What’s the Hottest Programming Language in 2021? IEEE Spectrum’s Top 10 Revealed
IEEE Spectrum’s 2021 programming language ranking, based on eight online data sources and eleven metrics, lists the top 55 languages, highlights a stable top five with Python leading, and reveals notable shifts such as C#’s rise to #6 and HTML entering the top ten.
IEEE Spectrum 2021 Programming Language Ranking
IEEE Spectrum has released its 2021 programming language ranking, the eighth edition of the annual list.
The ranking evaluates 55 programming languages using data from eight online sources—CareerBuilder, GitHub, Google, Hacker News, IEEE, Reddit, Stack Overflow, and Twitter—and eleven metrics.
Unlike other lists, IEEE Spectrum lets readers adjust the weight of each metric, offering preset weightings such as emerging languages, employer/job‑seeker demand, and popular open‑source languages, as well as scenario‑based sorting for web, mobile, and embedded applications.
The top‑10 languages for 2021 are shown in the chart below:
The top five remain unchanged from 2020: Python stays at #1, followed by Java, C, C++, and JavaScript. Python leads under all preset weightings.
IEEE comments that learning Python is the most valuable takeaway from the list, as it provides a quick gateway to embedded projects and large AI systems, though it may have limitations for certain domains.
Significant shifts appear in positions 6‑10: Microsoft’s C# jumps from #25 in 2020 to #6, likely driven by the release of C# 9.0, the upcoming Windows 11, and growing interest in distributed systems. HTML enters the top ten at #9, while Arduino and Matlab fall out.
Twitter‑specific metrics show a sharp decline for COBOL, which fell from #7 to #34, reflecting reduced discussion after pandemic‑driven legacy‑system updates.
Overall trend rankings place Python, Java, C, JavaScript, C++, Go, Swift, HTML, Dart, and Rust in the top ten. From an employment perspective, Python remains the most in‑demand language, followed by C, Java, JavaScript, and C++.
Full ranking details are available on the IEEE Spectrum website.
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