Top lists are all the rage at the end of one year and the beginning of the next year. Some lists even go as far as 100 items but the most popular are top 10 lists. Their popularity probably derives from that master of top 10 lists, David Letterman. He even has a top 10 list for Barak Obama, although it may be a clever spoof.
I am not so enthusiastic about top 10 lists. Perhaps checking one of the following top 10 lists might show you why I am of that opinion.
- Top Ten Xbox 360 Games That I Played in 2008
- VH1′s ’100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs’: Top 10
- Top 10 Worst/Overrated Christmas Movies
- Top-10 Bollywood Male Actors of 2008
If that was not enough to still your fervor, then here is a portmanteau collection of 10 top 10 lists.
If this top 10 journey has not been sufficient to convince you that top 10 lists are overrated, let me try some logic.
I am thinking particularly of top 10 lists in blog posts. I think the mark of a good blog post is that readers wish to leave comments. As I have mentioned elsewhere, lists should be short to work most effectively. A list of three is ideal. Clearly someone is forcefully expressing an opinion with only three items in the list. Equally obviously most readers are bound to disagree with at least one choice. Our top three list is almost guaranteed to get a reaction. What more could you want?
