Week 50, 2011: Charts of the Week

Summary: For the final chart of 2011, we've put together a "Chart of the Chart of the Week", capturing the ups and downs of the first year of the ERC's Chart of the Week.

What does the chart show? The blue line shows an indexed measure of total page views for each chart of the week, where a value of 100 represents the average for the whole period (marked by the dotted red line). Views of the main Chart of the Week page while each chart was featured were counted alongside views of each chart's individual page.

Why is the chart interesting? Because it is about the most interesting topic possible - the ERC's Chart of the Week!

There is a natural bias towards the earlier charts, as they have had more time to be viewed, but nevertheless there are a couple of clear favourites. The chart from the 1st July, on Average Weekly Earnings, turned out to be a very popular one (although only 2% of views of this chart happened in the week when it was Chart of the Week - most came much later). The most popular chart of 2011 though was the one from the 29th July on the GDP of the UK by sector. This one was more popular than the average weekly earnings chart when it initially came out, but it still achieved the vast majority (96%) of its views after the week it was published.

The third most popular chart was the first ever Chart of the Week, showing UK Government revenue and spending over the past 45 years. This did get passed around on twitter a fair bit, but has also probably benefited from having the most time to be viewed out of any of the charts.

Have a merry Christmas, a very good New Year, and we'll be back in 2012!