Every year, Slate rounds up its most-read stories, and the list can be revealing. In 2009, readers hungered for tales of the new Obama presidency. This year, not so much. Perhaps you were drowning your political sorrows in front of the TV—our Lost and Mad Men “TV Clubs” both made the list. Other popular stories explored offbeat topics, like the uselessness of expiration dates, or the habits of vacationing nudists, or—in our most-read story of the year—the loneliest man on the planet. Readers were also drawn to our enterprise reporting, like Emily Bazelon’s series on Phoebe Prince and Timothy Noah’s slide show about inequality in America. Below, you’ll find a list of the 10 articles and 10 slide shows that attracted the most readers this year.
10 Most Popular Articles
1. The Most Isolated Man on the Planet
He’s alone in the Brazilian Amazon, but for how long?
By Monte Reel
2. Mad Men, Season 4
Slate’s “TV Club” on the AMC show.
By Michael Agger, John Swansburg, and Julia Turner
3. Ignore Expiration Dates
“Best by,” “Sell by,” and all those other labels mean very little.
By Nadia Arumugam
4. Bare-Naked Lady
My vacation at a nudist camp.
By Emily Yoffe
5. Lost, Season 6
Slate’s “TV Club” on the ABC show.
By Chadwick Matlin, Jack Shafer, and Seth Stevenson
6. Suicide in South Hadley
Six teenagers have been charged with bullying Phoebe Prince. What about the adults who knew it was going on?
By Emily Bazelon
7. The Big Red Word vs. the Little Green Man
The international war over exit signs.
By Julia Turner
8. What Really Happened to Phoebe Prince
The untold story of her suicide.
By Emily Bazelon
9. The World’s Worst Ecological Disasters
Stopping the BP oil leak looks easy compared with these ongoing catastrophes.
By Joshua E. Keating
10. My Mom the Centerfold
Prudie advises a kid who’s conflicted after finding erotic photos on the family PC.
By Emily Yoffe
10 Most Popular Slide Shows
1. What Really Happened to Phoebe Prince?
South Hadley and the students involved.
By Emily Bazelon
2. A Brief History of the Bikini
How a tiny swimsuit took America by storm.
By Julia Turner
3. These Short-Shorts Are Empowering!
A slide show of embarrassing tampon ad clichés.
By Allison Silverman
4. How Slate Edited History
Tampering with photographs and political memories.
By William Saletan
5. Dream Team
The European approach to teens, sex, and love, in pictures.
By Rachael Phelps
6. A Short History of Mug Shots
From Leon Trotsky to Johnny Cash to Jane Fonda.
7. The Great Divergence in Pictures
A visual guide to income inequality.
By Catherine Mulbrandon and Timothy Noah
8. Elizabeth the Ubiquitous
Who hasn’t been photographed with the Queen of England?
By Jonathan Rapoport
9. American Ruins
Nature is taking back these buildings.
By Camilo Jose Vergara
10. Tokyo Hooters Girls
The burgers, beer, and boobs chain opens in Japan.
By Paige Ferrari
