Measure views and feature popular content
Top 10 Pro extends WordPress popular-content tools by tracking views and helping you present the posts, pages, and custom post types that receive the most attention. Tracking data is stored locally in the WordPress database, with no external services involved. The plugin can display popular content through blocks, widgets, shortcodes, and template functions.
Its core view-counting features support hourly tracking for posts, pages, and custom post types. Popular content can be organized by total counts or by custom time periods, giving site owners ways to create overall or time-specific lists. Top 10 also provides dashboard views for daily and overall popular posts, plus sortable view-count columns in post and page lists.
Pro tracking and performance controls
Top 10 Pro adds alternative tracking methods intended for fast and high-traffic sites. Site-wide tracking extends measurement beyond individual content to the front page, posts page, archives, and searches. Query optimization includes the MySQL MAX_EXECUTION_TIME directive, which can be configured through settings and the top_ten_query_max_execution_time filter.
The data retention period can be customized. The supplied default is 180 days, and the TOP_TEN_STORE_DATA setting can be used for the retention override. Pro also includes lazy loading for popular-post lists. Lists can render through JavaScript when they are about to scroll into view, helping full-page caching plugins serve pages without embedding a live popular-posts query. Lazy loading works with content, shortcodes, widgets, and the Popular Posts block, and can be disabled per instance with the lazy_load shortcode or block attribute.
Blocks, widgets, and display options
The plugin includes a dedicated Popular Posts block with configurable display options, as well as a Top 10 Query block for querying and displaying popular posts directly from the block or site editor. The enhanced Top 10 Featured Image block supports multiple image sources with fallbacks. Popular Posts block enhancements include saving and clearing default block settings with a single click, plus automatic insertion of default and global settings.
Widgets can show daily and overall popular posts with extensive customization. Shortcodes include [tptn_list] for popular-post lists and [tptn_views] for view counts. Template functions provide another option for developers integrating output into theme templates.
Practical workflow
- Enable tracking for the content and site-wide locations you want to measure.
- Choose total counts or a custom time period for popular-post queries.
- Present results with a block, widget, shortcode, or template function.
- Use thumbnails from WordPress post thumbnails, the first image in content, or manual thumbnail URLs.
- Exclude posts by category or post ID, and apply custom CSS through settings or included styles.
- Use export and import tools to restore count tables and settings on the same site or other installs.
Installation and administration
Install and activate Top 10 Pro in WordPress, then configure tracking, display, retention, and performance settings from the plugin’s administration interface. The plugin also supports multisite dashboards with network-wide aggregated statistics and provides WordPress actions and filters for customizing queries, tracking behavior, and output rendering.
