TIOBE Programming Language Rankings: Java Drops from Top 3, C# Surges, Kotlin Rises

The newest TIOBE programming language index has been released, highlighting significant shifts in language popularity, especially the decline of Java and the rise of C# and Kotlin.

Java, which historically held a top‑three position, fell out of the top three in December and is now projected to drop to fifth place as its market‑share decreased by 3.92%, while C# gained 3.29% and is expected to surpass Java within two months.

The competition between C# and Java dates back 23 years, with C# inheriting object‑oriented features from C and C++ and running on .NET platforms; both languages share many syntactic and runtime characteristics, yet C# offers advantages such as Delphi‑style COM integration, conditional compilation, and array initialization with assignment.

Java's popularity decline is attributed not only to C#'s technical benefits but also to Oracle's shift to a paid licensing model after Java 8, whereas Microsoft made C# free and open‑source, boosting its adoption.

Additional factors include Kotlin’s free, fully compatible alternative gaining traction, and the overall stagnation of Java’s evolution, which has contributed to its reduced appeal.

The index also lists the top 21‑50 languages (e.g., Ballerina, Clojure, Elixir, Rust) and the 51‑100 languages in alphabetical order, illustrating the breadth of the programming ecosystem.

Charts are provided for the top‑10 language trends from 2002‑2023, historical rankings from 1988‑2023, and a “celebrity” ranking of languages from 2003‑2022.

The TIOBE index is calculated from the number of skilled engineers, courses, and third‑party vendors using search engines and technical communities such as Google, Baidu, CSDN, and Bing; it reflects language popularity rather than quality.

These rankings can help developers assess whether their skill set is up‑to‑date and serve as a reference when choosing a language for new projects.