The top US and UK publishers on Facebook in February 2023

In the month of February, the Daily Mail dominated our Facebook publisher rankings as the top three remained the same. 

As a reminder, these rankings are now regionalized, which allows us to dig deeper into cultural trends and isolate specific public and media reactions to certain stories. 

During the month of February, we saw various stories command attention across the US and UK. Here are our key takeaways: 

• The Daily Mail continues to hold the top publishing spot on the charts, refusing to budge from the throne it also sat upon in January 
• The top articles of the month centered on animals and sports, specifically soccer 
• Smaller, local publications are thriving amongst larger competitors 

The top publishers on Facebook in February 2023 

The top five publishers from January have kept their spots after a full month of February, with almost all sustaining around the same amount of total interactions.

The Daily Mail kept their commanding lead over the rest of the competitors with 15.8 million interactions. Though this number has gone down about 4 million since January, it is still enough to beat The Mirror who has 13.4 million. Once again, both The Daily Mail and The Mirror are the only two publications to surpass 10 million engagements. 

Rankings didn’t differ too much from those in January, as People, the BBC, and Fox News held their ground, and even found themselves gaining engagement. The only switch-ups came from Metro, Manchester Evening News, and CNN shuffling around one to two spots on the chart.

In terms of stories that caused a stir, those focusing on animals and soccer stayed on top. 

The Daily Mail’s top three stories included a dog owner who said he would sell his home to afford the £20,000 bill he owes (101.3k), Mark Wahlberg talking about faith in Hollywood (81k), and Damar Hamlin’s doctor talking about the NFL star’s future (62.1k). 

Considering the popularity of the Premier League in the UK, it’s no surprise that The Mirror had all of their top-ranking stories revolve around the sport of soccer. Their top three stories included highlights about FIFA Best Men’s Player voting (251.8k), Arsenal superstar Bukayo Saka’s future (78.6k), and Leo Messi’s verdict on Argentina teammate Enzo Fernandez’ move to Chelsea (58.2k). Stories about PSG’s Mbappe (57.6k)  and Manchester United’s Sancho followed very closely behind (57.5k). 

Consistent with their usual topics, People had a more celebrity-focused set of stories. Their top three started with the death of Law and Order: SVU star Richard Belzer (154k), which was followed by a Tennessee animal shelter calling on Paul Rudd to adopt a lookalike dog (86.9k). Continuing the animal trend, their third top story talks about a senior rescue dog who finally got adopted after 7 years (84.2k). 

Now, these were the top stories from the top publishers. But what about the top articles for the month of February overall? Let’s take a look. 

The top stories on Facebook in February 2023

It’s worth noting that the top February content had lower engagement overall than January, but that may be partly due to the fewer number of days in the month.

The top story of the month was one which we have already seen – The Mirror’s coverage of FIFA Best Men’s Player voting results.

Sports news continued to make headlines, as three Manchester United articles landed in the third, thirteenth, and fifteenth spots, and one article about the Kansas City Chiefs came in fourteenth. 

Celebrity content also performed well, like CBS’ reports of Viola Davis’ EGOT completion and Selena Gomez’ rising Instagram followers. 

Other top stories included a DC veteran turning 100, a Cambridge University professor becoming the youngest black man to achieve the feat, and Samsung’s new immersive VR experience. 

The top 25 publishers of February 2023

Similarly to January, smaller, local publications have been more popular, specifically in the UK, than larger organizations. Outlets like Manchester Evening News, Football London, and Manchester United’s website all made the top 25. These soccer driven publications have been consistently in the top over the last few months, a testament to their popularity across the pond.

It is also interesting to note that article count does not directly correlate to publication acclaim. For example, People only published 3.5k articles compared to CBS News’ 19.5k, but they still had double the amount of engagements. 

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