Biggest websites for news US: Top 50 updated each month

The homepage for the official website of The Independent, the British online newspaper. Picture: Shutterstock

The Independent was one of the fastest-growing news sites in the US in January, according to Press Gazette's latest ranking.

Top 50 most popular news websites in the UK (monthly ranking)

Top 50 most popular news websites in the world (monthly ranking)

Visits to the UK publisher's site were up 29% month-on-month to 24.3 million, making it the second-fastest growing news site in the US, according to data from digital intelligence platform, Similarweb.

The Independent is one of several UK newsbrands along with The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Express and the BBC that have recently put focus on expansion in the US.

The Independent's chief executive Christian Broughton told Press Gazette last year that US expansion, along with e-commerce, Independent TV, reader revenues and AI, are the main drivers of growth for the publisher.

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The Daily Mail remained the best-ranked British newsbrand in the ranking (119.8 million visits) although it dropped one place to eleventh from tenth in the past month.

Fastest-growing month-on-month in the top 50 was Advance Local-owned New Jersey news site nj.com (23.5 million visits, up 33% month-on-month) while third fastest-growing was Business Insider (74.4 million, up 21%).

Year-on-year, compared to January 2023, the fastest-growing site was Newsweek (62.7 million visits, up 94%), followed by Axios (28.8 million visits, up 60%) which in recent years has expanded into local news and its professional subscription service, Axios Pro.

The Independent also featured among the fastest-growing websites year-on-year coming in fifth place having seen visits up 40% compared to last January.

Among the ten biggest news websites by volume of visits, USA Today was the fastest-growing for a third month in a row.

Visits to the Gannett-owned site were up by 32% year-on-year to 151.4 million – echoing its year-on-year growth rate last month.

It was followed by People (161.4 million visits, up 16% year-on-year) and both were the only large sites to see year-on-year growth for the second month in a row.

People and USA Today also saw the biggest growth month-on-month among the top ten sites. Visits to People were up 11% compared to December while they were up 8% to USA Today.

In contrast to the annual figures, however, all of the ten biggest sites saw month-on-month growth of at least 3% in January.

The largest site in the US remained The New York Times (482.7 million visits), followed by CNN (398.8 million) and Fox News (270.2 million).

Since November Similarweb has excluded the figures for edition.cnn.com in its report to Press Gazette since they are counted under the main domain. Visits to edition.cnn.com however make up a very small share of all visits to the CNN domain in the US.

Similarweb generates its traffic data by applying machine learning and modelling to the statistically representative datasets that the company collects. Datasets are based on direct measurement (i.e. websites and apps that choose to share first-party analytics with Similarweb); contributory networks that aggregate device data; partnerships and public data extraction from websites and apps. The sites in the list are based on Similarweb's classification of news and media publishers, although Press Gazette refines the list to exclude some sites with a less news-based focus.

Continue reading for previous months' coverage of the top 50 websites for news in the US:

December

USA Today was the fastest-growing of the ten biggest news websites in the US in December for a second month in a row, according to Press Gazette's updated ranking.

Visits to the Gannett-owned site were up by a third (32%) year-on-year to 140.8 million - dwarfing its own year-on-year growth rate of 11% last month, according to data from digital intelligence platform, Similarweb.

People (145.9 million visits, up 20% year-on-year) was the only other top ten site by number of visits to see an increase in traffic in December.

The remainder of the large US news sites saw falls in traffic, echoing our global ranking where none of the top ten sites grew year-on-year, possibly due to changes in Google's search algorithm in the last four months of 2023.

MSN (259.2 million visits, down 33% year-on-year), Google News (134.1 million, down 20%) and CNN (374.7 million, down 17%) saw the biggest drops.

Since November, Similarweb has excluded the figures for edition.cnn.com in its report to Press Gazette since they are counted under the main domain. Visits to edition.cnn.com however make up a very small share of all visits to the CNN domain in the US.

Two sites focused on news from Israel featured among the fastest-growing in the overall top 50, due to audience interest in the conflict in Gaza. Fastest-growing was Jerusalem-based Times of Israel (21.5 million visits, up 329%), while Yeshiva World (20.3 million, up 37%) also made the list of biggest-growing sites.

Aggregator Newsbreak (22.5 million, up 69%) and Axios (24.8 million, up 46%) also appeared among the fastest-growing sites in the top 50.

The New York Times saw visits grow 6% month-on-month compared to November and was again the biggest site in the US (464.4 million visits). CNN again came in second after leading the table for several months beforehand (373.7 million).

Fox News (262.1 million) and MSN again took third and fourth place, but People leapfrogged Yahoo Finance into fifth.

The Daily Mail jumped another place in December to rank tenth (116.3 million visits, down 12% year-on-year but up by the same month-on-month) ahead of fellow British news provider the BBC (104.6 million, rank 12).

The Sun performed markedly better compared to November, ranking ten places higher in 24th with 48.3 million visits, an increase of 70% month-on-month. However it was down by a third (32%) compared to December 2022.

November

USA Today was the fastest-growing top ten news website in the US in November, according to Press Gazette's updated ranking. 

Visits to the Gannett-owned site were up 11% year-on-year to 121.8 million, according to data from digital intelligence platform, Similarweb. It was one of just two top ten news sites by number of monthly visits along with People (127.3 million visits, up 9% year-on-year) to see an increase in traffic in November.

The remaining top ten newsbrands saw a slump in traffic with Microsoft-owned msn.com (243.3 million visits, down 37% year-on-year), CNN (372.4 million, down 27%) and Fox News (252.2 million, down 26%) recording the largest falls at more than a quarter each. This month the figures for edition.cnn.com have been excluded from Similarweb's report to Press Gazette since they are counted under the main domain. Visits to edition.cnn.com however last month made up just 1.5% of all visits to the CNN domain in the US and the change will therefore be slight. 

The biggest site by number of visits was The New York Times (436.8 million visits) which has in recent months been jostling for top spot with CNN. The US cable broadcaster fell to second in November (372.4 million). Third was Fox News (252.2 million), while MSN was fourth and Yahoo Finance was fifth (138.6 million). 

The best-ranked UK newsbrand in the US top 50 was Mail Online, which jumped one place to rank 11 despite a month-on-month fall in visits. It was followed by the BBC (rank 12, 99.9 million visits). The BBC's visit total is slightly lower this month due to the exclusion going forward of visits to bbc.co.uk in the US since this traffic is redirected. The Sun meanwhile came in 34th position as it continues to lose traffic in the US (28.2 million visits, down 60% year-on-year and 44% compared to October).

Among the top 50 as a whole, fastest-growing was Times of Israel (27.3 million visits, up 468% compared to November 2022). It was followed by Newsweek (57.5 million, up 87%), aggregator Newsbreak (20.6 million, up 61%) and UK news site The Independent (20.4 million visits, up 28%). Jewish news site Yeshiva World (19.2 million, up 28% year-on-year) came in fifth. Like Times of Israel its growth is linked to increased interest in news about Israel and the Middle East region following the outbreak of war with Gaza on 7 October.

October

Thirty of the 50 biggest news websites in the US (60%) grew traffic year-on-year in October, with The Times of Israel seeing the biggest growth.

The Jerusalem-based online newspaper saw visits up 708% year-on-year to 29.6 million, followed in second place by Al Jazeera (27.8 million visits, up 132%), according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

Neither site has previously appeared in our top 50 ranking, suggesting the boost in visits is linked to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas which began on 7 October. The Times of Israel entered the ranking in 35th position, with Al Jazeera just behind in 36th.

AP (99.2 million visits, up 62%), ABC News (52 million visits, up 62% also) and The Independent (22.5 million, up 57%) also saw significant year-on-year growth in visits, suggesting a similar boost linked to increased reader interest in events in Gaza and Israel.

Among October's top ten sites by number of visits, more than half saw year-on-year growth, reversing last month's trend when all but two top of the ten sites saw a slump in visits.

People saw the biggest audience surge in October (137 million visits, up 31% year-on-year). It was followed by CNN (516.9 million, up 23%), Fox News (306.8 million, up 16%) and New York Post (137.3 million, up 15%). The New York Times (485.1 million, up 3%) and the BBC (150.7 million, up 1%) saw smaller growth in the single figures.

Despite smaller year-on-year growth, the BBC's strong month-on-month growth of 25% meant it jumped five places in the ranking to fifth place. However it should be noted that Similarweb's data captures visits to the whole BBC.com domain, which includes more than just news.

Washington Post (129.9 million, down 17%) and news aggregator MSN (259.8 million, down 19% saw the biggest falls among the top ten.

The biggest site by number of visits was CNN, which overtook the New York Times to resume its place as the top US news website. The New York Times has been the country's biggest news website for the past three months and for much of the last two years, however that position had traditionally been held by CNN.

The best-ranked UK newsbrand in the US top 50 after the BBC was Mail Online (127 million visits, rank 12), followed by The Guardian (79.5 million, rank 18).

The Sun, which has generally seen consistently strong growth over the past two years in this ranking, fell seven places to rank 30 (45.6 million visits, down 24% year-on-year).

The Mirror (rank 48, 10.1 million visits), The Express (rank 50, 8.6 million) and Cosmopolitan (rank 42, 17.6 million) were among 11 sites that entered the top 50 for the first time in October.

September 2023

AP News and Axios were among the top three fastest-growing news sites in the US in September, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly top 50 ranking.

Visits to the website of the UK public broadcaster were up 9% year-on-year to 133.9 million according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

Visits to second-fastest growing AP were up 49% year-on-year to 79.6 million, while third-biggest growing Axios saw visits up 37% to 22.8 million.

US aggregator Newsbreak was however top of the table for growth with visits up 53% to 19.7 million.

The Independent also featured among the fastest-growing sites, coming in tenth place for growth with visits up 17% to 23.1 million. This however was markedly less than August when the British newsbrand's year-on-year growth was 53%.

Among the ten biggest sites by number of visits in September, USA Today was fastest-growing for the second month in a row and climbed three places compared to August to seventh. Visits to the Gannett-owned newsbrand were up 20% to 126.8 million.

Celebrity newsbrand People (122.9 million visits, up 7%) was the only other top ten site to see increased visits in September, and also climbed three places in the ranking (into ninth position).

The New York Times retained its position as the biggest news website in the US for the third month in a row (425 million visits), once again opening up a gap with second-placed CNN (401.2 million visits). CNN saw a bigger month-on-month traffic slump (down 13%) than the New York Times (down 8%).

CNN was historically top until February 2022, when the New York Times saw a jump in visits following its purchase of Wordle, and the broadcaster was briefly top again in June.

Completing the top five, which was unchanged from August, was Microsoft news aggregator MSN (246 million visits), Fox News (241.8 million) and Yahoo Finance (135.8 million). The BBC (120.6 million visits) fell one place to tenth compared to August but maintained a spot among the ten biggest newsbrands in the US.

Other British newbrands in the top 50 included The Guardian (68.7 million visits, rank 18), which saw visits fall 10% year-on-year, and The Sun's US edition (50.2 million, rank 23), where traffic was up 13%.

Despite growing year-on-year, a sharp month-on-month fall in the number of visits at The Independent meant that along with technology site The Verge, the British newsbrand saw the biggest drop in places in September compared to August (both down seven spots).

August 2023

The BBC was one of the fastest-growing top ten websites in the US in August, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly top 50 ranking.

The BBC was outdone, however, by USA Today which saw visits up 23% to 129.4 million. The Gannett-owned newsbrand has seen regular growth in recent months, and this month climbed the ranking into tenth place compared to twelfth place in July.

Similarweb's data captures visits to BBC.com and bbc.co.uk meaning that visits for the BBC's entertainment content will also be included.

USA Today and the BBC were followed by CNN, the only other site in the top ten by number of visits to grow year-on year (461 million visits, up 5%).

Washington Post (139.8 million, down 11%) and Google News (147.9 million, down 17%) were in contrast the biggest fallers among the top ten sites.

The New York Times maintained its title as the biggest news website in the US for the second month in a row, although its lead over CNN fell to just 800,000 as CNN saw a bigger month-on-month traffic boost (11% versus 5%). CNN was historically top until February 2022, as the New York Times saw a jump in visits following its purchase of Wordle, and the broadcaster was briefly top again in June.

Microsoft news aggregator Msn.com (270.6 million visits), foxnews.com (268.8 million) and Yahoo Finance (155.9 million) make up the remainder of the top five.

Among the top 50 as a whole, AP saw the highest year-on-year growth with visits up 85% to 55.6 million, echoing its leading position for growth in our global ranking.

It was followed by cbsnews.com (67.8 million, up 54%) and independent.co.uk (30.6 million, up 53%).

The Sun's US edition, which has regularly featured among the fastest-growing sites in the US top 50 in the past year, this month recorded a drop as visits to the-sun.com were down 9% year-on-year to 49.5 million.

AP saw the biggest jump in rank, climbing four positions to 16 in contrast to last month when it was the biggest faller (dropping four places to 20) while entertainment title Variety (24.4 million, rank 43, down five places) saw the biggest fall in position.

July 2023

The Independent was the joint fastest-growing news website in the US in July, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly top 50 ranking.

Visits to the website of the UK newsbrand were up 69% year-on-year to 31.5 million according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb. The Independent, along with the BBC and The Sun, has recently increased its investment in the US in a bid to tap into the country's large news market.

It was tied for growth with US broadcasting giant CBS News, which also saw visits up 69% year-on-year to 71.5 million.

Third fastest-growing was celebrity news-focused People.com (131.9 million visits, up 55% year-on-year) which jumped three places compared to June's ranking to enter the list of the top ten biggest sites in the US in July.

The Sun's US edition, which has regularly featured among the fastest-growing sites in the US top 50 in the past year, was the seventh fastest-growing in July as visits to the-sun.com were up 33% year-on-year to 54.7 million.

Sfgate.com, the website of Hearst's San Francisco Chronicle, saw the biggest jump in rank, climbing eight positions to 33 (33.7 million visits), while AP (67.3 million visits, rank 20, down four places) and ABC News (39.5 million, rank 31, down five places) saw the biggest falls in position.

The New York Times overtook CNN to resume its title as the biggest news website in the US by number of visits. CNN was historically top until February 2022, as the New York Times saw a jump in visits following its purchase of Wordle. But CNN was briefly top again in June.

In July there were 441.6 million visits to the New York Times website, compared to 415.2 for CNN.com, but both did see a fall in traffic by 4% and 9% respectively year-on-year.

The remaining top five sites - msn.com (269.6 million visits), foxnews.com (262.1 million) and nypost.com (153.5 million) - saw their positions in the ranking unchanged from June.

The BBC, which climbed one place in June to sixth position, fell two places to eighth with 134.6 million visits, a year-on-year fall of 7%. Similarweb's data captures visits to BBC.com and bbc.co.uk meaning that visits for the BBC's entertainment content will also be included.

Among the sites that saw the biggest falls in traffic this month were conservative US publisher Daily Wire (down 36% year-on-year to 21 million visits) and bloomberg.com (29.1 million visits, down 24% year-on-year).

Among the ten biggest websites, only Dotdash Meredith-owned website People.com and the BBC (134.6 million visits, up 7%) grew year-on-year.

Press Gazette uses Similarweb data for its US and worldwide top 50 English-language news ranking stories so we can compare figures across publishers, who differ in how they measure their own audience data.

June 2023

CNN overtook the New York Times to become the biggest news website in the US in June, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly top 50 ranking.

Historically CNN had been above the New York Times but the newspaper brand overtook the broadcaster in February 2022 after it bought the Wordle game and had remained above ever since.

Visits to the CNN website were up 5% year-on-year to 458 million in June, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

Visits to the New York Times website meanwhile were down 9% to 423.2 million pushing the newspaper brand into second position. In recent months, CNN has been closing the gap on the New York Times as web traffic to nytimes.com has consistently fallen compared to 2022, possibly in part due to falling interest in the popular game Wordle.

CNN and the New York Times were among several websites that changed ranks among the top ten.

The BBC climbed one place in June to sixth position as visits to the UK broadcaster's website were up 26% year-on-year (152.7 million visits). It was the fastest-growing top ten brand by number of visits. While Similarweb's data captures visits to BBC.com meaning that visits for the BBC's entertainment content will also be included, the corporation has recently ramped up its editorial presence in the US.

Microsoft aggregator MSN and Fox News meanwhile swapped positions in June. MSN climbed to third place with 289.5 million visits (up 6% year-on-year) while Fox News (276.5 million, down 5%) fell to rank four.

Among the ten biggest websites, USA Today was the second-fastest for growth (124.8 million visits, up 23%). The Gannett-owned brand was the only large news site other than the BBC to see double-digit audience growth in June. USA Today climbed three places in June to enter the top ten in tenth position.

Across the top 50 as a whole, cbsnews.com was the fastest-growing (75.5 million visits, up 71% year-on-year). The news website of the US broadcaster has enjoyed a recent strong run of growth and was also this month's fastest growing top 50 news website worldwide.

Second-fastest growing in the top 50 was The Sun's US edition (57 million visits, up 69%) while fellow British newsbrand The Independent (35 million visits, up 66%) was fourth-fastest growing. Like the BBC, both have recently invested in ramping up their US presence.

Among the sites that saw the biggest falls in traffic this month were conservative US publisher Daily Wire (down 43% year-on-year to 23.1 million visits) and digital home of Hearst print title San Francisco Chronicle, sfgate.com (24.7 million visits, down 29% year-on-year). Hearst also operates a paywalled premium website serving the city, sfchronicle.com, which is not included in the top 50.

May 2023

The Sun was the fastest-growing newsbrand in the US in May for the second month in a row, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly top 50 ranking.

There were 69 million visits to the website of the UK tabloid's US edition, which launched in 2020, an increase of 80% compared to May last year.

It was followed by cbsnews.com which has similarly enjoyed a recent strong run of growth (58.9 million visits, up 43% year-on-year) and NBC Universal-owned MSNBC (20.1 million visits, up 37%).

Meanwhile, the website of another British newsbrand also seeking to expand further in the US, The Independent, also made the top ten fastest-growing list. Visits to independent.co.uk were up 33% to 29.7 million.

Among the top ten sites by number of visits, there was little year-on-year growth. Visits to the BBC were up 1% to 142.1 million, while MSN saw virtually no change compared to last May (278.5 million visits).

In contrast, much of the top ten saw large falls. The biggest drop was seen by the New York Times (432.1 million visits, down 24% year-on-year) and Google News (144.2 million visits, down 20%).

Yahoo Finance (142 million visits, down 19%), Washington Post (124.8 million, down 19%), Mail Online (118.9 million, down 10%) and celebrity-focused site People (116.3 million, down 13%) also saw double-digit falls.

The New York Times maintained its spot at the top of the table, although second-place CNN continues to close the gap. CNN grew 3% month-on-month while the New York Times' audience was largely static. The New York Times' fall in traffic is possibly linked to declining interest in the Wordle puzzle and, like other titles, less news interest compared to the early months of the Ukraine war last year.

While the ranking of the top five brands remained unchanged, with Fox News, MSN and New York Post rounding out the top five, the BBC fell one place to rank seven after climbing last month, while Google News was up to rank six.

April 2023

The Sun's US edition retook its place at the top of the list as the fastest-growing newsbrand in the US in April, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly top 50 ranking.

Last month the US edition of the UK tabloid was third-fastest growing behind Substack and CBS News. It last topped the list for fastest-growing site in October last year. 

Second fastest-growing in April was CBS News which has similarly enjoyed a recent strong run of growth (51.9 million visits in April, up 51%), according to data from digital intelligence platform, Similarweb.

Among the ten largest sites by number of visits, fastest growing was USA Today up 26% to 118.8 million. 

It was followed by News Corp-owned Fox News. Visits to the site were up 5% year-on-year to 290.9 million, amid a series of legal controversies involving the cable broadcaster concerning the 2020 US election. 

No other top ten site saw visits increase in April. In contrast a number of them  - washingtonpost.com (121.2 million visits, down 14% year-on-year), Google News (137.6 million, down 19%), Yahoo Finance (128.9 million, down 19%) and the New York Times (430.2 million visits, down 26%) - saw double-digit falls in visits. 

The New York Times' continued fall in traffic is possibly linked to falling interest in Wordle and, like other titles, a loss of the audience boost that came with the early months of the Ukraine war last year.

Despite falling traffic, the New York Times maintained its spot as the biggest site in the US followed by CNN (416.7 million visits), Fox News and msn.com (261 million visits). 

Despite a small drop in visits the BBC (down 1% year-on-year, 138.2 million visits) climbed two places in the ranking compared to March - coming in sixth position in April. The BBC recently stepped up its editorial investment in the US.

March 2023

The New York Times saw the biggest drop in US traffic among the top 50 websites in the country in March, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly ranking.

The number of visits to nytimes.com fell 35% to 452.4 million - echoing both a similar fall in Press Gazette's global top 50 ranking and the site's 21% fall in February's US ranking. 

The decline is potentially linked to declining interest in word game Wordle, which went viral early last year and quickly snapped up by the New York Times, and a widespread fall in year-on-year traffic comparisons following a surge in news interest about Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The New York Times was also one of eight top ten sites by number of visits that saw a fall in traffic in March, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb. 

The site with the second largest year-on-year fall in the top ten was Google News (146.9 million visits, down 25%) followed by washingtonpost.com (127.4 million visits, down 23%), cnn.com (446.2 million visits, also down 23%) and bbc.com and bbc.co.uk (141.7 million visits, down 21%).

CNBC was the fastest-growing top ten site (128.9 million visits, up 9% year-on-year).

Within the overall top 50, the fastest-growing site was newsletter platform Substack to which US visits were up 37% to 30.3 million. Second-fastest growing was cbsnews.com (52.8 million visits, up 32%) while the Sun's US edition came in third (63.6 million, up 27%) continuing its run of rapid growth since launching across the Atlantic in 2020.

Despite its year-on-year audience fall, the New York Times remains the largest site by number of visits in the US top 50. It was followed by CNN, foxnews.com (305.6 million) and msn.com (297.8 million visits). Fox News rose one place up March's ranking to displace MSN from third place.  

Yahoo Finance (148.4 million visits, rank six), Google News (rank seven) and cnbc.com (rank ten) were the other sites at the top of the table to climb up the ranking in March. 

The Sun US edition saw the largest drop in places among the top 50, falling from rank 15 in February to rank 20 in March although it's year-on-year growth continued to be strong. 

February 2023

The Sun's US edition was one of the fastest-growing websites in the US in February, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly ranking.

The number of visits to the US edition of the UK tabloid were up 56% to reach 71.5 million in February, making it the second fastest-growing site in the US top 50. The Sun's US edition has grown rapidly since launching in the US in 2020 and is now ranked 15th in the US top 50 - a gain of four places since last month. 

Fastest-growing was entertainment site Variety.com (27.4 million visits, up 67%), according to data from digital intelligence platform, Similarweb, while cbsnews.com was third-fastest growing (47 million visits, up 43%).

The New York Times, which has regularly appeared among the fastest-growing sites in this ranking in the past year, saw its traffic fall by 21% to 418.6 million in February - reflective of its global traffic trend.

Among the top ten sites by audience size, only three saw an increase in traffic. They were people.com (up 36% year-on-year to 122.1 million), nypost.com (up 12% to 151.1 million) and Microsoft news aggregator MSN (up 9% to 298.3 million).

Despite the large fall in visits, The New York Times retained its spot at the top of the ranking for number of visits. It was followed by CNN (400.3 million visits), msn.com and foxnews.com (291.3 million). 

This month, News Corp-owned nypost.com (151.1 million visits, up 12% year-on-year) entered the top five, displacing Google News which fell to eighth place (131.1 million visits, down 26%).

The BBC climbed one place in the ranking to sixth (135.8 million, down 10% year-on-year).  

Today.com (24.7 million visits, up 33% year-on-year) saw the biggest jump in rank, climbing six places to rank 39. 

The site of celebrity and entertainment magazine Us Weekly (Usmagazine.com) meanwhile saw the biggest drop, falling eight places to rank 50 (18.3 million visits, down 23% year-on-year). 

January 2023

CBS News was for the second month in a row the fastest-growing news site in the US, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly ranking.

The number of visits to the website of the US broadcaster were up 79% year-on-year to 56.7 million in January. 

It was followed by the nytimes.com (488.3 million visits, up 50% year-on-year), entertainment news provider variety.com (31.4 million visits, up 43%) and the-sun.com (62.7 million visits, up 40%). 

The Sun's US edition has grown rapidly since launching in the US in 2020. The site's audience has more than quadrupled in the last two years from just under 13 million 24 months ago. 

Among just the top ten sites by audience size, the New York Times was again the fastest-growing (CBS ranks 22nd). It was followed by msn.com (406.4 million visits, up 37%), People.com (139.6 million, up 31%), nypost.com (162.4 million, up 14%) and combined visits to bbc.com & bbc.co.uk (149.8 million, up 11%). 

The New York Times retained its spot at the top of the ranking for number of visits in a top five that remained unchanged from last month. It was followed by CNN (482.6 million visits), msn.com (406.4 million), foxnews.com (326 million) and Google News (166.6 million). 

Among the sites that saw the biggest jumps in rank in January, compared to the previous month were three local news sites that each jumped six places. The website of the Los Angeles Times (38.3 million visits climbed to 29th place),  San Francisco's sfgate.com (34.1 million visits) climbed to rank 32, while Utah local ksl.com (22 million visits was up to 44th place. 

The Atlantic's website (27.6 million visits) saw the largest drop (down 7 places to 38, while today.com (22 million visits) fell 5 places to rank 45. 

Two sites that did not make December's top 50 entered the list this month. They were conservative news sites epochtimes.com (23.3 million visits) which entered in 43 place and Advance's New Jersey site, nj.com (18.7 million visits) which entered in 50th position. 

December 2022

Two British newsbrands featured among the top five fastest-growing top ten newsbrands in the US in December, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly ranking.

The number of visits to Mail Online were up 14% year-on-year to 131.9 million making it the third-fastest growing site.

Visits to the BBC were up 11% to reach 141.1 million, making it the fourth-fastest growing. The BBC has in recent months seen consistent growth in its US traffic, having stepped up its editorial investment in the US.

Taking the top spot for growth among the ten biggest sites was once again the New York Times. Visits to nytimes.com increased 57% year-on-year to 488.4 million, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

Second-fastest growing for another month meanwhile was Microsoft's news aggregator msn.com (385.4 million visits, up 29%).

The New York Times retained its spot at the top of the ranking for number of visits, while CNN maintained its second place (448.6 million visits) and msn.com its third spot.

Washingtonpost.com (144.6 million visits) dropped two ranks from sixth place in November to eighth this month, swapping places with nypost.com (152 million visits).

The Sun's US edition was among the news sites that saw the biggest jump in rank between November and December. The-sun.com climbed five places to rank 18 in December with 62.2 million visits, up 49% year-on-year.

Substack.com (27 million visits) and today.com (25.9 million visits) also saw large changes in rank, climbing six and eight places respectively.

Among the whole top 50 list, the fastest-growing news website in December was cbsnews.com (51.3 million visits, up 84% year-on-year). It was followed by entertainment newsbrand variety.com (29.1 million visits, up 65%) and last month's fastest-growing site nytimes.com. The-sun.com was fourth fastest-growing.

The only site not in November's top 50 ranking to enter the list this month was celebrity news specialist Us Weekly. There were 22.4 million visits to its site usmagazine.com (rank 46).

November 2022

The New York Times was the fastest-growing news website in the US in November while the BBC was one of the strongest-performing large websites , according to Press Gazette's latest monthly ranking. 

Of the top ten biggest English-language sites by number of visits, the New York Times grew the most year-on-year (535.1 million visits (up 81%), according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb. 

The NYT was followed by Microsoft news aggregator, msn.com (383.9 million visits, up 36%) and the BBC (140.7  million visits, up 22%). Fourth fastest-growing among the top ten was CNN with 506.8 million visits (up 14% year-on-year). 

Although the BBC sites saw slightly less visits in November compared to October, the UK public broadcaster has been among the top three large sites in the US for year-on-year growth since September. The BBC has in recent months ramped up its investment in the US, doubling its editorial staff.

[Read more: How the BBC plans to crack US news (without getting sucked into the culture wars)]

In total eight of the top ten sites in the US saw more traffic in November than the same month last year, echoing the pattern seen in Press Gazette's global ranking this month.   

The New York Times retained its spot at the top of the ranking for number of visits, with the frontrunners largely unchanged from the previous month. 

The BBC did, however, drop one position to ninth rank, while nypost.com climbed up one spot to rank eighth (143.2 million visits). 

CNN was the second-largest website in the US, while third-largest was MSN. Foxnews.com (340.5 million visits) and Google News (165 million visits) rounded out the top five on this measure. 

Politico.com (rank 21, 61.4 million visits) and right-wing news site thegatewaypundit.com (rank 37, 28.1 million visits) jumped the most places this month, with both news sites climbing six positions in the ranking. 

Fastest-growing among the top 50 as a whole after nytimes.com was cbsnews.com (50.8 million visits, up 73%) followed by entertainment news publisher variety.com (26.1 million visits, up 60%). 

Last month's fastest growing site in the US top 50, the-sun.com, was the eighth-fastest growing site year-on-year in November. The US digital version of the UK tabloid saw visits up 36% year-on-year to 54.1 million.

[Read more: US Sun bosses say 'we've got incredibly ambitious aspirations' as early work pays off in traffic and profit]

October 2022

The Sun regained its title as the fastest-growing news website in the US in October while the BBC continued its strong run of growth, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly ranking. 

Of the top ten biggest English-language sites by number of visits, the New York Times maintained its spot as the fastest-growing with 470.8m visits (up 67%), according to data from digital intelligence platform, Similarweb.

It was followed, however, by last month's third-fastest growing site, the BBC, which grew 30% year-on-year (149.4m visits) to become October's second-fastest growing large site.

It comes as the BBC has ramped up investment in the US in recent months, doubling its editorial staff.

Third fastest-growing among the top ten was Microsoft's news aggregator MSN.com with 321.9m visits (up 16% year-on-year), while the Washington Post (157m visits, up 12%) and CNBC (113.3m visits, up 8%) rounded out the top five on this measure. 

Among the top ten newsbrands by number of visits in October, six recorded year-on-year traffic increases in October, with four recording growth in the double-digits. Fox News meanwhile recorded the largest drop among the top ten (264.5m visits, down 15% year-on-year).

When it comes to the largest site by number of visits, The New York Times retained its spot at the top of a table that remained largely unchanged from last month. The only change in the top ten was CNBC jumping two places to enter in tenth spot, replacing Mail Online.

CNN was again the second-largest website in the US (413m visits, up 1%), while third-largest was MSN.

Newsweek's site saw the biggest overall drop in rank, falling 12 places to rank 33rd with 32.8m visits, a 34% fall year-on-year.

Among the top 50 as a whole, the Sun's US edition the-sun.com regained its spot as the fastest-growing news website in the US (51 million visits, up 72% year-on-year).

It was followed by long-running politics blog realclearpolitics.com (21.1m visits, up 70%) and the New York Times. 

For the second month in a row the majority (30) of the top 50 news sites saw year-on-year growth in the number of visits than falls. The US midterm elections may be a contributing factor to the increased interest in news.

September 2022

The BBC and the Mail Online were among the top three fastest-growing large newsbrands in the US in September, according to Press Gazette's latest monthly ranking. 

Of the top ten biggest English-language sites by number of visits, Mail Online was second-fastest growing with 116.8 million visits (an increase of 22% year-on-year), while the BBC was third fastest-growing with 142 million visits (up 21% year-on-year), according to data from digital intelligence platform, Similarweb. 

They were however both beaten by the New York Times, which once again was the fastest-growing top ten site in the US (457.3 million visits, up 58%). Since acquiring word game Wordle in the first part of this year, the New York Times has seen a consistent run of audience growth. 

September was a better month for US traffic to the larger newsbrands than August, with seven of the ten biggest brands recording year-on-year growth in audience, compared to just four in August. Additionally five newsbrands (New York Times, Mail Online, BBC, New York Post and MSN) recorded double-digit growth. 

When it comes to the largest site by number of visits, The New York Times retained its spot at the top of the table. It was followed by CNN (419.7 million visits, up 1%) over which it extended its margin compared to August.

Third-biggest was Microsoft's aggregator MSN (299.9 million visits, up 11%), fourth-biggest was foxnews.com (258.4 million visits, down 17%) while fifth-biggest was Google News (166.5 million visits, down 6%). 

Among the top 50 as a whole, last month's fastest-growing site, the Sun's US edition, the-sun.com came in second place for growth this time (44.6 million visits, up 90% year-on-year). Newsletter platform Substack meanwhile was eighth-fastest growing with 21.5 million visits (up 30%). 

In a departure from recent months, just over half of news sites (26) saw year-on-year growth in the number of visits. This is possibly linked to a busy US news agenda in recent weeks, with stories such as Hurricane Ian and the slowdown in the global economy likely driving increased interest in news. 

August 2022

The Sun's US edition was the fastest-growing site in the US in August, according to the latest monthly ranking of sites by Press Gazette.

There were 55.3 million visits to the-sun.com, a 150% increase year-on-year, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

The UK tabloid launched its US digital edition in 2020 along with a separate US Twitter account which currently counts 9,222 followers. The Sun's US site has seen steady growth since launch and has risen to twentieth place in our US news ranking.

The-sun.com was also the fastest growing site month-on-month with visits in August up 34% compared to July.

Of the top ten sites by number of visits, just four saw year-on-year growth in August. For the second month in a row, the New York Times, New York Post and Mail Online all saw double-digit growth. Visits to the New York Times were up 52% year-on-year to 468.7 million, while second and third-fastest growing were the New York Post (146.7 million visits, up 26%) and Mail Online (117 million visits, up 14%).

Microsoft's news aggregator MSN was the only other site in the top ten to grow in August (292.6 million visits, up 6% year-on-year).

The New York Times remains the largest site in the US by number of visits. The legacy publisher has grown in popularity, earlier this year replacing CNN as the most popular digital newsbrand in the country. Its recent growth, as Press Gazette has reported, may in part be due to its acquisition of popular word game Wordle in the first quarter of this year.

The second-biggest site for number of visits was CNN (438.6 million visits, down 5% year-on-year) while in third place was Rupert Murdoch's Fox News (294.3 million visits, down 10% year-on-year). MSN and Google News round out the top five.

The BBC sites (bbc.co.uk and bbc.com) were the best-ranked British domains among the US top 50 (rank nine, 123.2 million visits). It narrowly beat Mail Online (tenth place).

Like July, August was overall a slow month ...

USA News Today