Python has reached a 25.35% share of community interest in programming languages in May, a major milestone in the TIOBE Programming Community Index. Python was TIOBE’s programming language of the year in 2024.
The TIOBE Programming Community Index shows trends in programming languages based on search engine volume.
Python holds the highest share of interest in a programming language in decades
Not since 2001, the year the TIOBE Index started, has a programming language held such a large percentage of community interest as Python does in 2025. Python is not the language with the highest share in the index’s history, however.
Java in June 2001 and October 2001 had a higher share. June 2001 was the first month TIOBE Software published the index. The programming community was much smaller, nearly incomparable to today.
Python also has a more than 15% lead over the next most popular language, C++. This is the first time in the index’s history any language has had such a significant lead.
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Why would anyone use a programming language other than Python? Aside from specialized and legacy use cases for other languages, TIOBE Software CEO Paul Jansen pointed out Python is “interpreted and thus prone to unexpected run-time errors.”
“Safety-critical and/or real-time systems still have to rely on other languages, but in most other domains Python is slowly but surely finding its way to the top,” Jansen wrote.
Python also appeals to non-software engineers getting into programming and is considered a “default language,” Jansen said in February.
Go, Rust, and other programming languages lose ground
The top 10 list of the TIOBE Index stayed the same as it was in April. In the top three, the popularity of C++ and C decreased, according to TIOBE’s proprietary points system, slightly month over month. Go, which is in 7th place in April, rose steadily in popularity throughout 2025 but lost some ground between April and May.
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Rust looked like it could have been a contender for the top 10 in 2024, though its trend did not continue; the programming language dipped in February and continues to fall in popularity. As of May, Rust barely holds its place in the top 20 at 19th.
