ronantakizawa/github-top-projects

GitHub Trending Projects (2013-2025)

A comprehensive dataset of 423,098 GitHub trending repository entries spanning 12+ years (August 2013 - November 2025), scraped from Wayback Machine snapshots of GitHub's trending page.

🎯 Dataset Overview

This dataset captures the evolution of GitHub's trending repositories over time, providing insights into:

• —Software development trends across programming languages and domains
• —Popular open-source projects and their trending patterns
• —Community interests and shifts in developer focus over 12 years
• —Viral repository dynamics and sustained popularity patterns

Key Statistics:

• —📊 423,098 trending repository entries
• —🗂️ 14,500 unique repositories
• —📅 128 months of coverage (2013-08 to 2025-11)
• —⭐ 89.8% scraping success rate from Wayback Machine
• —🏆 Pre-processed monthly rankings with weighted scoring

🔧 Dataset Configurations

This dataset has two configurations defined in the YAML header:

Configuration: monthly (Default)

Top 25 repositories per month with 3,200 entries

from datasets import load_dataset
ds = load_dataset('ronantakizawa/github-top-projects', 'monthly')

Columns:

• —month (string): Month (YYYY-MM)
• —rank (int): Monthly rank (1-25)
• —repository (string): Full repository name (owner/name)
• —repo_owner (string): Repository owner
• —repo_name (string): Repository name
• —star_count (int): Maximum recorded stars
• —fork_count (int): Maximum recorded forks
• —ranking_appearances (int): Times appeared in trending that month

Configuration: full

Complete daily trending data with 423,098 entries

from datasets import load_dataset
ds = load_dataset('ronantakizawa/github-top-projects', 'full')

Columns:

• —name (string): Repository name
• —star_count (int): Star count (may be empty for pre-2020)
• —fork_count (int): Fork count (may be empty for pre-2020)
• —repo_owner (string): Repository owner/organization
• —rank (int): Position in trending (1-25)
• —date (string): Snapshot date (YYYY-MM-DD)

🏆 Scoring Methodology

Monthly rankings use a weighted frequency and position-based scoring system:

Score = Σ (25 - rank + 1) for each trending appearance

Where:
- Rank 1 → 25 points
- Rank 2 → 24 points
- ...
- Rank 25 → 1 point

Example:

• —Project appears 10 times at rank #1 → 250 points
• —Project appears 20 times at rank #10 → 320 points (higher ranked!)

This rewards both consistency (frequent appearances) and position (higher ranks).

📊 Data Collection

Source: GitHub Trending page via Wayback Machine (web.archive.org) Period: August 21, 2013 - November 30, 2025 Method: Python web scraping with BeautifulSoup Snapshots: 17,127 successfully scraped from 19,064 available Retry Logic: Up to 15 retries with exponential backoff

🌟 Key Insights

1. All-Time Top 10 Projects (2013-2025)

Notable Pattern: Educational resources dominate all-time rankings. 8 of the top 10 are learning resources (algorithms, interview prep, system design, free books).

2. Recent Champions (2024-2025)

Monthly Winners

Top New Projects (First Appeared 2024+)

361 new projects entered the top 25 in 2024-2025:

3. Era Analysis: Technology Trend Shifts

2013-2014: Web Framework Era

• —Dominant: Bootstrap, Angular.js, jQuery
• —Top 3: twbs/bootstrap (84), atom/atom (75), angular/angular.js (63)
• —Trend: Frontend frameworks and UI libraries ruled

2015-2017: Framework Wars

• —Dominant: FreeCodeCamp, TensorFlow, Vue.js
• —2016 Champion: FreeCodeCamp/FreeCodeCamp (220 score, 9 months at #1)
• —2017 Champion: tensorflow/tensorflow (213 score, 12 months presence)
• —Trend: Education platforms + rise of ML frameworks

2018-2019: Algorithm Renaissance

• —Dominant: Educational algorithm repositories
• —Top: trekhleb/javascript-algorithms, Snailclimb/JavaGuide
• —Viral Hit: 996icu/996.ICU (148 days trending in April 2019)
• —Trend: Shift from tools to learning resources

2020-2021: Learning Platform Dominance

• —Dominant: Interview prep and public APIs
• —COVID Impact: CSSEGISandData/COVID-19 (356 days trending in March 2020!)
• —Top: public-apis/public-apis (114 score in 2021)
• —Trend: Remote work drove demand for learning materials

2022-2023: AI/ML Explosion

• —Q3 2022: Stable Diffusion era (AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui)
• —Q4 2022 - 2023: ChatGPT impact (f/awesome-chatgpt-prompts: 113 days in Dec 2022)
• —Top AI Projects: AntonOsika/gpt-engineer, imartinez/privateGPT, xtekky/gpt4free
• —Trend: Generative AI democratization

2024-2025: Specialized AI Tools Era

• —Dominant: Practical AI applications
• —Top: codecrafters-io/build-your-own-x (82 score), lobehub/lobe-chat (72)
• —Microsoft Surge: 87 Microsoft repos appeared (46 unique projects)
• —Trend: From AI experimentation to production tools

4. Viral Phenomenon: Record-Breaking Trending Periods

Most Trending Days in a Single Month:

1. 1.CSSEGISandData/COVID-19 - 356 days (March 2020) - COVID data tracker
2. 2.denoland/deno - 205 days (May 2020) - Node.js alternative
3. 3.TheAlgorithms/Python - 196 days (May 2020) - Algorithm implementations
4. 4.TheAlgorithms/Python - 186 days (May 2019)
5. 5.jackfrued/Python-100-Days - 179 days (May 2019) - Python tutorial

Insight: March-May 2020 saw unprecedented trending activity due to COVID-19 lockdowns and remote work transition.

5. Top Organizations & Developers

Most Prolific Organizations (Unique Repos in Top 25)

Consistent Individual Developers

6. Project Categories: What Trends on GitHub?

Educational Resources (35% of top 25)

• —Algorithm learning: TheAlgorithms/*, trekhleb/javascript-algorithms
• —Interview prep: jwasham/coding-interview-university, yangshun/tech-interview-handbook
• —Learning paths: kamranahmedse/developer-roadmap, EbookFoundation/free-programming-books
• —Courses: microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners, microsoft/Web-Dev-For-Beginners

Development Tools (25% of top 25)

• —Code editors: atom/atom, microsoft/vscode
• —Build tools: codecrafters-io/build-your-own-x
• —APIs: public-apis/public-apis

AI/ML Projects (20% of top 25, surging in 2024-2025)

• —Chat interfaces: lobehub/lobe-chat, abi/screenshot-to-code
• —Generation tools: AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui, hacksider/Deep-Live-Cam
• —LLM applications: Shubhamsaboo/awesome-llm-apps, virattt/ai-hedge-fund

Frameworks (15% of top 25)

• —Frontend: vuejs/vue, facebook/react, twbs/bootstrap
• —Backend: tensorflow/tensorflow, flutter/flutter

Utilities & Curations (5% of top 25)

• —Awesome lists: sindresorhus/awesome
• —Tool collections: Z4nzu/hackingtool

7. Longevity vs. Virality

Longevity Leaders (Most Months in Top 25):

• —TheAlgorithms/Python: 24 months (2.0 years)
• —jwasham/coding-interview-university: 21 months (1.8 years)
• —tensorflow/tensorflow: 20 months (1.7 years)

Viral One-Hit Wonders (High trending days, short duration):

• —CSSEGISandData/COVID-19: 356 days in 1 month, then disappeared
• —996icu/996.ICU: 148 days in 1 month (April 2019 protest)
• —kelseyhightower/nocode: 75 score across 3 months (2018), then gone

Pattern: Educational resources sustain; news/events spike and fade.