Ranked list criteria

Overview

Each list selects packages by a stated rule and ranks them by one number. The two check lists put packages under a CRAN deadline first. The rankings are rebuilt once a day when the data refreshes and remain fixed until the next refresh.

Each list is linked from the insights hub at /insights. The full ranking appears on its own page at /insights/<list>.

Rising newcomers appears twice, once per ecosystem. Each list has three parts: which packages qualify, which number decides the ordering, and which number the row displays. The title typically describes only the first.

Reaching a list

The data behind the lists (check results, download figures, the package catalogue, and reverse-dependency counts) comes from upstream pipelines.

• Popular but at risk. Live CRAN packages with an open CRAN deadline or a worst check status of WARNING or ERROR. Packages with a deadline come first, and each group is ordered by 30-day downloads.
• Widely depended-on but failing. The same selection plus at least one dependent. Packages with a deadline come first, and each group is ordered by number of dependents.
• Rising newcomers. CRAN packages first published within 12 months that have at least 1,000 downloads in the last 30 days, ordered by trend. On Bioconductor, first release within 12 months with at least 100 downloads last month, ordered by trend.
• Abandoned but depended-on. Live packages with no version event in at least 18 months and at least one dependent, ordered by number of dependents.

Packages missing a required data point (no dependents, no version event, or neither a check result nor a deadline) are excluded entirely rather than ranked low. Archived packages are excluded from all CRAN lists. Each list shows at most 100 packages.

The two check lists changed in September 2026. Before then they took only packages with a WARNING or ERROR and ranked them by downloads or dependents alone. An error on a single flavor ranked as high as a package CRAN was about to archive, and a package under a deadline with only notes or clean flavors did not appear at all. A deadline is the clearest sign CRAN gives that a package may leave, so it now ranks first.

The numbers in each cell

Each list shows one primary value (Dependents, Downloads, or Trend) and one secondary value (check status, publication date, or age). Ranks 1 through 3 are highlighted with medals.

Dependents is the direct reverse-dependency count, the packages that list it under Depends, Imports or LinkingTo. Packages that only suggest it are left out, as they have been everywhere on the site since September 2026. Before then the two dependency lists counted Suggests as well.

The check pill shows the worst status across all CRAN check flavors for that package, and the line under it says how many flavors have that status, such as ERROR on 1 of 13. A FAILURE counts as an ERROR. For a package with an open CRAN deadline the pill gives the date it must be fixed by, with the worst status under it. Once that date has passed the pill reads Overdue, with the date under it.

Downloads (30d) is the trailing 30-day total from the downloads pipeline, displayed in compact form (e.g. 12.3K). Packages with no download data show a dash.

Trend compares the last 30 days of downloads to the preceding 30 days, expressed as a percentage change. A package with very few prior downloads can show a large percentage. On Bioconductor, trend compares three-month windows instead.

Last update shows the time since the most recent version event, displayed in months. The magnitude bar beside each value is scaled to the largest value in that list, so a full bar means the top of this list, not a large number in any absolute sense.

Missing and unavailable values

When the required data has not been collected yet, the list displays: No CRAN insights yet. Check back once the pipelines have populated.

Three of the four lists are CRAN-only because they depend on CRAN check results or the dependency table. Bioconductor supports Rising newcomers only.

Reading a list

The Abandoned but depended-on list combines two criteria: a package must have had no update for at least 18 months, and then its position is determined by how many packages depend on it. A stable, finished package meets the age threshold just as easily as a neglected one, so the top of this list is not necessarily the most neglected.

Popular but at risk can be made up entirely of packages under a deadline when CRAN has set many of them. The full list of deadlines, with dates and reasons, is on the checks page.

Rising newcomers ranks by trend, which is not capped. Near the bottom of the list, some packages may actually have declining downloads.

Rising newcomers ranks packages by recency of publication. First-time maintainers counts people, not packages. Sorting the package directory by dependents produces a similar ordering to the dependency-based lists, without the additional filters.

These lists are daily snapshots. Rolling windows and printed ages are evaluated at build time, so a package crosses the 12-month or 18-month threshold at the next daily refresh, not on its exact anniversary. Check data reflects current results only, so no list shows change over time.