Substack
Shield of the Republic is new at rank 2 on Substack on September 2, 2026, the national-security podcast hosted by Eric S. Edelman and Eliot A. Cohen, nine days after The Bulwark published "Shield of the Republic Says Farewell" on August 24 as the final Bulwark episode. The Neter holds rank 1 after climbing 2 to 1 on September 1. Inside Wolves with Liam Keen and Nathan Judah slips 1 to 3 after two days at the top on August 30 and 31 and a day at 2.
Elsabratt is the big mover, 10 to 4, a climb of 6 places. InsideNUFC, Your Brain On Mom, and Nancy & Wayne leave the ten. Subscriber counts are not in this row and are not invented here.
Top trending newsletters on Substack: September 2
The Neter: Publication that led on September 1 after a climb from 2, and holds rank 1. No widely reported trigger identified for September 2, 2026. The hold keeps an unexplained title above a national-security podcast that just entered at 2.
Shield of the Republic: National-security and foreign-affairs podcast from Eric S. Edelman and Eliot A. Cohen, new at rank 2. The Bulwark's August 24 post "Shield of the Republic Says Farewell" framed that episode as the last on The Bulwark after a five-year run and pointed listeners to a separate site. Ranking on September 2 may be residual search around that farewell rather than a new episode dated today.
Inside Wolves with Liam Keen and Nathan Judah: Wolverhampton Wanderers newsletter, falls 2 to 3. English football coverage stays in the top three after InsideNUFC dropped off.
Elsabratt: Creator title, climbs 10 to 4, a gain of 6 places and the only move of 5 or more on this board. No widely reported trigger identified for September 2, 2026.
Jake's Take: Commentary title, slips 4 to 5. No widely reported trigger identified for September 2, 2026.
Kelly Brown | THE EDIT: Ranked Substack title, new at rank 6. No widely reported trigger identified for September 2, 2026.
aesteticasovietica: Ranked Substack title, new at rank 7. The name matches a social-analysis project known off-platform; no widely reported September 2, 2026 trigger was attached to this ranking.
The Style Edit: Fashion newsletter, falls 5 to 8. Still in the ten after holding 5 on September 1.
Callie Coles: Creator newsletter, slips 8 to 9. Still in the ten after 7 then 8 on the prior two snapshots.
Conway's Case Notes: Legal-notes title, falls 7 to 10. No widely reported trigger identified for September 2, 2026.
The live ranked board beyond today's top 10 is available via the Trends MCP API. Get your free API key
What changed on Substack since yesterday
New entrants: Shield of the Republic (2), Kelly Brown | THE EDIT (6), aesteticasovietica (7).
Big movers: Elsabratt 10 to 4 (+6).
Drop-offs: InsideNUFC (was 3), Your Brain On Mom (was 6), Nancy & Wayne (was 9).
Holds and smaller slides: The Neter holds 1. Inside Wolves 2 to 3. Jake's Take 4 to 5. The Style Edit 5 to 8. Callie Coles 8 to 9. Conway's Case Notes 7 to 10.
What today's Substack board reveals
Football lost a slot and security coverage took it. InsideNUFC's exit ends a two-day hold at 3. Inside Wolves remains at 3, so one Premier League club newsletter is still in the top three, not two.
Shield of the Republic at 2 is the only row with a cited off-platform event, and that event is an August 24 Bulwark farewell, not a September 2 launch. Residual ranking is the honest read until a dated new episode is attached.
The Neter's second day at 1 is still unexplained by a fetch. Elsabratt's jump of 6 places is a creator-board move without a matching story. Kelly Brown | THE EDIT and aesteticasovietica fill the holes left by Your Brain On Mom and Nancy & Wayne.
Seven of today's ten titles were already in yesterday's ten. The Substack Trending API list is not tracking Dolly, iPhone 18, or Nepal.
Callie Coles now has a four-file slide in the archive: 5 on August 30, 7 on August 31, 8 on September 1, 9 on September 2. That is a slow leak, not a drop-off.
Track these trends in real time with Trends MCP
The September 2 Substack top 10 was pulled with the Trends MCP get_top_trends tool at type Substack and limit 10, as of 2026-09-02T06:01:39. Analysts who need a dated newsletter board without scraping can use that call and the matching Substack Trending API page, plus the listening-tool notes in Talkwalker pricing.
{
"type": "Substack",
"limit": 10
}