Blog

Insights on Internet domains, DNS intelligence, and dataset research.

April 06, 2026 26 min read

The Internet's Lingua Franca: We Classified 1.74 Million Websites Across 54 Country Domains — 64% Are in English

We used LLMSE to classify the language of 1.74 million websites across 54 country-code TLDs and cross-referenced findings with the DomainsProject dataset. 64% are in English — but the number masks five distinct mechanisms driving English prevalence, from colonial inheritance (.in at 95.9%) to outright resistance (.jp at 7.0%). The internet's default language is not a choice most countries made. It is a condition most countries inherited, adopted for commerce, or actively fight.

April 02, 2026 27 min read

.io: 13.2 Million Domains, Zero Residents, and the Tech Industry's Most Precarious TLD

We analyzed 13.2 million .io records across 1.59 million unique domains and found a TLD split in two: 6,144 platform domains host 50% of all records, while 335,802 exist as single entries. The tech industry built its infrastructure on a country code belonging to a territory with no civilian population — and the UK's treaty to hand sovereignty to Mauritius puts that infrastructure on a clock no one in Silicon Valley is watching.

March 27, 2026 16 min read

From 329 to 70 Million: The Internet's Most Extreme Country-Code TLDs and What They Reveal

North Korea has 329 domains. Eritrea has 384. Vatican City has 1,799. Germany has 70 million. We profiled every country-code TLD in our dataset with fewer than 100,000 entries and found a taxonomy of digital absence — from hermit states that barely exist online to micro-nations whose ccTLDs were hijacked by global commerce. The ratio between the largest and smallest national namespaces is 212,500 to 1.

March 26, 2026 16 min read

Domain Distribution by Continent: 520 Million ccTLD Domains and the Map of Digital Inequality

We counted every country-code domain in our dataset — 520 million entries across 245 ccTLDs — and mapped them to continents. Europe holds 54% of all ccTLD domains with 280 million entries despite having 10% of global population. Africa holds 3.1% with 16 million entries despite having 18% of global population. Japan alone has more ccTLD domains than every African country combined. The data reveals a digital divide that is not closing — it is hardening.

March 25, 2026 27 min read

.ai Domains and the AI Gold Rush: How a Caribbean Island Became Silicon Valley's Hottest Namespace

We analyzed 3.45 million .ai domain names and subdomains — including 995,445 unique root registrations — in the DomainsProject dataset and cross-referenced registry data, aftermarket sales, and government revenue figures to map the .ai explosion — from 48,000 registrations in 2018 to over one million today, and what it means for the 14,000 residents of Anguilla now collecting an estimated $93 million per year from two letters.

March 25, 2026 13 min read

The Rise of .xyz: From $25,000 Gamble to 45 Million Domains and the New gTLD's Only Success Story

We parsed 45 million entries in the .xyz namespace from our dataset and found 11 million direct registrations generating 34 million subdomains — a 3:1 ratio that reveals a TLD being used as live infrastructure, not parked inventory. .xyz is the largest new gTLD on Earth and the 4th largest gTLD overall, larger than China's .cn, the UK's .uk, and Brazil's .br. It is the only new gTLD that broke into the top 5, and the data shows why: a combination of $1 promotional pricing, crypto/Web3 adoption, developer infrastructure, and one very famous corporate endorsement.

March 24, 2026 20 min read

China's .CN: 1 Billion Internet Users, 21 Million Domains, and the Platform Economy That Ate the Web

We parsed 22.4 million entries in the .cn namespace from our dataset and found 5.65 million unique registrable domains — roughly 27% of CNNIC's 21 million registry count. China has 1.09 billion internet users but only one .cn domain for every 52 of them. The data reveals why: a regulatory gauntlet of real-name verification and ICP licensing, a super-app economy where 4.3 million WeChat Mini Programs replace websites, and the aftershocks of a 2009 crackdown that crashed registrations 75% overnight.

March 23, 2026 23 min read

The Netherlands' .nl: 27.8 Million Domains, the Internet's First Country Code, and the Quiet Backbone of Everything

We parsed 27.8 million domains in the .nl namespace from our dataset: ISP reverse-DNS from Ziggo, XS4ALL, and Chello accounts for 28.6% of all entries. The Netherlands — 18 million people — registered the first active country-code domain in 1986, hosts the world's largest Internet exchange, headquarters RIPE NCC, produced the DNS software that powers the global root, and holds the highest ccTLD density per capita among countries with more than 5 million residents. Now the namespace is shrinking for the first time. Inside the infrastructure nation, the hacker culture that built it, and what AI is doing to domain demand.

March 23, 2026 15 min read

The United Kingdom's Domain Dilemma: 36 Million Domains, Three Extensions, and a Split That Won't Heal

We analyzed 36.2 million domains in the .uk namespace from our dataset and broke them down: .co.uk holds 83.2%, direct .uk holds 11.3%, and .org.uk holds 5.2%. Twelve years after Nominet launched direct .uk registration, the legacy format still dominates — and the namespace is shrinking. Inside the split, the governance crisis, and why Britain can't unify its corner of the Internet.

March 23, 2026 18 min read

.NET: 209 Million Domains, the Internet's Oldest Registration, and the TLD That Became What It Was Named For

We parsed 209 million entries under .NET from our dataset and found that 68.8% are ISP reverse-DNS infrastructure from Comcast, Virgin Media, SFR, HiNet, and providers across 11 countries. Only 9.7% are direct registrations. The TLD created in 1985 for 'network' organizations literally became the Internet's network infrastructure — but not through website registrations. Through the invisible addressing layer that routes every packet you send. Inside the oldest domain on Earth, Verisign's dual monopoly, and the TLD that fulfilled its destiny by accident.

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