Vocal Bonus Leaderboard: 01/07/2026

Welcome back to our first weekly Leaderboard update of 2026! We're going to try out something new this week with a slight tweak we made to the way we compile the Leaderboard results.

Leaderboard engagement will now based on how many different Vocal+ creators comment or reply on a post, not how many total comments it receives.

The goal here is to try to elevate stories that resonated with the highest number of our power users, not necessarily the ones where the comment sections turn into chatrooms.

A reminder of some ground rules we use to formulate the Leaderboard:

The time period of data analyzed for each weekly Leaderboard is collected from 12:00am Wednesday - 11:59pm Tuesday ET each week.

Only top level comments and replies by unique Vocal+ creators will count, comments or replies by the story author will be excluded.

You don’t need to be Vocal+ to appear on the leaderboard.

You can appear on the Leaderboard once per week.

You can appear on the Leaderboard multiple weeks in a row.

No AI generated content.

✨ Most Discussed Stories this Week ✨

Here are the stories that have sparked the most comments with their engaged readers this week.

🏆 Winners

🥇 First Place ($20 Bonus): Tiffany Gordon - A Cozy Nest Box... 🏘️🐿️🏘️

🥈 Second Place ($15 Bonus): Mother Combs - January Ozarks

🥉 Third Place ($10 Bonus): JBaz - Au revoir JBaz

🏅 Forth Place ($8 Bonus): Jay Kantor - Wise~Guys

🏅 Fifth Place ($5 Bonus): Imola Tóth - The Pocket Sun

🌟 Honorable Mentions ($3 bonus)

Lamar Wiggins - The Tendency

Caitlin Charlton - The Match

Sara Wilson - Virtuous

Rick Henry Christopher - Grooves That Never Fade: The Essential Bands of 70s Funk, Soul & R&B

Lana V Lynx - 2025 Vocal Goal Achieved

Each winner will receive a well-deserved bonus in their Vocal Wallets within the next 72 hours.

Congratulations to all the winners! We love what you bring to the table at Vocal. Here's to another week of excellent writing and reads.