Introducing the The Full List of Substack's Top Categories in 2025 – Analyzed + Ranked
Stop guessing: the new ranked list of Substack categories + FREE strategy guide (32 pages)
This week, I was on a call with
(he’ll be joining me in my next Substack Kickstarter Bootcamp 🎉).He mentioned how much he loved my old Medium Tags List,
…where I explained exactly how tags worked and how to become a Top Writer.
That brought back memories, because back then some people even called me the “Medium Goddess.” (And lately, I’ve been jokingly called the “Substack Goddess”—probably because of my last name 😉).
I don’t share this to brag, but to show you the pattern:
On Medium, I earned 50+ Top Writer badges and helped my students become Top Voices. Such as health and fitness coach Teresa.
On Substack, I’ve seen tribe members go from zero to 30,000 subscribers, make their first $1K, $5 or $25K, and becoming Substack bestselling authors and “rising” on the Substack leaderboard as tribe member
in his primary category #Philosophy.
My professional marketing background makes me love digging into data and sharing what’s often hidden.
Thanks to my hubby Patrick—who happens to be both a data nerd and a software developer—I still get the data I need.
When I asked Substack and their product team if they had a list of the most popular Substack categories (to spot what’s most and least competitive), they told me that list isn’t shared publicly.
That’s why I gathered the data with Patrick, and today, I’m breaking down the new Substack category system for 2025—so you can choose your lane strategically.
This is key when you’re starting and when you’re already building a thriving list.
The Full 2025 Category List - Without Ranking
To zoom out and give you an overview, here are the 29 Substack categories you can choose from:
Art & Illustration · Business · Climate & Environment · Comics · Crypto · Culture · Design · Education · Faith & Spirituality · Fashion & Beauty · Fiction · Finance · Food & Drink · Health & Wellness · Health Politics · History · Humor · International · Literature · Music · News · Parenting · Philosophy · Science · Sports · Technology · Travel · U.S. Politics · World Politics
You can also download the list HERE for FREE.
Once you download the list, I bet you’ll gonna ask yourself:
“But how do they rank? What’s the most popular Substack category, and which are saturated? Which should I pick to be strategic right from the start?“
Let me save you lots of time and money.
I want you to see that you’re not picking a category blindly with this ranked list.
So you’re making decisions based on hard numbers.
And from my experience as a marketing and brand manager, a Substack Top 25 bestseller in Education, and after supporting hundreds of list builders, I’m adding my two cents—so you can decide what works best for you.
So here’s the ranked list based on data.