Why Python Still Dominates: Insights from the June PYPL Language Rankings

PYPL released the June programming language ranking, as shown below:

PYPL is a widely used reference index; its rankings are based on the frequency of Google searches for each language or IDE, using data from Google Trends. Higher search frequency indicates greater popularity. Developers can use PYPL as a reference to decide which language or IDE to learn or to adopt in new software projects.

In the June list, the top five languages are Python, Java, JavaScript, C#, and PHP. Compared with June of the previous year, Python’s share continued to grow significantly, while Java and PHP fell by 1.8 and 1.2 percentage points respectively.

Another noteworthy language is Kotlin. In this month’s ranking, Kotlin showed three upward green arrows, standing out among the top 23 positions, rising from a 0.94% share last month to 1.4% this month, likely related to Google’s announcement that Kotlin will become the preferred language for Android development.

Globally, Python remains the most popular language, achieving the highest adoption growth over the past five years, with an increase of 17.6%.

We previously reposted an article analyzing the state of PHP, where the author argued that PHP is still an excellent choice for web development based on development progress, performance improvements, and ecosystem growth. However, the PYPL ranking suggests otherwise: over the past five years, PHP has lost the most adoption (-6.2%) and now holds only about 7%.