Most popular programming languages in 2021

Ranking programming languages 2021

Which are the most popular programming languages in 2021? The list of most commonly used programming languages in 2021 vary depending on the source. Let’s compare September 2021’s PYPL index ranking with that of Stack Overflow’s 2021 Developer Survey.

Top 10 programming languages (PYPL)

According to the PYPL index, these are the most popular programming languages as of September 2021:

  1. Python
  2. Java
  3. JavaScript
  4. C#
  5. PHP
  6. C/C++
  7. R
  8. TypeScript
  9. Swift
  10. Objective-C

Here is a table of the PYPL index’s ranking with further details about the programming languages:

PositionLanguageLast stable releaseDesigned byInfluenced by
#1PythonPython 3.10.4Guido van RossumABC, Ada, ALGOL 68, APL, C, C++, CLU, Dylan, Haskell, Icon, Java, Lips, Modula-3, Perl, Standard ML
#2JavaJava SE 17James GoslingAda 83, C#, C++, CLU, Eiffel, Lisp, Mesa, Modula-3, Oberon, Object Pascal, Objective-C, Smalltalk, Simula67, UCSD Pascal
#3JavaScript (JS)ECMAScript 2021Brendan EichAWK, HyperTalk, Java, Scheme
#4C# (C Sharp)C# 10.0Anders HejlsbergC++, Cω, Eiffel, F#, Haskell, Icon, J#, J++, Java, ML, Modula-3, Object Pascal, VB
#5PHPPHP 8.1.4Rasmus LerdorfC, C++, Hack, HTML, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Tcl
#6CC17Dennis RitchieALGOL 68, Assembly, B (BCPL, CPL), FORTRAN, PL/I
#6C++C++20Bjarne StroustrupAda, ALGOL 68, C, CLU, ML, Mesa, Modula-2, Simula, Smalltalk
#7RR 4.1.3Ross Ihaka and Robert GentlemanCommon Lisp, S, Scheme, XLispStat
#8TypeScriptTypeScript 4.6.2MicrosoftC#, Java, JavaScript
#9SwiftSwift 5.6Chris Lattner, Doug Gregor, John McCall, Ted Kremenek, Joe Groff and Apple Inc.C#, CLU, D, Haskell, Objective-C, Python, Ruby, Rust
#10Objective-CObjective-C 2.0Tom Loe and Brad CoxC, Smalltalk

The PYPL index is regularly updated, so this ranking might vary over time.

Top 10 most popular programming languages 2021

Top 10 programming languages (Stack Overflow’s 2021 Developer Survey)

According to Stack Overflow’s 2021 Developer Survey, these are the most commonly used programming languages in 2021 (among the >83K people surveyed):

  1. JavaScript
  2. HTML/CSS
  3. Python
  4. SQL
  5. Java
  6. Node.js
  7. TypeScript
  8. C#
  9. Bash/Shell
  10. C++

Here is a table of Stack Overflow survey’s ranking with further details about the programming languages:

PositionLanguageLast stable releaseOriginally designed byInfluenced by
#1JavaScript (JS)ECMAScript 2021Brendan EichAWK, HyperTalk, Java, Scheme
#2HTMLLiving Standard (2022)WHATWG
#2CSSCSS 3World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
#3PythonPython 3.10.4Guido van RossumABC, Ada, ALGOL 68, APL, C, C++, CLU, Dylan, Haskell, Icon, Java, Lips, Modula-3, Perl, Standard ML
#4SQLSQL:2016Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. BoyceDatalog
#5JavaJava SE 17James GoslingAda 83, C#, C++, CLU, Eiffel, Lisp, Mesa, Modula-3, Oberon, Object Pascal, Objective-C, Smalltalk, Simula67, UCSD Pascal
#6Node.jsNode.js 17.8.0Ryan Lienhart DahlC++, Javascript
#7TypeScriptTypeScript 4.6.2MicrosoftC#, Java, JavaScript
#8C#C# 10.0Anders HejlsbergC++, Cω, Eiffel, F#, Haskell, Icon, J#, J++, Java, ML, Modula-3, Object Pascal, VB
#9Bash/ShellBash 5.1.16Brian Fox
#10C++C++20Bjarne StroustrupAda, ALGOL 68, C, CLU, ML, Mesa, Modula-2, Simula, Smalltalk

According to the PYPL ranking, Python, Java and JavaScript also led the ranking of the most popular programming languages in 2020. But, according to Stack Overflow’s 2020 Developer Survey, Rust, TypeScript and Python were last year’s top three programming languages among the developers they surveyed. Python is also among the most popular programming languages in cloud solutions.

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