How hard is it to just start writing? According to the 5.6 million unpublished drafts created on Medium this year by writers who had an idea, started to tell it, but then stopped for some reason, it can be pretty daunting.
For this final It Happened on Medium, we’ll share some more leaderboard-style stats like the above. But you know what? There’s so much more that happens on Medium beyond just a total number of stories published or read, comments left, or phrases highlighted. The act of courageously publishing your story, that moment when you read a story that turns a little piece of your world upside down — those go beyond numbers. We hope to spotlight and celebrate some of those moments, too.
A few Medium firsts
Can you believe there was once a world that predated vibe coding? User evoailabs was the first writer to publish a story with the topic tag vibe coding on Medium in February 2025, though far from the last. Since that first story, there have been nearly 6,000 stories with that topic, and over a million reads on stories with that topic tag.
Many writers also came to Medium to write about New York mayor Zohran Mamdani for the first time. Writer Kristen Wen published the first story on Medium with that topic back in May 2025, in the publication Advanced Reporting: The City. Since then, over 500 more stories have been published on that topic.
New writers on Medium
New writers come to Medium for all kinds of different reasons, to accomplish as many different goals as there are writers. The most popular topics for new writers this year were programming, AI, and self. Other popular topics included equality, history, and politics.
But I want to spotlight one new writer in particular, because he showcases a kind of Medium success story I love to share: Someone — not necessarily a professional writer, just someone! — comes to Medium with nothing but a really cool story to tell. No pre-existing audience, no SEO knowledge, nothing but that experience and a desire to talk about it. And then it turns out a lot of people are interested in reading that experience.
- Jasmine Mooney wrote about her experience being detained by ICE as a Canadian citizen. “I had a Canadian passport, lawyers, resources, media attention, friends, family, and even politicians advocating for me. And yet, I was still detained for nearly two weeks. Now imagine what this system is like for every other person in there — people who don’t have my privilege,” she wrote.
- Mathematician Laurel W shared her take on tariffs: What can game theory teach us about Trump’s tariffs? “With the impending tariffs of the second Trump administration, it is crucial to remember the cost of defecting against trading partners,” she wrote.
- Former National Park ranger Elizabeth Villano told the story of the first park sign that came down under the Trump administration. “I’m watching as the sign that we carefully constructed to tell a full version of the story gets taken down, preventing people from learning from the past to make a better future,” she wrote.
The stories that found an audience off Medium
When you read a story that makes you think, it’s a natural impulse to want to share it with others. Here are some of the stories that most inspired readers to share Medium stories off Medium.