We consulted Google Analytics to find the buzziest Technical.ly Philly stories of 2015 and here’s what we learned: the internet loves jam bands, online dating and adult diapers.

OK, but actually, while our core audience is local, every now and then one of our stories will get picked up and get in front of a national audience. That’s largely what you’ll see below, in the list of our most-trafficked stories of 2015.
Before we get to the list, a few honorable mentions for stories that were among the most shared but didn’t make the cut:

• These Drexel fashion students won $2K for making dresses out of adult diapers, which won lurking visitors from Reddit’s r/diapers (despite the deceptively low number of upvotes).
• Not sure that tattoo’s a keeper? This startup has a solution for you.
• Philly’s tweeting cop, @PPDJoeMurray, wins new innovation award for city employees.

Also, this story about an app that pays students for good grades has had a mysterious long tail.

###

10. Meet Sayra Lopez, the weightlifting UX designer who found love on Instagram

A tale of modern love.

9. Why is SAP North America headquartered in Newtown Square?

A look at the history of the suburban tech behemoth.

8. Brand.com has mysteriously disappeared

We chased down this story in a matter of days when we found out, via LinkedIn, that online reputation management company Brand.com’s newly-hired execs had left the company. Two months later, the company filed for bankruptcy.

7. Philly’s city wage tax just turned 75. Here’s its dubious legacy

Somehow, editorial director Chris Wink managed to make a story about city wage tax interesting. Lots of thoughtful comments on this story, too.

6. ApprenNet just hired a new CEO. Here’s why that’s a big deal

This story got big for one tragic reason: ApprenNet CEO Rachel Jacobs was killed in last spring’s Amtrak derailment just a month after she was hired.

5. Why this woman dropped out of Temple’s computer science program

While not everyone agreed with the sentiment, Becca Refford’s story struck a chord with readers. Check out the comments.

4. This Philly dev just made jam band fans very happy

The jam band community is strong.

3. These two guys prove that you are doing Tinder all wrong

In which we go on a Tinder double date in the name of journalism. (And since you’re dying to know, nah, we did not fall in love.)

2. How Scholly sparked a big fight on ‘Shark Tank’ (and landed $40K)

2015 was surely Chris Gray’s year. The recent Drexel grad hit it big when he and his scholarship app Scholly appeared on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and landed a pair of celebrity investors. The Friday night the episode aired, we camped out at First Round Capital’s University City headquarters for the viewing party then rushed to file this story. Our follow-up story about Scholly’s run at the top of App Store also made our most-trafficked list, but for the sake of repetition we’re bundling it here. Scholly also made Apple’s Best of 2015 Apps list.

1. DuckDuckGo on CNBC: We’ve grown 600% since NSA surveillance news broke

This story about the Paoli-based privacy-minded search engine’s growth exploded on Reddit, reaching the top of the taste-making r/technology subreddit, and sparking a whole slew of national press (Mashable, The Guardian, FastCompany). DuckDuckGo CEO Gabe Weinberg wrote us a few days after to thank for us for picking up the story and starting the domino effect. Since then, DuckDuckGo has continued to grow. It averaged 10.8 million direct searches per day last month, up from 6.9 million direct searches at the same time last year.