Python
Created by Guido van Rossum in 1991
High-level, general-purpose programming language
Key Statistics
Popularity Trend
Composite score over the last 12 weeks
Source Breakdown
Contribution by data source (Total: 48.7)
Scores are weighted by importance: GitHub (20%), Stack Overflow (20%), Packages (15%), Google Trends (15%), Jobs (15%), Reddit (10%), Tutorials (5%)
Recent History
| Period | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| May 2026Current | #1 | 48.7 |
| May 2026 | #2 | 16.5 |
| Apr 2026 | #2 | 16.5 |
| Apr 2026 | #2 | 16.5 |
| Apr 2026 | #2 | 16.4 |
Analysis & Context
Python's top ranking has been stable since 2018 and our composite score shows the gap to #2 widening, not narrowing. The driver has shifted: Python used to rank first primarily on web development and scripting ubiquity. Now it's the language of the AI stack — every major AI framework is Python-first, and that has structurally reinforced Python's lead in a way that looks durable rather than cyclical.
Where Python Is Used
Machine learning & AI
NumPy, Pandas, PyTorch, TensorFlow, and Scikit-learn — the entire ML stack is Python-native. No other language has this density of production-grade ML tooling.
AI application development
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face all ship Python SDKs first. LangChain and LlamaIndex are Python. If you are building on top of LLM APIs, you are writing Python.
Web backends
Django powers Instagram. FastAPI is the fastest-growing async Python framework, used by Netflix and Uber. Flask remains the minimal alternative for smaller services.
Data engineering
Apache Airflow (pipeline orchestration), dbt (data transformation), and most data lake tooling is Python. Data engineers write Python.
Scientific computing
NASA, CERN, and most research institutions use Python via NumPy and SciPy for numerical computing. It has largely replaced MATLAB in applied science.
The AI Era
GitHub Copilot generates Python more than any other language. ChatGPT's Code Interpreter runs Python natively. Every major AI framework — PyTorch (Meta), TensorFlow (Google), JAX (Google) — is Python-first. The AI boom has acted as a multiplier on Python's existing dominance, and it shows across every data source we track.
Job Market
Python dominates job postings for data scientist, ML engineer, and AI engineer titles — consistently the most-listed language in those roles. Backend engineering postings increasingly list Python alongside or instead of Ruby and PHP. Senior Python engineers working on ML systems are among the highest-compensated software engineers in most markets.