Datasets:
metadata
license: mit
task_categories:
- text-classification
- time-series-forecasting
- text-retrieval
tags:
- github
- trending
- developers
- open-source
- time-series
- social-data
language:
- en
size_categories:
- 1K<n<10K
GitHub Top Developers by Year (2015-2025)
A derived dataset showing the top-ranked GitHub trending developers for each year, based on weighted scoring of their trending appearances across 41,841 raw data points from the Wayback Machine.
π Dataset Overview
- Total Entries: 8,125 ranked developers
- Years Covered: 2015 - 2025 (11 years)
- Unique Developers: 4,763
- Source: Derived from Wayback Machine snapshots of GitHub trending developers
- Data Order: Sorted by year (descending: 2025 β 2015) and rank within each year
- Update Frequency: Static historical dataset
π Scoring Methodology
Each developer's yearly score is calculated using:
Score = Ξ£ (26 - rank) for each trending appearance
Where:
- Rank 1 = 25 points
- Rank 2 = 24 points
- ...
- Rank 25 = 1 point
Why this works:
- β Rewards frequent appearances (more days trending = more points)
- β Rewards high rankings (rank 1 is worth more than rank 25)
- β Balances consistency with peak performance
π Dataset Structure
Columns
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
year |
integer | Year (2015-2025) |
rank |
integer | Overall rank for that year (1 = highest score) |
name |
string | Developer/organization GitHub username |
times_trended |
integer | Number of times appeared on trending |
best_rank |
integer | Highest rank achieved (lowest number) |
avg_rank |
float | Average rank across all appearances |
median_rank |
integer | Median rank |
popular_repos |
string | Top repositories (comma-separated) |
π Key Insights
1. Year Winners (Highest Score Each Year)
| Year | Winner | Score | Appearances | Notable Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | comfyanonymous | 257 | 18 | ComfyUI |
| 2024 | emilk | 2,052 | 124 | egui (Rust GUI) |
| 2023 | hrydgard | 1,858 | 111 | PPSSPP emulator |
| 2022 | emilk | 1,958 | 107 | egui |
| 2021 | PySimpleGUI | 1,993 | 120 | PySimpleGUI |
| 2020 | stefanprodan | 1,033 | 64 | Flux CD |
| 2019 | Microsoft | 308 | 15 | Various |
| 2018 | 325 | 15 | Various | |
| 2017 | facebook / Microsoft | 77 | 4 | (tie) |
| 2016 | 485 | 23 | React ecosystem | |
| 2015 | 48 | 2 | React |
Notable: emilk appeared on trending 124 times in 2024 alone (nearly every 3 days!)
2. All-Time Top 10 (Total Score Across All Years)
| Rank | Developer | Total Score | Total Appearances | Years Active |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | emilk | 6,311 | 370 | 2020-2025 |
| 2 | hrydgard | 5,181 | 324 | 2018-2024 |
| 3 | stefanprodan | 4,910 | 306 | 2018-2022 |
| 4 | stephencelis | 4,870 | 301 | 2016-2024 |
| 5 | a8m | 4,649 | 323 | 2016-2024 |
| 6 | hathach | 3,629 | 264 | 2018-2024 |
| 7 | azure-sdk | 3,621 | 251 | 2020-2024 |
| 8 | twpayne | 3,124 | 196 | 2017-2024 |
| 9 | PySimpleGUI | 3,059 | 185 | 2019-2023 |
| 10 | arvidn | 2,737 | 164 | 2017-2022 |
3. Trend Shifts Over Time
2015-2017: Organization Era
- Big tech dominated: Facebook, Google, Microsoft
- Individual developers rarely broke top 3
- React ecosystem (Facebook) was the dominant force
2018-2019: Transition Period
- Mix of organizations and influential individuals
- Rise of open-source foundations (Apache, Linux Foundation)
- Container/cloud technologies gained traction
2020-2025: Individual Developer Era
- Individuals dominate top ranks consistently
- emilk (egui) becomes most successful developer ever
- Specialized tool creators rise (PySimpleGUI, hrydgard's PPSSPP)
- AI/ML researchers become more prominent (rasbt, 2024-2025)
5. Notable Patterns
- Extreme Consistency: emilk appeared 370 times across 6 years (average 62 times/year)
- 2021 Peak: PySimpleGUI set record with 120 appearances in a single year
- Developer Longevity: sindresorhus maintained relevance from 2015-2021 (7 years)
- Organization Decline: Big tech companies dropped from top spots after 2019
- Ecosystem Impact: Most top developers maintain influential open-source libraries
π License
MIT License - Free to use with attribution