Top 5 Most Popular Websites 1995–2005
A visual trip down memory lane of the world wide web
I was there. At the beginning of the digital age. The introduction of the internet to the mainstream public. I saw the rise and fall of MySpace, the first steps of Facebook, how Apple went from bankruptcy to being the most valuable company in the world. Heck, I even witnessed the launch of a tiny project called Google Search. The internet made all this possible. Oh, how it has changed in 3 decades. Take a trip down memory lane with me and revisit the most popular websites from 1995 to 2005.
A brief history of the WWW
The predecessor of the internet — called Arpanet — was introduced in 1969 as a way to connect US universities with each other. During the 70s one of the most common usages was e-mail. In 1990, the US National Science Foundation decided to make the internet available to the public. In 1993, usage exploded with the introduction of the first graphics-based web browser Mosaic. Two driving forces behind the commercial success of the WWW in the 90s were AOL and Yahoo.
The world of the internet from 1995–2000
Let’s begin our journey in 1995 — more than 25 years ago. The WWW was widely established, big companies had their own websites, monthly visits climbed rapidly. In the latter half of the 90s, we witnessed the birth of websites like Google, MSN, and eBay. I love numbers, so let’s take a look at the top 5 websites (by monthly visits) from 1995–2005.
P.S.: Every link leads you to the actual website from that year in history. Made possible through the wonderful project theoldnet.com. The sites take a bit to load but it’s worth the wait.
1995
- AOL | Monthly visits: 38–39 million
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 33–34 million
- Geocities | Monthly visits: 17–18 million
- Netscape | Monthly visits: 15–16 million
- Webcrawler| Monthly visits: 10–15 million
1996
- AOL | Monthly visits: 43–118 million
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 35–64 million
- Geocities | Monthly visits: 18–25 million
- Lycos | Monthly visits: 17–21 million
- Excite| Monthly visits: 13–19 million
1997
- AOL | Monthly visits: 124–201 million
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 66–34 million
- MSN | Monthly visits: 21–68 million
- Excite | Monthly visits: 24–45 million
- Geocities| Monthly visits: 29–43 million
1998
- AOL | Monthly visits: 207–285 million
- MSN | Monthly visits: 73–171 million
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 122–164 million
- Lycos | Monthly visits: 42–82million
- Excite| Monthly visits: 46–54 million
1999
- AOL | Monthly visits: 289–366 million
- MSN | Monthly visits: 176–315 million
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 166–224 million
- Lycos | Monthly visits: 84–102 million
- About.com| Monthly visits: 91 million
2000
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 231–611 million
- AOL | Monthly visits: 368–447 million
- MSN | Monthly visits: 319–403 million
- eBay | Monthly visits: 83–162 million
- BBC | Monthly visits: 51–140 million
The new millennium
The year 2000 not only marked the beginning of the new millennium, but it also introduced a new era of the World Wide Web, of web design — both good and bad — like the first resizable (or rather resizing) web interfaces and ad banners. Furthermore, the first half of the 2000s marked the beginnings of web giants like Wikipedia, Facebook, and MySpace. Some of which remain at the top today, others are almost forgotten. For the first time in history, monthly visits crossed 1 billion. A milestone that pales in comparison to present usage.
2001
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 630 million–1.6 billion
- MSN | Monthly visits: 407–594 million
- AOL | Monthly visits: 448–524 million
- Google | Monthly visits: <100–333 million
- eBay | Monthly visits: 164–289 million
2002
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 1.6–3.4 billion
- MSN | Monthly visits: 610 million–1.3 billion
- AOL | Monthly visits: 529–681 million
- Google | Monthly visits: 347–644 million
- eBay | Monthly visits: 296–520 million
2003
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 3.5–5.2 billion
- MSN | Monthly visits: 1.3–1.8 billion
- Google | Monthly visits: 663 million–1.03 billion
- AOL | Monthly visits: 691–846 million
- eBay | Monthly visits: 534–751 million
2004
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 5.2–6.6 billion
- MSN | Monthly visits: 1.7–1.95 billion
- Google | Monthly visits: 1.04–1.86 billion
- AOL | Monthly visits: 853 million–1.01 billion
- eBay | Monthly visits: 760–896 million
2005
- Yahoo | Monthly visits: 6.5–5.7 billion
- Google | Monthly visits: 1.89–4.34 billion
- MSN | Monthly visits: 1.92–1.42 billion
- MySpace | Monthly visits: <500 million–1.04 billion
- AOL | Monthly visits: 1.03–1.02 billion
The birth of the social web
The latter half of the 2000s as well as the first years of the 2010s will forever be known as the age of the social web. Messenging sites grew exponentially, social media platforms popped up everywhere, email communication became the norm. With this evolution came negative consequences. Spam, online bullying, privacy concerns and breaches, to name a few. But let’s not forget the positives: Global exchange on a personal and professional level got easier, online startups flourished, online writing, blogging, digital content creation started to take off.
I’ve been there. Through all these years. It’s a tale of success and missed opportunities. For me and many of my generation. Looking back, it was one of the most important time spans in history. Today, it’s business as usual.
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google.com2
youtube.com3
facebook.com4
baidu.com5
wikipedia.org6
qq.com7
taobao.com8
yahoo.com9
tmall.com10
amazon.com11
twitter.com12
sohu.com13
live.com14
jd.com15
vk.com16
instagram.com17
sina.com.cn18
weibo.com19
reddit.com20
login.tmall.com21
salesforce.com89pixnet.net90ettoday.net91
cnn.com92onlinesbi.com93
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thestartmagazine.com96
bbc.co.uk97
google.es98
amazonaws.com99
google.it100tianya.cn101
zhihu.com108
soundcloud.com109
discordapp.com110
jianshu.com111nicovideo.jp112
daum.net113
medium.com114
nytimes.com115cricbuzz.com1161688.com117
google.co.uk118
stackexchange.com119
popads.net120
nih.gov121
sciencedirect.com185eastday.com186myshopify.com187twimg.com188
gamepedia.com189
softonic.com190digikala.com191
deviantart.com192
vice.com193cnet.com194
yts.lt195
wellsfargo.com196
steampowered.com197
google.com.ar242ebay-kleinanzeigen.de243
google.com.eg244
yy.com245
google.co.kr246
zoho.com247
abs-cbn.com248
ikea.com249phengung.net250
intuit.com251
shopify.com252
atlassian.net253gamersky.com254ibps.in255
google.com.sg349
theepochtimes.com350
samsung.com35165vk1fba34.com352
dkn.tv35351sole.com354shaparak.ir355
baike.com356yr9n47004g.com357
ladbible.com358
bitly.com359
marca.com360
upwork.com361
accuweather.com362tencent.com3630byv9mgbn0.com364
theverge.com410
icloud.com411360doc.com412wp.pl413
citi.com414
myway.com415
webex.com416
elpais.com417
onet.pl418uidai.gov.in419
irctc.co.in420
themeforest.net421
pulzo.com422
weebly.com423
quizlet.com466mgid.com467
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fidelity.com469
downdetector.com470kaskus.co.id471
skype.com472
pikabu.ru473
crptgate.com474
kapanlagi.com475alwafd.news476
webmd.com477
hatenablog.com478
ultimate-guitar.com479
jw.org525
spiegel.de526japanpost.jp527
trustpilot.com528gosuslugi.ru529
list-manage.com530
expedia.com531squarespace.com532
telewebion.com533
web.de534
leagueoflegends.com535
3c.tmall.com536
pexels.com537
hotels.com538gazeta.ru539
issuu.com621
cloudflare.com622
indiamart.com623
beeg.com624drom.ru625
126.com626
mileroticos.com627
costco.com628
archiveofourown.org629
www.gov.uk630
rakuten.com631
envato.com632
auction.co.kr633chinaz.com634nikkei.com635
macys.com646
merriam-webster.com647n11.com648
epfindia.gov.in649storiespace.com650
uniqlo.tmall.com651
vidio.com652
olx.com.br653
intel.com654fbsbx.com655
kickstarter.com656kknews.cc657
ozon.ru658zhaopin.com659
sputniknews.com699
investopedia.com700
nba.com701
bolasport.com702
11st.co.kr703
thefreedictionary.com704
uzone.id705
techradar.com706
gsmarena.com707
marriott.com708
dribbble.com709donga.com710brilio.net711
hepsiburada.com712techtudo.com.br713nianhuo.tmall.com714
royalbank.com771
delta.com772
utorrent.com773
superuser.com774
wildberries.ru775thewhizmarketing.com776feng.com777
lifewire.com778
corriere.it779turkiye.gov.tr780
ebay.fr781
mercadolibre.com.ve782
gotporn.com783
17track.net842
wysasys.com843
kayak.com844
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gtarcade.com847food.tmall.com848
howtogeek.com849
weibo.cn850
nypost.com851
bankmellat.ir852nvzhuang.tmall.com853
cbsnews.com965fullhdfilmizlesene.net966
biblegateway.com967
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yadi.sk969
wp.com970tebyan.net971
fazenda.gov.br972
ukr.net973bookmyshow.com974
basecamp.com975
expressvpn.com976
makeuseof.com977
google.sk978
socialblade.com984
depositphotos.com985
ctfile.com986
usbank.com987
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farfetch.com991
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battle.net996yallakora.com997creditkarma.com998
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