43 Trending Substack Newsletter Businesses [2024]
Looking for some examples of a substack newsletter?
Interested in case studies of a successful substack newsletter? Check out our full list of success stories.
1. Contrarian Thinking
Contrarian Thinking, weekly cashflowing investment ideas to build your bank account and increase your income streams.
How much they make: $3M/year
Where they're located: Austin, TX, USA
How much did it cost to start: $5K
Current team size: 4
Contrarian Thinking is a premium membership community that teaches its 1.5 million members how to implement cash flow strategies to achieve financial freedom, with a current run rate of $3 million and a goal of $50 million ARR in five years.
2. Ask E. Jean
Tormented? Driven Witless? Whipsawed by Confusion? Ask E. Jean is the longest currently-running advice column in American publishing. Click to read Ask E. Jean, by E. Jean Carroll, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
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4. Robert Reich
Exposing where power lies in our system -- and how it's used and abused. Click to read Robert Reich, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of readers.
5. Glenn Loury
Race and inequality in US and throughout the world. By the first Black professor of economics to get tenure at Harvard, now at Brown. Click to read Glenn Loury, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
6. Patti Smith
The reader is my notebook. Click to read Patti Smith, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
7. TRANSFORM with Marianne Williamson
Transform yourself, transform the world. Click to read TRANSFORM with Marianne Williamson, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
8. Radical- by Maajid Nawaz
resisting the democratisation of truth. Click to read Radical - by Maajid Nawaz, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
9. Cup of Coffee
Everything you need to know about baseball before your first cup of coffee. Click to read Cup of Coffee by Craig Calcaterra, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
How much they make: $221K/year
Where they're located: New Albany, OH
How much did it cost to start: $200
Current team size: 1
Craig Calcaterra's daily baseball and culture Substack newsletter Cup of Coffee has amassed just under 10,500 subscribers, with over 3,300 paying monthly ($6) or annual ($65) subscriptions, achieving average monthly revenue of around $18,400 and growing.
10. JoeBlogs
A Few Words ... Maybe more than a few. Click to read JoeBlogs, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
11. Chief in the North Newsletter
Reviewing, analyzing, and discussing Kansas City Chiefs film with a side of fan commentary. Let's go beyond the box score. Click to read The Chief in the North Newsletter, by Seth Keysor, a Substack publication with thousands of readers.
How much they make: $48K/year
Where they're located: n/a
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 0
A sports writer launched a newsletter that now has over 5,500 subscribers in under 2 years and generates a legitimate side income of over $4,000 a month, with a subscription fee of $12 a year or $2 a month, by providing in-depth analysis for diehard Kansas City Chiefs and NFL fans.
12. The Kākā by Bernard Hickey
Public interest journalism on NZ’s housing, climate and poverty crises. Click to read The Kākā by Bernard Hickey, a Substack publication with thousands of readers.
13. The Long Game
Musings on baseball and life. Click to read The Long Game, by Molly Knight, a Substack publication with thousands of readers.
14. Starship Casual
Jeff Tweedy shares songs, advice, general musings, and whatnot... Click to read Starship Casual, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
15. Yolo Intel
Travel intel and inspiration. Click to read Yolo Intel, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
How much they make: $240K/year
Where they're located: Brooklyn
How much did it cost to start: $15K
Current team size: 1
Yolo Journal's founder, Yolanda Edwards, launched a travel lifestyle media brand with a magazine and newsletter that now generates $20k a month in revenue. Edwards' business success can be attributed to understanding the hole in the magazine market and creating trust-worthy insider information.
16. The Dossier
Investigative reporting for the "new normal". Click to read The Dossier, by Jordan Schachtel, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
17. The Incision
Abdul El-Sayed cuts into the political, scientific, and societal trends shaping our moment. Click to read The Incision, by Abdul El-Sayed, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
18. Astral Codex Ten
P(A|B) = [P(A)*P(B|A)]/P(B), all the rest is commentary. Click to read Astral Codex Ten, by Scott Alexander, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
19. Petition
Curated financial news, analysis and commentary with an emphasis on distressed investing, restructuring and bankruptcy. We discuss disruption, from the vantage point of the disrupted. Click to read PETITION, by PETITION LLC, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
20. Category Pirates
The authority on category design/category creation. Click to read Category Pirates, by Category Pirates 🏴☠️, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
21. The Profile
The Profile features the best long-form stories on people and companies in business, tech, sports, entertainment, and more. Click to read The Profile, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
22. Noahpinion
Economics and other interesting stuff. Click to read Noahpinion, by Noah Smith, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
23. BowTied Opossum
Get smarter about all things digital. Affiliate marketing, e-commerce, analytics, and digital marketing.
Start and grow your first online business today. Click to read WiFi Money, by BowTied Opossum, a Substack publication with thousands of readers.
How much they make: $72K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 0
BowTiedOpossum founder shares how he grew his anonymous paid newsletter to $3k per month in 9 months using Twitter as his main acquisition strategy.
24. BIG by Matt Stoller
The history and politics of monopoly power. Click to read BIG by Matt Stoller, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
25. Original Jurisdiction
News, views, and colorful commentary about law and the legal profession. Click to read Original Jurisdiction, by David Lat, a Substack publication with thousands of readers.
26. Ari Melber
A newsletter on law, politics & culture by Emmy-winning journalist, MSNBC Anchor, published writer & attorney Ari Melber. Facts, evidence and some fun! Click to read Ari Melber, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
27. Tic Toc Newsletter
I share the most accurate & actionable levels in the most liquid markets using orderflow and some educational content leveraging my 15+ years in the S&P500 market. Click to read Tic Toc Newsletter, by Tic Toc Trading, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
28. Adam Mancini's S&P 500 (SPX/ES Futures) Trade Companion
A concise daily companion newsletter for SPX/ES Traders offering a chart, accurate daily levels, trade plan and my broad overview of the state of the worlds largest stock index. Click to read Adam Mancini's S&P 500 (SPX/ES Futures) Trade Companion, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
29. Bonner Private Research
With daily, weekly, and monthly investment research and analysis for individuals from Bill Bonner, Tom Dyson, Dan Denning, Joel Bowman, and others members of our private research network. Click to read Bonner Private Research, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
30. QTR's Fringe Finance
Liberty. Finance. Bullshit. Click to read QTR’s Fringe Finance, by Quoth the Raven, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
31. The Lens
Economic analysis, research, and commentary using the lens of MMT. Click to read The Lens, by Stephanie Kelton, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
32. The Pomp Letter
The best daily newsletter analyzing the business, finance, and technology industries. Join 210,000 subscribers by signing up below. Click to read The Pomp Letter, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of readers.
33. Substack
Substack makes it simple for a writer to start an email newsletter that makes money from subscriptions.
Where they're located: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Website traffic: 20.9M/month
34. Bankless – The ultimate guide to crypto finance
Website traffic: 780K/month
35. Lenny's Newsletter
A weekly advice column about product, growth, working with humans, and anything else that’s stressing you out about work
Website traffic: 580K/month
36. Slow Boring
37. TSOH Investment Research Service
High-quality equity investing with deep dive company research and 100% portfolio transparency from an experienced buyside analyst. Join 4,500+ investors on the journey to better investing. Click to read TSOH Investment Research Service, by The Science of Hitting, a Substack publication with thousands of readers.
How much they make: $192K/year
Where they're located: Davie, FL, USA
How much did it cost to start: $500
Current team size: 1
TSOH Investment Research Service generates $17,000 per month after a year of launch, offering deep dive equity research on new companies, updates on current holdings and names on the watchlist, investment philosophy discussions, and periodic portfolio updates for a monthly or yearly subscription fee.
38. Alison Roman
Website traffic: 200K/month
39. Blocked and Reported
A Podcast About Internet Nonsense. Click to read Blocked and Reported, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.
40. Alpha Letter
How much they make: $420K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 0
An anonymous founder started Alpha Letter, an investment newsletter that focuses on finding small out-of-favored value stocks, and using viral marketing techniques, grew their free subscriber base to 82,000 individuals and now brings in around $30,000-35,000 in revenue per month across all their properties, with their short-term goal being to get each property to $50,000 in revenue per month.
41. I Know The Pilot
The Best International and Domestic Airfare Deals for Australia sent to you for Free.
How much they make: $840K/year
Where they're located: Melbourne
How much did it cost to start: $1.5K
Current team size: 0
Website traffic: 110K/month
I Know The Pilot founder Garth Adams shares how he grew his airfare and accommodation deals newsletter from a simple WordPress site to over 780,000 email subscribers, 110,000 app users, and 550,000 Facebook fans on a 100% free business model, and how he's pivoted domestically during the Covid-19 pandemic.
43. Money Talk
Come here for the highs and lows of personal finance
How much they make: $1.2K/year
Where they're located: London, England, United Kingdom
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 1
Qin Xie launched Money Talk, a reader-funded newsletter on personal finance, in May 2020, and made £100 in the first month, chiefly promoting it on LinkedIn.
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
