Redmonk study of programming languages, combining GitHub and Stack Overflow data, shows Java in second place alongside Python, while JavaScript remains top
While we generally try to have our rankings in July immediately after they are run, we generally operate these on a better late than never basis.
Context & Ripple Effects
RedMonk has run this blended GitHub-plus-Stack Overflow ranking before: its 2019 edition flagged TypeScript, Kotlin and Julia climbing while Go, R and Scala slid. Since then, every independent yardstick has agreed on the shape of the top of the table.
What changed today is the second slot. GitHub's own 2020 tally already put Python ahead of Java, and the SlashData survey of 17K developers counted 9M active Python developers versus 8.2M for Java. RedMonk calling it a tie is the point where the last major ranking stops giving Java a clear hold on number two.
First-order effects
- Python now matches Java on RedMonk's combined measure, confirming what GitHub's 2020 language ranking and SlashData's headcounts already showed — Java's once-uncontested claim to second place is gone.
- JavaScript stays first across RedMonk, GitHub and SlashData simultaneously, leaving it the only language no other ranking disputes at the top.
Second-order effects
- Tooling vendors and training providers who calibrate their positioning to these rankings now have multi-source data backing Python-first pitches, weakening the 'Java is the safe enterprise default' sales line.
- Java's defense falls to its existing enterprise install base rather than new-project momentum, since the growth stories in the surrounding coverage (TypeScript, Kotlin, Rust's love ratings) all sit outside the JVM's traditional turf.
Third-order effects
- If the convergence pattern holds, the meaningful question for language ecosystems stops being 'who is number one' and becomes whether any fourth language can break into a durable three-language tier that every measurement method now reproduces.
- Ranking methodologies themselves consolidate into a small set of cross-checkable proxies — code hosting plus Q&A activity — meaning future shifts will likely show up identically everywhere at once, raising the stakes for whoever moves first.
The trend: Independent developer-popularity measures keep converging on the same three-language podium, with Python closing the gap on JavaScript while Java leans on enterprise inertia to stay in the picture.