Intelligencer’s 20 Most-Read Stories in 2023
The articles our readers were most deeply engaged with this year.
This year things got pretty weird in the halls of power, so it’s no surprise that Intelligencer readers sought out stories that tried to make sense of all the upheaval. Our list of the most popular stories of 2023, which is measured by total collective minutes of audience engagement, includes inside looks at corporate implosions, from Rupert Murdoch dumping top-rated Fox News host Tucker Carlson to Elon Musk driving Twitter off a cliff. Other entries expose the secrets surrounding some of the world’s most powerful families, from what really happened to JFK to what it’s like to be a real-life prince (utterly bonkers, according to Prince Harry). And of course, between his thirsty final campaign to his instantly iconic mug shot, Donald Trump continued to dominate the political discourse — though George Santos supplied more than his fair share of made-for-reality-TV drama.
This is just a small sample of the work New York produces every day both in print and across its six digital sites: Intelligencer, the Cut, Vulture, Grub Street, the Strategist, and Curbed. For more of New York’s indispensable coverage, be sure to sign up for One Great Story, our daily recommendation newsletter, and to subscribe.
Bonkers Revelations From Prince Harry’s Book, Ranked
In Spare, Harry says William attacked him, claims he killed 25 Taliban fighters, and shares lots of details we didn’t need to know about his penis. Read the story …
COVID Lockdowns Were a Giant Experiment. It Was a Failure.
By Joe Nocera and Bethany McLean
A key lesson of the pandemic. Read the story …
Inside Elon’s ‘Extremely Hardcore’ Twitter
By Zoë Schiffer, Casey Newton, and Alex Heath
Twitter’s staff spent years trying to protect the platform against impulsive ranting billionaires — then one made himself the CEO. Read the story …
By Bianca Fortis and Laura Beil
How Columbia University ignored women, undermined prosecutors, and allowed one of its OB/GYNs to abuse hundreds of patients. Read the story …
Rupert Murdoch didn’t want to dump his ratings leader and favorite Fox host. But was Tucker Carlson giving him a choice? Read the story …
And a chatbot is not a human. And a linguist named Emily M. Bender is very worried what will happen when we forget this. Read the story …
A Left That Refuses to Condemn Mass Murder Is Doomed
By Eric Levitz
To advocate effectively on behalf of Palestinians, progressives must not forfeit their moral authority. Read the story …
What I Learned on a Titanic Sub Expedition
By David Pogue
Unraveling the enigma of Stockton Rush — and understanding the Titan tragedy. Read the story …
By Lisa Miller
What a generation of boys have found in Andrew Tate’s extreme male gospel. Read the story …
Will Ashley Biden’s Diary Take Down Project Veritas?
By Andrew Rice
After a decade of punking liberals with hidden-camera stings, James O’Keefe becomes the story. Read the story …
By John Herrman
Why does it feel like the company is making itself worse? Read the story …
By Olivia Nuzzi
Inside Donald Trump’s sad, lonely, thirsty, broken, basically pretend run for reelection. (Which isn’t to say he can’t win.) Read the story …
How Bessel van der Kolk’s once controversial theory of trauma became the dominant way we make sense of our lives. Read the story …
All the Mug Shots of Donald Trump and His Alleged Co-Conspirators
By Margaret Hartmann and Nia Prater
Donald Trump finally got his money shot, along with 18 co-defendants. Here are all the photos released by Georgia’s Fulton County Jail. Read the story …
How a conspiracy-spewing literal Kennedy posing as a populist outsider jolted the Democratic Party. Read the story …
All the Texts Fox News Didn’t Want You to Read
Court filings in the now-settled case brought by Dominion reveal messages from Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, and others. Read the story …
Is David Solomon Too Big a Jerk to Run Goldman Sachs?
By Jen Wieczner
Inside a banking mutiny. Read the story …
Who Is Still Inside the Metaverse?
By Paul Murray
Searching for friends in Mark Zuckerberg’s deserted fantasyland. Read the story …
Here’s Every Single Lie Told by George Santos
By Matt Stieb and Margaret Hartmann
Navigating the many exaggerations and falsehoods from the former New York congressman, who is now facing 23 federal criminal charges. Read the story …
The Secrets of the JFK Assassination Archive
By Scott Sayare
How a dogged journalist proved that the CIA lied about Oswald and Cuba — and spent decades covering it up. Read the story …