posts of the period: the title (the start of the text) linking to the post page, format, date and time, views, reactions, ER and the "Vs. typical" multiplier.
Above the table is a sort switch:
- **Views** — how many the post has now.
- **Reactions** — only posts whose reactions we have read.
- **ER** — posts with read reactions that got at least half a regular post (otherwise a post with ten views and one reaction would come first).
- **Multiplier** — excludes ads and posts under 2 hours old: their multiplier still jumps around.
**Example.** If the top by views is all videos while the top by ER is photos, videos bring reach and photos bring audience response.
If the period has fewer than three posts with views, there is no top.
**Who can see it:** everyone — the first five places by views; places 6–10 and sorting by reactions, ER and multiplier — after signing in (free).
### Post No. 1: what hooked readers and where it spread
The most-viewed non-ad post of the period.
- **On the left** — the post's reactions by mood (approval, laughter, surprise, sympathy, negative, other) next to the channel's usual reaction mix for the period, plus the three most frequent emoji. Under the bars there is a conclusion, for example: "Negative — 49% of reactions, 32 pp more than usual for the channel".
- **On the right** — which public channels reposted it and how many views those reposts got in their feeds. **Load more** shows the next ones.
**How it is calculated.** We recognise a repost by the link to the original message that MAX keeps in the repost; only public channels are counted. MAX does not report forwards to private chats. Emoji are grouped into moods the same way as on the [Subscriber engagement](/en/channel/engagement/) tab.
**Example.** "Reposts got 96,724 views in other feeds — 170% of the post's own views" means the post spread across MAX and other channels showed it to even more people than the channel itself.
**Who can see it:** everyone.
### Hits and flops: every post is a square
Every post of the period is a square in order of publication: green is a hit, red is a flop, grey is usual. Hover over a square to see the date, multiplier, views and format of the post.
Above the squares — "1 in N is a hit" (posts assessed ÷ hits) and "1 in N is a flop"; below them — how it was in the previous period. Mature non-ad posts are assessed, plus fresh posts that have already become hits. For a long period, the last 1,000 posts are drawn while the numbers cover the whole period. With fewer than 10 posts to assess, the block is not shown.
**Example.** "1 in 7 is a hit" is a lot for MAX: most channels rarely have hits — about 1% of posts.
**Who can see it:** after signing in (free).
### Every day is a stack of posts
A column is a day (a week for 90 days, a month for a year and all time); squares are posts from bottom to top in order of publication. The colour shows how a post performed: hit (from ×1.5), above usual, below usual, flop or ad; a dashed outline marks a post under 48 hours old. The number above a column is the day's post count; bold dates are weekends.
If at least one column has more than 24 posts, all columns are drawn as bars of colour shares. Under the chart — the day with the most hits.
**Example.** If green squares cluster at the top of the columns, hits tend to come out in the evening as the last posts of the day.
**Who can see it:** after signing in (free).
### Gaining now
Non-ad posts under 48 hours old — up to the 10 strongest. The solid part of a bar is the views so far, the pale part is how many the post will have at 48 hours if it continues like a regular post of the channel. Next to it: "2 h ago · now 10,819" and the forecast "≈35,668".
**How it is calculated.** Forecast = views now ÷ the share the channel's posts usually have at this age. MAX does not provide hourly view history, so we calculate that share from the channel's posts of different ages over the last 7 days. Row colours: "on track for a hit" (from ×1.5), "above usual", "as usual", "below usual". Under the list — how many posts are expected to cross the hit threshold.
**Example.** A 2-hour-old post already has 10 thousand views while a regular post has about 10 thousand at two days — the forecast is more than three times a regular post, so the post is on track for a hit.
!!! note
The forecast is an estimate, not a promise: a post may take off thanks to reposts or fade faster.
**Who can see it:** after signing in (free).
### Channel formats in numbers
A table by format: video, photo, text, reposts, links. For each — the number of posts and their share, the format's regular post, the "Vs. typical" multiplier (against the channel's regular post), ER, hits and the best post. Ads are a separate row, and "All posts" is at the bottom.
Formats with fewer than 5 posts are dimmed: conclusions from them are unreliable.
**Example.** Video has ×1.4 and 35% hits, photos have ×1.0 and 13% hits — if the goal is reach, the channel should post more videos.
**Who can see it:** after signing in (free).
### Posts by reaction mood
Pick a mood with the buttons (👍 Approval, 😂 Laughter, 😱 Surprise, 🙏 Sympathy, 😡 Negative) to see the five posts where this mood takes **the largest share** of the post's reactions. Only non-ad posts with at least as many reactions as a regular post of the channel are included — otherwise a post with two reactions would come first. Under the list — the share this mood usually takes in the channel.
**Example.** Posts under "Negative" show which topics anger the audience — useful for the owner and for an advertiser who doesn't want to appear next to such posts.
**Who can see it:** after signing in (free).
### When a post more often becomes a hit
Conditions under which hits come out noticeably more (or less) often than the channel's average: part of the day (morning 06–10, midday 10–14, afternoon 14–18, evening 18–22, night 22–06), day of the week, format and text length.
**How it is calculated.** "More hits" — the group has at least 10 posts and 3 hits, and its hit share is at least one and a half times the channel's average. "Fewer hits" — the group has at least 20 posts, and its hit share is at least half the average. With fewer than three hits in the period, the block is not shown.
**Example.** A card like "Format: Video — 2.5 times more hits: 15 hits out of 44 posts — 34.1% vs 13.7% on average" tells the owner that strong material works best as video. The "fewer hits" line at the bottom lists conditions under which hits almost never happen (for example, long texts over 1,000 characters).
!!! note
This is an observation about one channel, not a law: the more posts in a group, the more reliable the conclusion.
**Who can see it:** with a Premium or Business subscription.
### Post topics
Up to 12 channel topics. A topic is a frequent word at the start of post texts (the first 200 characters). For each topic: the number of posts, the topic's regular post, the multiplier against the channel's regular post (×1.15 and above is green, ×0.87 and below is red), hits, ER, the mood people react with most and the best post. Small print under the word lists companion words — the same topic in other words.
**How it is calculated.** Words of 4+ letters count; function words don't; different forms of a word are merged. A topic is a word found in at least 8 posts and 1% of the sample, but in no more than 40% of posts (such a word is more likely a signature or the channel name). For a large channel, the last 3,000 non-ad posts of the period are used. Topics with fewer than 10 posts are dimmed. At least 30 posts with text and two topics are needed.
**Example.** If a "traffic jam" topic gets ×1.3 against a regular post and "weather" gets ×0.8, road news interests the audience more than forecasts.
**Who can see it:** with a Premium or Business subscription.
### Who reposts the channel most often
Public channels that reposted this channel's posts during the period, by number of reposts; under each — its latest repost. A channel's reposts of itself don't count, and MAX does not report forwards to private chats.
**Example.** If big city channels repost the channel regularly, they are allies for cross-promotion and places where its audience already reads.
**Who can see it:** with a Premium or Business subscription.
### Best post of each month (week, day)
The block title depends on the period: "Best post of each month" for a year and all time, "of every week" for 90 days, "of every day" for 7 and 30 days. A bar is the views of the best non-ad post at that step; the line inside it is the regular post of the same step. The tallest bar is the period's record. Incomplete months (weeks) at the edges and today are paler. At least two steps with posts are needed.
**Example.** If the bars grow while the regular-post line stays flat, the channel is producing ever stronger hits, but its baseline isn't changing.
**Who can see it:** after signing in (free).
### Best post of every format
Records for **all time** of our collection: the most-viewed post of each format (we look among the channel's 300 most-viewed posts); ads don't take part. The three best formats get medals. Under each record — the format's best in the selected period and what share of the record it is; if the record was set in this period, it says so.
**Who can see it:** after signing in (free).
### How many views a regular post gets (vs similar channels)
The channel and up to ten of the most similar channels (picked on the [Similar channels](/en/channel/similar/) tab) over the last 30 days of the selected period: a bar is each channel's regular post, the dashed line is the median of similar channels, and on the right is reach (regular post ÷ subscribers). "N times higher" is written from ×1.6; a difference under 5% reads "almost like the median of similar channels". At least two similar channels with posts are needed.
**Example.** The channel's regular post is 10 thousand, the median of similar channels is 18 thousand, but the channel's reach is higher: the channel is smaller, but its audience reads more attentively.
**Who can see it:** with a Premium or Business subscription.
### What it means for you
Conclusions on three tabs — **For subscribers**, **For advertisers**, **For the owner**. This is not AI but rule-based sentences: each one takes the numbers of a single block and appears only if that block is open to you and has enough data (usually 10+ posts).
Examples of the rules:
- "Good reach" — 15% or more of subscribers see a regular post; "low" — under 8%.
- "Often takes off" — hits make up 5% or more of posts; "hits are rare" — under 2%.
- "Relies on hits" — the top 10% of posts take 35% or more of views.
- "A lot of ads" — ads make up 20% or more of posts; "few" — up to 10%.
- "Negative reactions" — negative is 25% or more of reactions.
**Who can see it:** after signing in (free). Some conclusions appear only for people who can see the corresponding blocks.
## Why there are no comments or forwards here
We don't collect comments on posts, and MAX does not report how many times a post was forwarded to private chats. So popularity here means views, reactions and reposts in public channels.
## See also
- [How the channel page works](/en/channel/overview/)
- [Post reach](/en/channel/reach/)
- [Subscriber engagement](/en/channel/engagement/)
- [How post popularity is calculated](/en/metrics/popular/)
- [Plans](/en/start/plans/)