C# Grabs Language of the Year, TIOBE Predicts TypeScript Rise — Visual Studio Magazine

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C# Grabs Language of the Year, TIOBE Predicts TypeScript Rise

The latest TIOBE Programming Community Index names C# as its Programming Language of the Year, citing the language’s strongest year-over-year growth among all ranked languages.

In its accompanying commentary, TIOBE also points to growing momentum for TypeScript. TypeScript has historically ranked lower in TIOBE due to the index’s reliance on search-engine signals, but TIOBE’s expectation suggests increasing visibility for the language within the data it tracks.

The report continues to rank Python at the top of the index, extending its long-running lead as the most visible programming language in TIOBE’s tracking. Python’s position remains stable, reflecting sustained interest across multiple domains.

The index is designed to measure the relative popularity of programming languages rather than technical merit or usage quality. The rankings are based on search-engine results from sources including Google, Bing, Amazon, Wikipedia, and others, using queries related to programming language names. According to TIOBE, the index reflects factors such as the number of skilled engineers, available courses, and third-party vendor interest, and is updated monthly.

Elsewhere in the rankings, the report highlights notable shifts among established languages. C posted a significant increase in its rating, while Java and C++ saw declines over the past year. C# recorded the largest year-over-year gain of any language, earning it the Programming Language of the Year designation. TIOBE also noted renewed visibility for languages such as R and Perl, alongside ongoing strength among systems and legacy languages.

C# Performance and TIOBE Recognition
C# finished the year ranked fifth in the TIOBE index, but garnered Programming Language of the Year honors based on having the strongest rise in the index over the previous 12 months.

TypeScript Outlook in the TIOBE Index
The report singles it out as a candidate for near-term advancement.

“What can we expect from 2026? I have a long history of making incorrect predictions, but I suspect that TypeScript will finally break into the top 20,” said CEO Paul Jansen.

TIOBE has historically ranked TypeScript lower than its real-world usage might suggest, a gap the company attributes to the index’s reliance on search-engine queries and other signals that tend to favor standalone language names. Despite that limitation, the report indicates that TypeScript’s growing presence is becoming more apparent within the index’s methodology.

Alongside the TIOBE index, several other widely cited programming language rankings attempt to gauge relative language popularity and developer interest using different data sources and methodologies. Among the most prominent are RedMonk’s biannual programming language rankings, which combine GitHub repository activity with Stack Overflow discussion volume, and the PYPL (Popularity of Programming Language) index, which tracks the frequency of Google searches for language-specific tutorials.

The January 2026 PYPL index also places C# within the top 10 languages worldwide, though below the leading group dominated by Python, Java, and JavaScript. Because PYPL emphasizes tutorial search activity, its rankings tend to highlight learning trends rather than production usage. Within that framework, C# continues to show steady interest, with its relative position varying by region but remaining competitive with other widely used general-purpose languages. However, it had the worst drop from the previous report, and its one-year trend (-3.4% ) was the second-worst, only ahead of Java (-4.8%) among the top 10.

In RedMonk’s most recent published rankings, C# remains firmly positioned in the upper tier of languages, typically around the top five. RedMonk’s data has shown relatively little volatility at the top of the chart over time, with C# maintaining a consistent presence behind long-standing leaders such as JavaScript, Python, and Java, reflecting sustained usage and engagement in both code repositories and developer discussions. However, Redmonk’s latest report is dated June 2025. A new entry in the biannual series might be published soon.

Taken together, the three indexes paint a consistent picture for C#. While TIOBE highlights strong recent momentum, RedMonk and PYPL show a language that has maintained a stable, upper-tier position over time rather than experiencing sharp swings. The combination of near-term gains in TIOBE and longer-running steadiness in RedMonk and PYPL underscores C#’s continued relevance across multiple measures of programming language interest.