| Our most popular pieces reflected the anxieties of the moment—but also the need for levity—and interest in an unusual way to retire.  Illustration by Andrew B. Myers After a certain point, the sensation of emergency simply becomes like the wind and the rain—part of our normal weather pattern. In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending a nearly fifty-year-old legal precedent that protected the right to abortion. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February, brought calamity to more than forty million civilians, and, as the conflict ground on, made the once far-fetched scenario of nuclear war increasingly plausible. The midterm elections, in November, felt like a test of American democracy. It survived, for now, but our politics still feel combustible. Donald Trump is enfeebled and under federal investigation, but he is running for President, again. The most popular New Yorker stories published in 2022 reflected the anxieties of the moment. (Once again, the rankings are based on our internal tracking of which pieces people read on their way to subscribing.) Jia Tolentino’s essay about the widespread criminalization of pregnancy in a post-Roe world topped the list. Three deeply reported stories about the Supreme Court itself were also in the top twenty-five, including Jane Mayer’s investigation of the activism of Ginni Thomas, Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife. At the same time, news fatigue has become an unignorable phenomenon, helping explain declining digital traffic across the industry. Perhaps as a result, plenty of our most popular pieces were completely unmoored from current events. In “Retirement the Margaritaville Way,” No. 19 on the list, Nick Paumgarten visited Latitude Margaritaville, an active-living community for Jimmy Buffett enthusiasts. He found a place of relentless optimism, where “disgruntlement and curmudgeonliness must exist, but not in view of a visitor susceptible to such traits.” I’m no Buffett fan, but, in a time of great weariness, it is easy to feel the tug of Margaritaville. May we all find our sunny places next year. —Michael Luo, editor of newyorker.com Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » | 
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