Most Popular New Post of 2023 (MPP1)

Jordan James & Harvey Bridgestone

My annual custom of evaluating the most visited new posts of the year has given me more food for thought than usual this year after a dramatic fall in the number of recorded visits. The stats tell me that visitors are down by 25% for the blog overall but most of the entries in the table below show hit totals and a cut-off score which are just below half of the same position last year. This seems to be a continuation of a trend which I noted last year where views of new posts fell but visits overall were stable. There's an obvious message for me here about recent posts! There have been no new major reviews this year to set alongside past 'block busters' like Amalaric, the Milking Factory series and the IFNB phenomenon. I will be hoping to regain lost viewers in the New Year. 

Meanwhile I must thank all the readers who continue to show their interest in mitchmen blog!

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The table below lists the most popular of the new mitchmen posts during 2023. I'm sticking with last years method of simply counting hits with a mention of other factors in the notes.

(Titles have links to the original posts, column 4 shows annualised hit rate ranking).

On mobiles the table is best viewed by turning your phone sideways

 

TABLE 1 - Top 20 New Posts of 2022 at mitchmen

 

Rank	Title (+link)	Total Hits	Hit Rate Ranking	Pub Month	Note
1	Slave Training 11 - Cockaphobia (GIF)	927	1	Jul	1
2	Platoon69 by Jero	698	12	Jan	2
3	MPP in 2022 (best of new posts)	666	14	Jan	3
4	Art by Appas	608	11	Mar	5
5	Domination Art by Whiteworm	596	10	Mar	2
6	Musclehunk Rudely Awakened (GIF)	567	3	July	1
7	Milking Factory 14 by Shenguanlin	552	4	Jun	4
8	Domination Art by Paragon Illusions	547	2	July	2, 5
9	Art by 3D Waxx	538	13	Mar	6
10	Abduction Art by ApostlXXX	535	9	Apr	4
11	Art by Drtkk (Part 2)	527	7	May	4
12	Art by Iskan156	513	15	Mar	6
13	Art by Drtkk (Part 3)	506	6	Jun	4
14	Art by Shenguanlin	501	5	Jul	4
15	Jungle Captives	479	18	Feb	7
16	Most viewed post of all time (to 2022)	475	20	Jan	3
17	Milking Factory 13 (by Drtkk)	470	8	May	4
18	Kidnapped (Art by Mitchell)	465	16	Mar	3
19	Art by AnimasAnimus	450	17	Mar	2
20	Jero - Make Mine an Old Fashioned	449	19	Feb	2

 

(Stats collected on 1st January 2024) 

NOTES

 1.

 

Top spot this year was claimed by the sexy GIF of Jordan James being handcuffed and ring-gagged by his partner. This clip was borrowed from MuscleDestroyer at Deviant Art and he also contributed No 6 in the table showing a bound muscle hunk being doused with water. This pair ranked 1 and 3 in the ranking based on hit rate (column 4). Despite this I have no plans to switch the focus of the blog away from gay fetish art, which made up the rest of the table as usual. It's only the second time a photographic entry has taken top spot in this table joining the Royale Studio 'Come and Get It!' announcement from 2021. Posts about Royale Studio have now moved to the new Royale and Hussar blog.

The winning total of 927 is the lowest since 2013 when the 'Art of Swarbrick' scored 774. 

See also 'Honourable Mentions 2' at the foot of this post for another contender for the top spot.

2.

 

Jero's sexy and sensual renders took the runners up spot and also claimed 20th position. He produces great art which redefines the imagery of old and gives it new life. There were many representatives of those older, established artists in last year's chart - Brick, Kalabro, Oztangles and Gilgamesh but it was cartoonist Rob Clarke who carried that banner this year, returning in a new, ball-bustin' guise as Whiteworm. 

I suppose AnimasAnimus at 19 might also be included in this veterans group by virtue of his longevity, but his cartoons are more representative of my interest in the power and eroticism of over-developed muscle and it's containment by clothing and by fellow muscle 'beasts'. That niche was also represented this year by Paragon Illusions (see note 5 below). 

3.

 

At No 3 and No 16 were two of last years 'Most Popular Posts' reports, a slightly puzzling phenomenon that I have remarked on before. They do, of course showcase the outstanding images of the year (by Brick in 2023 and IFNB in 2022) and also point casual readers to highly-rated posts they have missed. 

I appreciate visitors' interest in my analyses, but the appearance of my own drawing 'Kidnapped' at No 18 was more pleasing. It depicts my answer to the fiendish dwarves of Black Prof! I started to give more attention to my own work last year with the 'Cowboy Folio' project and experimentations with AI.

4.

ApostleXXX also uses a traditional drawing style and his skilful, economical depictions of men are sexy indeed, but it was also his story-telling that was rightly rewarded with 10th place. I don't often post about devilry but it has proved popular in the past with the great Sean Platter. 

The art of Drtkk (formerly known here as Milkcow) is highly stylised by comparison but he can make a claim to be the artist of the year with three entries in the table at No 11, 13 and 17. He fares even better on hit rate at 6,7 and 8. This was despite his best images having already been presented in here in 2017 - in the first part of the series. 

One of Drtkk's articles was a contribution to the ever-popular 'Milking Factory' series which grabbed two places (at 7 & 17). The other was supplied by Shenguanlin who is also represented in the table with a full review of his work (at 14). I wasn't really able to give full credit to his rather extreme visions of hunk abduction and toilet service but I hope readers followed the links to bathe in the full glory of his earthy deviousness!

 

5.

 

Artists using the latest render art and AI have a significant presence this year, headed up by Appas at No 4 with his 'bondage on a bus', a success that surprised me somewhat. Paragon Illusions was not far behind at 8, I very much like his images of mature men establishing physical control over their peers.

6.

Waxx3D at No 9 showed that these new techniques have not extinguished interest in good, old-fashioned rendering! Also in this category is Iskan156 whose use of crucifixion imagery strikes a familiar chord at this blog (see labels below). These two revivals emulated the success of Ridley last year. 

7

Photo-manipulations have always been amongst the most popular posts at this blog in the past - notably Priapus of Milet and Amalaric. That torch this year was carried by two less well known artists, Beverley and Teracles (from the late, lamented Chained Muscle site). Their dramas of capture in the jungle made 15th position, a testament to the inherent appeal of putting scantily clad images of real men into unusual scenarios of danger. It's a technique that neither rendering nor AI can emulate - not yet anyway! 

Honourable Mentions 1

Chenz - Police Experimented 

There were 3 other contenders from late 2023 which did not make the cut in time, but scored impressive hit rates which and would probably have gained leading positions given more time.

Chenz-X-Chen's vivid, AI scenes of muscled captivity (Oct 23) would have taken 2nd position based on hit rate alone. DragonTattoo (also from Oct) whose built-in comforts for Astronauts are not only highly original but sexy on more than one level would have been 3rd. DGG's more conventional renders, somewhat in the style of Oztangles, (posted in Sept) would have been 4th. 

Of course these rates will not be sustained over a full year but all three were within 30 hits of making the table in their own right. It remains to be seen whether these impressive performances will continue.

Honourable Mentions 2

Black Prof - Cheated of Victory?

There were also a number of articles from the previous year, 2022, which were too late to make the cut in their own year of publication but would have scored highly in this years chart. 

Thus 'Tarzan Captured' by Black Prof (Aug 2022) has scored 1854 hits in the 15 months since publication and 1060 in 2023 alone, enough to take top spot.

Abduction Art by Jero (Nov 2022) has scored 1078 to date, 626 in 2023, worthy of 4th position at least. 

I have admitted examples like this to the table in previous years but there seems to have been a sea change in visitor patterns this year that makes it a case of comparing apples with pears and so I have decided to limit their ranking to 'might have beens'. The 'all-comers' list for 2023 will put their performances in a wider context. 

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This year's table features articles based on photographs, comics, cartoons, renders, traditional art and AI. The wealth of gay, artistic talent enhances all of our lives in difficult times. Long may it continue!

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Next time - The most viewed post in the entire mitchmen blog during 2022.

 

A big, big Thank You! 

to all my readers for your interest in my blog, 

I hope mitchmen has managed to divert you from the tribulations of the world in 2023

 

 

 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

from mitchmen blog