These were CNN’s top 100 digital stories of 2020
You know it’s been a remarkable year when a devastating global pandemic isn’t the only major story capturing people’s attention.
In a look at CNN’s most-read digital stories of 2020, November’s historic US presidential election looms large. But the intensity of the year is reflected in the wide range of stories that captured the world’s interest.
From the very start of 2020, users flocked to CNN for news on the airstrikes in Iraq, the impeachment and Kobe Bryant’s tragic death.
March and April saw record global interest in the coronavirus, with people all over the planet turning to CNN for information. Throughout the year, readers wanted to know the basics: How many people were infected, when their stimulus checks were going to arrive, and what they could do to stay safe.
During the tense days following the election, people were glued to vote counts and projections. They experimented with electoral maps. They refreshed and reloaded as the latest results crept in.
Joining these overarching narratives are stories of the racial unrest that swept across the world over the summer, and the fallout from the explosion that rocked Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut.
In between it all, we said goodbye to beloved stars and mourned each new and terrible coronavirus milestone.
Looking back, the story coming in at #100 on this list, published in March, is a glimpse into an almost alien past: “Here’s what we know about the 100 people who’ve died in the US from coronavirus.”
Months later, as this dark year draws to a close, more than 100 people now die of Covid-19 in the US in a single hour. Across the globe, more than 1.7 million people have lost their lives; 317,000 and counting in the US alone.
The world we knew at the beginning of 2020 is gone.
Hopefully, in 2021, the stories we tell will be of a better one.
1. Live story: Election 2020 presidential results
2. Live story: 2020 presidential election eve
3. Live story: The morning after the presidential elections 2020
4. Live story: Where the race to 270 electoral votes stand
5. Live story: Joe Biden is elected president
6. Interactive: The road to 270
7. Interactive: Tracking Covid-19 cases in the US
8. US monitoring intelligence that North Korean leader is in grave danger after surgery
9. The 2020 presidential election polls
10. Live story: Kobe Bryant dies at 41
11. Live story: Beirut explosion rocks Lebanon’s capital city
12. Pentagon officially releases UFO videos
13. Live story: George Floyd protests spread nationwide
14. Jared Kushner, Melania Trump advise Trump to accept election loss
15. Live story: Iran attacks bases housing US troops
16. Robert Trump, the younger brother of President Trump, dies at 71
17. President Donald Trump and the First Lady test positive for Covid-19
18. ‘Glee’ actress Naya Rivera’s body is found
19. White woman who called police on a Black man bird-watching has been fired
20. When will you get your stimulus payment? Here’s how to check
21. Senate stimulus deal includes individual checks — but don’t expect the money right away
22. Infected people without symptoms might be driving the spread of coronavirus more than we realized
23. Stories from Anderson Cooper’s Full Circle
24. Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith confirm her involvement with August Alsina
25. Trump’s photo op raises new questions about how seriously he takes the virus
26. Podcast: Coronavirus – Fact vs. Fiction
27. Live story: Trump’s Covid diagnosis
28. When will you get your stimulus cash, and how?
29. Trump continues to break the polling
30. A reporter’s reaction when a bison herd approaches has the internet in stitches
31. Lebanon explosion: Thousands injured across capital Beirut
32. Why does Russia, population 146 million, have fewer coronavirus cases than Luxembourg?
33. Is it allergies, the flu or the coronavirus? How to tell the difference
34. Interactive: This is where all 50 states stand on reopening
35. Live story: March 22 coronavirus news
36. What this coronavirus survivor learned when she was sick
37. CNN crew released from police custody after they were arrested live on air in Minneapolis
38. Senate approves historic $2 trillion stimulus deal amid growing coronavirus fears
39. Live story: The 2020 Iowa caucuses
40. Live story: May 30 George Floyd protests
41. ‘Black Panther’ star Chadwick Boseman dies at 43
42. Black light experiment shows how quickly a virus like Covid-19 can spread at a restaurant
44. Live story: March 25 coronavirus news
45. Researchers created a test to determine which masks are the least effective
46. Melania Trump’s messaging frustrating the West Wing, source says
47. Live story: March 21 coronavirus news
48. Live story: October 4 Trump Covid-19 news
49. These states have implemented stay-at-home orders. Here’s what that means for you
50. Cady Groves, pop and country singer, dead at 30
51. Trump taken to Walter Reed medical center and will be hospitalized ‘for the next few days’
52. Biden uses ‘inshallah’ in response to Trump during debate, lighting up Twitter
53. Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, among 9 killed in a helicopter crash in California
54. CNN anchor Chris Cuomo diagnosed with coronavirus; he will continue working from home
55. Worried about coronavirus? If your loved one is over 60, read this
56. Live story: March 20 coronavirus news
58. Wuhan shows the world that the end of lockdown is just the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis
59. Live story: October 3 Trump Covid-19 news
60. The number of US coronavirus cases has topped 13,000 as testing becomes more available
61. NTSB details the final moments of the helicopter before it crashed, killing Kobe Bryant and 8 others
62. Here’s a list of disinfectants you can use against coronavirus
63. Jared and Ivanka are poised to return to a Manhattan social scene that no longer welcomes them
64. Attorney who was found dead named as primary suspect in fatal shooting at federal judge’s home
65. ‘Glee’ actress Naya Rivera is presumed dead after disappearing at a lake in California
66. Live story: May 31 George Floyd protests
67. Live story: Super Tuesday 2020
69. Chinese authorities confirm case of bubonic plague in Inner Mongolia
70. The psychology behind why toilet paper, of all things, is the latest coronavirus panic buy
71. All four former officers involved in George Floyd’s killing now face charges
72. Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints
73. 12-year-old girl with coronavirus is on a ventilator and fighting for her life
74. 750 million genetically engineered mosquitoes approved for release in Florida Keys
75. Live story: March 26 coronavirus news
76. Biden widens lead over Trump in critical Pennsylvania
79. Live story: April 5 coronavirus news
80. The world’s new Covid-19 epicenter could be the worst yet
81. Her husband died. Then his family shaved her head and made her strip beside his grave
82. Corona beer stops production
83. She’s been falsely accused of starting the pandemic. Her life has been turned upside down
84. Siya Kakkar, teenage TikTok star, has died, her manager confirms
85. Live story: March 12 coronavirus news
86. This city disbanded its police department 7 years ago. Here’s what happened next
87. Trump abruptly ends ’60 Minutes’ interview before planned taping of joint appearance with Pence
89. Live story: Crowds swarm Tehran to mourn slain Iran military leader Soleimani
90. Trump has told people he has no plans to concede even if his path to victory is blocked
92. 5 reasons you may not have gotten your stimulus money yet
93. Live story: March 8 coronavirus news
94. Only two US states are reporting a decline in new coronavirus cases
95. Hiker missing for two weeks found in Zion National Park, family says
96. Here’s who’s still waiting for stimulus money
97. Trump signs executive order targeting social media companies
99. Live story: March 27 coronavirus news
100. Here’s what we know about the 100 people who’ve died in the US from coronavirus
