



1 / 16 Chevron Chevron Illustration by Simon Prades “Dead Certainty,” by Kathryn Schulz (January 25th)

Americans, as you may have heard, like to read about Donald Trump and his family. Readers of The New Yorker are no exception to that rule, but they also like some other things, too, at least according to the data we’ve got here on the most-read stories from the magazine this year. We like sex, we like death, and we like music. We also, it seems, really like to read about food—whether that means restaurant critics or possible frauds. And, of course, we like to read about money: whether it’s about how young Chinese women in Vancouver spend it or how Mr. Money Mustache says you can save it. And, in something of a surprise, our readers really liked to read in midwinter. Three of our most-read stories come from the end of February. Maybe that’s because Trump hadn’t yet come to totally dominate our screens, or maybe it’s because it’s just nice to sip warm tea and read about TMZ as the icicles form.

In any case, here are the sixteen most popular magazine stories of 2016, as measured by the total time that people spent actually reading them. I’ve arranged them chronologically so you can scroll through and remember more innocent times.