Patrick Comerford
The viewing and reading figures for this blog continue to surprise me, and these figures passed the 29 million mark by early this afternoon (25 March 2026).
This is the seventh time this month alone that the half-million figure in readership numbers has been passed, already reaching 28.5 million mark two days ago (23 March 2026 ), 28 million on 20 March 2026; 27.5 million the previous Monday (16 March 2026), 27 million on 12 March 2026, 26.5 million on 3 March 2026, and 26 million at the beginning of the month (Sunday 1 March 2026), when the hits that day were also the highest daily figure I have ever recorded (318,307).
This year so far has seen a phenomenal amount of traffic on this blog, reaching a volume of readers that I never have expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. Half the total hits (14.5 million) have been within the past nine or ten months, since 11 July 2025. The total of hits last month (February 2026) was the highest monthly total ever (3,386,504), with this blog passing the half-million mark seven times in all in February, and that figure may be surpassed this month.
At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 8 million hits or visitors in 2026.
I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers – a number reached five times this month alone. Half of the 28.5 million hits (14.25 million) have been within the last nine or ten months, since mid-July.
Throughout last year and this year, the daily figures have been overwhelming on many occasions. Of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog, five were this month (March), four were in February, one was in January, and two were in January 2025:
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)
• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)
• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 280,802 (26 February 2026)
• 273,022 (27 February 2026)
• 261,422 (13 January 2026)
• 228,931 (18 March 2026)
• 225,343 (24 March 2026)
• 204,275 (22 March 2026)
• 195,391 (20 February 2026)
The number of readers has been overpowering this year and last, with the daily averages currently running at about 125,000 hits a day so far this month. Ten years ago, the daily average was around 1,000.
To put this figure of 29 million in context:
Some studies estimate that, by the age of 50, a person will have spoken at least 29 to 30 million words. The ‘30-million-word gap’ (often cited at around 29 to 32 million) is a landmark 1995 study by Hart & Risley indicating that children from lower-income families hear roughly 30 million fewer words by the age of four than their peers from high-income families.
But more about those figures, perhaps, when or if this blog reaches the 30 million mark.
Shanghai in China, New Delhi in India, and countries like Nepal and Niger have a population of about 29 million – depending on who is doing the counting – and there are about 29 million Christians living in Indonesia.
A UN report has estimated that over 29 million people worldwide are classified as suffering from drug use disorders.
Benin in West Africa is embarking on significant project reviving its royal legacy with a revival and expansion of the Museum of the Epic of the Amazons and Kings of Dahomey. The four-year development plan is backed by a £29 million investment by AFD (Agence Française de Développement) and is restoring the palatial site of Abomey, originally built in 1943, into a world-class heritage and tourism destination.
Plymouth, where sections of the centre are officially among England’s most deprived areas, is undergoing a £29 million makeover.
An estimated two in five British people – 29 million people or 42% of the population – have plans to travel abroad this year.
Ryanair announced in December that it has carried 29 million passengers through Bristol Airport since it began operations to and from the airport in 1998.
29,000 sq km is 29 million sq metres. The Solomon Islands, a sovereign archipelago nation in the South Pacific, has a total land area of about 29,000 sq km. The nation consists of around 900 islands and is known for its rich culture and biodiversity.
Dr Lloyd Collier and Dr Louis Snellgrove set a record in 2019 by cycling 29,140 km by tandem to circumnavigate the globe in 281 days.
29 million minutes is about 55 years, 1 month and 19 days. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take more than 55 years, from the beginning of 1971, to reach this latest figure of 28 million.
It is now four years since I retired from active parish ministry in March 2022. These days, though, about 100 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning. A similar number are reding my current series of postings on the churches and chapels of Walsingham each day. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 700 or more people each week.
Today, I am very grateful to the real readers among those 29 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I remain grateful to the faithful core group of about 100 people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each day.
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