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| IFNB - A Competition Hopeful, Well Pleased with his Progress |
Above, an image from the now-defunct IFNB blog (this year's top article) with artwork on the wall by Matt who also figures in the table at No 19. If you're unfamiliar with IFNB (The International Federation of Naked Bodybuilders) click on the link in the table entry below to read the mitchmen review of the organisation.
The table lists the 20 most visited mitchmen posts during 2021. Commentary notes follow.
(Titles have links to the original posts, overall hits in third column, ranking position based on annualised rate of hits in column 4 ).
TABLE 1 - Top 20 Posts at mitchmen (2021)
Rank (last yr) | Title (+link) | Total Hits | Last year | Pub Date | Note |
1 (2) | 11987 | 9435 | 2018 | 1 | |
2 (3) | 9931 | 8863 | 2017 | 2 | |
3 (5) | 7396 | 7803 | 2018 | 3 | |
4 (4) | 6051 | 8037 | 2018 | 2 | |
5 (16) | 5022 | 2103 | 2020 | 4 | |
6 (10) | 4562 | 3407 | 2020 | 5 | |
7 (-) | 4053 | 1671 | 2020 | 5 | |
8 (8) | 3515 | 4515 | 2019 | 2 | |
9 (9) | 3389 | 3732 | 2008 | 7 | |
10 (7) | 3116 | 4583 | 2012 | 7 | |
11 (19) | 2533 | 1735 | 2010 | 7 | |
12 (-) | Come and Get It! (Royale Studios Archive) | 2304 | - | 2021 | 6 |
13 (13) | 2287 | 2412 | 2019 | 2 | |
14 (-) | 2210 | - | 2021 | 6 | |
15 (-) | 2170 | 1134 | 2020 | 5 | |
16 (-) | The Art of Amalaric – 3 Hunks & Manipulators | 2169 | 1146 | 2020 | 4 |
17 (-) | 2122 | - | 2021 | 6 | |
18 (14) | 2076 | 2380 | 2018 | 2 | |
19 (-) | 2064 | 822 | 2019 | 8 | |
20 (-) | 2040 | 760 | 2020 | 1 |
(Stats collected on 31st December 2021)
1
This year the mitchmen review of IFNB reclaimed the top spot it surrendered in last year's table to the surprise, record-breaking 'Etienne/Stephen article index' (which had 15671 hits last year). IFNB this year logged the 2nd biggest hit count ever recorded for a single year at mitchmen. For good measure the follow-up mitchmen article, 'IFNB Revisited' nudged into the chart at 20th position in it's first full year of recording hits. In view of the disappearance of this marvellous and very popular blog I'm considering doing a 3rd IFNB feature sometime.
N.B. 'Etienne/Stephen article index, last year's toppled winner (whose sudden popularity then both surprised and bemused me) turned in another reasonable performance by normal standards this year, but not quite enough to stay in the top 20, finishing at 23.
2
Milking Factories Nos 1&3 also reclaimed their former lofty positions just behind IFNB. Articles from this much-followed series continued to dominate the table, occuping 5 of the top 20 positions and maintaining similar rankings to last year. This sustained popularity speaks for itself.
3
Homoeros Gallery Guide (another article whose popularity seems bafflingly at variance with the rather dry content) managed to grab 3rd place. A couple of years ago this artist dominated this list but the last two other articles on his artist's work were pushed out by an influx of 8 newcomers,
To look at other charts for earlier years click on the MPP label at the foot of this post.
4
The lead article from the on-going mitchmen review of the Art of Amalaric, 'A Slave to Passion' topped the new posts table (MPP1) last year and continued to score heavily in this, it's first full year of hits. It rose to 5th place, overtaking Brosfate-3, it's rival from 2020, in the process. Another Amalic article 'Hunks and their Manipulators' also entered the chart, taking over 'Passion's 16th place. Other Amalaric articles did well enough to finish just outside the top 20.
5
Although Brosfate lost out to Amalaric in their rivalry this year, you can see that he still has the edge in total hits over the last two years taken together. In addition the other two articles from the Brosfate series at mitchmen both broke into the top 20 in impressive style, helped I suspect by my referencing their kinship with the work of TheMightyFoo and Roa, whose articles both scored well in their 2021 debut year.
6
Roa was one of three new articles from 2021 which broke into this all-comers top 20 chart, despite not having been able to register a full year of hits.The others were Royale Studio (Come and Get it!) and Control Room Violation. ( I discussed these posts in the previous 2021 New Articles post MPP1).
It's not unusual for new articles to score heavily in their first weeks following publication, but it's another matter to sustain it long term. There is still a massive gulf between their counts and those of the leading articles above them, some of which date back over 10 years and yet still turn in big scores year after year.
7
Those articles are of course Cavelo (2008), Mike Carcel (2010) and Priapus of Milet (2012) who occupy a solid block in mid-table. MCarcel seems to have regained momentum after a dip to 19th position last year. The unflagging popularity of these three, quite different artists is amazing but entirely deserved. Sadly Jotto and Baron were amongst the casualties from the 'old brigade' this year, dropping out of the top 20.
Apart from these three the list is filled entirely by articles published in the last 5 years
8
Of all the newcomers to the table this year, the one that delights me most is 'Muscle' Matt at No 19. His delightful, bodybuilding youths are loved by many, but rarely seem to be acknowledged on the net outside of obscure discussion groups. I'm glad mitchmen blog has provided a platform for a retrospective appreciation of his stylish and very amusing sketches. That admiration is reflected too in the IFNB image chosen to top this post.
~
This year's favourites are the usual mix of old and new, with photography, cartoons, renders, photo-manips and traditional art providing an impressive, eclectic range of interests.
As I reported in the last post, overall visits to the blog rose 20% this year and although the winner's total in this table was down on last year, the 20th place, cut off figure rose from 1722 to 2040 (about 18%).
The mitchmen 'Index of Artists' feature recorded 12,263 hits in 2021, up a modest 3% on 2020 but still less than 2019's record 13,951. However it was still visited often enough to have taken top place if I had included it in this general top 20 table above. I'm glad visitors are still finding the index useful and hope it will lead many more newcomers to a fantastic heritage of gay art they didn't know about.
Next time I will reveal the most popular mitchmen post of all time, based on cumulative hits - did Priapus of Milet manage to keep his spot at the top in 2021 or has he been overtaken by IFNB or Milking Factories?
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Keep it tight in 2022!
Thanks to all of you for your continuing interest and support of mitchmen blog.
Keep it tight in 2022!