No Comment: Distribution of Comments on AO3 Fics
There's a lot of discussion on the topic of leaving comments on fics; Writers want them, readers aren't sure what to say in them, and a small army of dedicated blogs are doing their best to ensure every fic gets at least one!
This post will focus on the existing numbers, but if you'd like to engage with the action towards reducing the number of fics with no comments, have a look at the following blogs: @nomorezerocomments @safics-with-0-comments @justleaveacommentfest @letsmakecommentingfun
Top Fics With Most Comments:
(Listing top 20 instead of the usual top 10 because of the unusual distribution of fandoms! It's a fascinating spread)
Strawberry and Blueberry Jam by U.nderZeWeather (Voltron) Last Updated on: 2-Aug-22 Chapters: 323/? Comments: 49,891
Chained by War and Love by Lady_Nature (The Tudors) Last Updated on: 2-Aug-25 Chapters: 123/145 Comments: 45,476
All the Young Dudes by MsKingBean89 (Harry Potter) Finished on: 12-Nov-18 Chapters: 188/188 Comments: 44,520
http://ao3.org/works/41675805 Carlos from MarvelandZeldaFan's Children of the Heroes by KR5 (Linked Universe) Posted on: 13-Sep-22 Chapters: 1/1 <(note: this is art) Comments: 43,808 <(note: practically ALL those were contained within a singular thread between the author and the giftee, where the later messages took an old-tumblr spaghetti-style look xD)
Next Big Thing by earlgreytea68 (Inception) Last Updated on: 11-Jul-15 Chapters: 231/? Comments: 43,705
Forgetting About Stolas Ars Goetia by Marirock (Hazbin Hotel) Last Updated on: 28-Aug-25 Chapters: 66/? Comments: 42,130
Meet-Tired by SimpleSoupsandAppleTarts (The Untamed) Last Updated on: 30-Aug-25 Chapters: 1,431/? Comments: 40,308
1796 Broadway by rainproof, teaberryblue (Avengers) Finished on: 19-Sep-14 Chapters: 708/708 Comments: 37,483
Crimson Rivers by bizarrestars (Harry Potter) Finished on: 14-Feb-23 Chapters: 75/75 Comments: 36,300
Hidden Scenario - [Dramatis Personae] by Anonymous (Omniscient Reader) Last Updated on: 29-Aug-25 Chapters: 259/? Comments: 31,445
Viridian: The Green Guide by Clouds (BNHA) Finished on: 7-Aug-21 Chapters: 120/120 Comments: 30,743
A Thing Of Vikings by athingofvikings (How to Train Your Dragon) Last Updated on: 6-Oct-24 Chapters: 165/? Comments: 29,818
Mystery of Prince Atsushi by orphan_account (Original Work) Last Updated on: 25-Sep-23 Chapters: 1/? Comments: 28,634 <(note: practically all of those are contained within a single thread where the author roleplays with guest(s) under various nicknames)
Entirely Out of Spite by Bgtea (Genshin Impact) Finished on: 21-Aug-25 Chapters: 46/46 Comments: 28,495
The Grand Unified Theory of Shěn Qīngqiū: Qi Refining by 00janeblonde (SVSSS) Finished on: 10-Jul-24 Chapters: 501/501 Comments: 28,246
there's blood on your lies by HopeStoryteller (Pokemon) Finished on: 23-Feb-25 Chapters: 242/242 Comments: 27,893
Only the Divine's favorite fall in love... by ArklynVanilla (Cookie Run) Finished on: 1-Dec-23 Chapters: 16/16 Comments: 27,821
If You Had This Time Again by dls (Marvel) Finished on: 22-Mar-19 Chapters: 100/100 Comments: 27,004
One for All and Eight for the Ninth by griffinguy24 (BNHA) Last Updated on: 13-Feb-25 Chapters: 78/? Comments: 26,079
Dearly beloved by Sophia96 (Yuri!!! on Ice) Last Updated on: 21-Apr-25 Chapters: 458/? Comments: 25,836
Number of fics within comments brackets
>20k comments: 29 fics 10-20k comments: 145 fics 5-10k comments: 763 fics 1-5k comments: 22,331 fics 500-1k comments: 44,530 fics 100-500 comments: 411,943 fics 50-100 comments: 512,539 fics 10-50 comments: 3,645,944 fics 1-9 comments: 7,062,924 fics <1 comments: 3,888,557 fics
Nearly half (45.4%) of all AO3 fics have between 1-9 comments!
Vast majority (93.8%) of all AO3 fics have under 50 comments!
If you have a fic with more than 50 comments: congratulations! You are in the top 6%! A fic with more than a 100 comments lands you in the top 3%, whereas a fic that has over 500 comments is in the top 0.44%!
