Which news stories did you find infectious?
Coronavirus and US politics were the main focus of news in 2021
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Covid-19 (plus associated variants and vaccines) were the most common news stories of the year
And over the course of 2021, articles about the pandemic were read for a combined 70 million hours (25% of total), according to an analysis of 7,000 news sites by Chartbeat
Articles about the pandemic were read for a combined 70 million hours
The other major story of the year was about US politics, specifically the start of Joe Biden’s presidency, which reached 60m hours in Jan & Feb alone (22% of total), mostly regarding his inauguration, the capital riots and Trump’s second impeachment
Focusing on individual articles, most of the top 10 related to these two topics, along with one (fourth highest) for a BBC article about a baby found on the London Underground
Source: Chartbeat, Economist
