A recent post at IFNB showing a Mr Alpha contestant and his support assistant
celebrating victory with a cup of juice.
According to my Blogger 'hit stats', out of all the mitchmen articles published to date,
those registering the most hits during 2019 were as shown below.
those registering the most hits during 2019 were as shown below.
Table 1 – mitchmen Articles with Most Hits in 2019
Position (& last year) | Article | Published | Hits in 2019 | Hits in 2018 |
1 (6) | 2018 | 11665 | 2516 | |
2 (3) | 2017 | 9421 | 4406 | |
3 (2) | 2012 | 7119 | 5722 | |
4 (1) | 2008 | 7007 | 6574 | |
5 (-) | 2018 | 5955 | 974 | |
6 (-) | The Art of Homoeros – 6 (cross ) | 2018 | 4593 | 699 |
7 (5) | 2009 | 3880 | 2836 | |
8 (10) | 2009 | 3298 | 2208 | |
9 (7) | 2009 | 2936 | 2507 | |
10 (-) | 2019 | 2820 | - | |
11 (4) | 2010 | 2697 | 2894 | |
12 (-) | The Art of Homoeros -1 (beefcake) | 2018 | 2592 | 1110 |
13 (-) | 2017 | 2536 | 1686 | |
14 (-) | 2018 | 2328 | 867 | |
15 (11) | Mitchell A Christmas Criminal (ep 1-5) | 2015 | 2256 | 2169 |
16 (-) | 2019 | 2238 | 50 (est) | |
17 (8) | Hunk Hunt – Mitch Colby 5 (spank GIF) | 2017 | 1954 | 2489 |
18 (-) | 2018 | 1933 | 1045 | |
19 (-) | 2014 | 1778 | 799 | |
20 (-) | The Art of Homoeros – 4 (abused) | 2018 | 1741 | 861 |
21 (12) | 2010 | 1686 | 1691 | |
22 (18 ) | 2009 | 1622 | 1311 | |
23 (13) | 2010 | 1571 | 1550 | |
24 (9) | 2014 | 1567 | 2217 | |
25 (-) | 2017 | 1524 | 888 | |
26 (16) | 2014 | 1459 | 1342 | |
27= (19 =) | 2009 | 1392 | 1202 | |
27= (-) | 2018 | 1392 | 864 | |
29 (-) | 2019 | 1302 | - | |
30 | 2018 | 1284 | 477 |
This table only shows hits registered during 2019 but for all articles, not just those first published in 2019. The titles in all the tables link to the original posts. Please tell me if you have difficulty with any links. Stats collected 31/12/19
These tables are usually dominated by the older articles on classic artists, but this year relative newcomers have overturned that. IFNB A Fantasy World of BodyBuilders, in it's first full year captured the top spot overtaking the original Milking Factory article which was already poised for success last year at No3. IFNB finished ahead by a substantial margin. There was an equally large gap down toPriapus of Milet-1 at No 3 (down 1 place). The phenomenal popularity of the IFNB and Milking Factory posts was very obvious to me during the year and the winning total was 75% higher than last year's winner A-Z of Fetish Artists – Cavelo (down to 4). Cavelo recorded just under 10% more hits but that wasn't anywhere near enough to hold back the new wave, or to prevent Priapus of Milet - 1 regaining the upper hand in their 3 year tussle. Priapus showed a 25% rise in hits which was the same as the overall increase in visits to the blog.
While The Milking Factory was pipped for top spot there was compensation of sorts from 3 other posts in the series which came in at 5, 10 and 14. With 2 further articles in the series appearing in the 2019 new articles list, this is definitely 'The Year of the Milking Factory'.
The other tsunami to sweep the chart this year was of course Homoeros who snatched 4 places (6, 12, 16, 20) including the surprise success of the Homoeros Gallery article which I talked about in the new articles list. His crucifixion images (The Art of Homoeros – 6) seem to attract most interest, more than double that of the first article in the series (The Art of Homoeros -1) which is a good indicator of the interest in his wider work.
Given the dominance of these multi-part series I'm also showing, this year, the next 10 articles in the table who might otherwise have made the higher positions. Most of these are ejectees from the 2018 top 20 but there are some interesting new entrants towards the bottom.
The notable (and gratifying) increase in visits to the blog recently (they've doubled in the last 3years) has helped to drive up the hit rates for new articles. The top 20 cut-off figure this year was 1741, compared with last years 1202, and this puts the historic performance of older articles under pressure. It will be interesting to see what the cumulative hit chart looks like this year. The visits picture this year went a bit crazy with extreme fluctuations from month to month which I can't explain. It doesn't seem to relate to the new posts I am making, because most visitors still go to the older stuff, as you will see if you look at the top 10 gadget which I added this year. The modest presence of two 2019 articles in the top 20 also reflects this preference.
One casualty of this turmoil was former perennial chart-topper Mike Carcel which dropped to No 11 with a small decline in new hits for the second consecutive year. I have lost track of where he is posting now (if anywhere) which may account for this dip. However Cavelo, Jotto, Julius and The Hun made a good fist of defending the 'old school' presence with decent increases in views. That was supplemented by the unexpected appearance of Teddy of Paris at No19. It's the first time he has registered in any of these charts and I'm absolutely delighted that his superb art is still garnering admirers. The continuing high levels of interest in traditional, fetish art sets the bar for new arrivals who have yet to show their own durability.
Two other distinctive representatives of the new wave made also welcome entries this year Chirenon 'A New Life For Our Airforce Boys' and The Art of Sparkieshock are representatives of fetish-inspired art that's very much of the 21st century
On a personal note it's nice to see A Christmas Criminal (ep 1-5) hanging on to a top 20 spot at 15. This article also effectively carried the flag for spanking this year. I don't regard myself as a spanking artist, but it features prominently in this particular story. There was also spanking support from Hunk Hunt – Mitch Colby 5 (which contains a spanking GIF). Mitch Colby (no relation!) is also the sole wrestling representative in the list and his is the only photography article. Of the rest, 3 articles are photo-manips, 11 are computer based art and 5 traditional art. It adds up to a resounding vote for imaginative, creative art.
That conclusion is reinforced by the 'Index of Artists' Page which recorded 13951 hits in 2019 (up 30%). This feature of the blog (introduced in 2015) is probably mainly responsible for the increase in visits overall, total blog visits this year were 696K, up 24% from 2018.The growth also coincides to some extent with a switch of focus at the blog from traditional, historic fetish art to more modern exponents as the A-Z series came to a close. Either way I'm glad visitors are finding the index useful and hope it will lead many more newcomers to a fantastic heritage of gay art they never saw before.
Total mitchmen blog visits for all years are now 3.57 million (2.88)
Next time I will reveal the all time table of cumulative hits
did Mike Carcel keep his spot at the top?
Thanks to all of you for your continuing interest and support.