Ken Opalo has 56,662 followers on Substack as of Oct 31, 2026. On the latest board read, Nov 6, 2026, they were #11 on Substack's International Bestsellers board. 61 publications recommend them, 5 of them new in the last 30 days, and they recommend 32.
Last read Oct 31, 2026 (UTC). Followers are not email subscribers. Substack lists only the newest 50 recommendations for each publication, so a recommender count of 50 or more is a floor. History starts Oct 31, 2026; Substack publishes nothing earlier.
- Followers
- 56,662
- read Oct 31
- Last 7 days
- first number on Nov 7
- Last 30 days
- first number on Nov 30
- Subscribers
- 37K+
- rounded by Substack
- Paid subscribers
- 100+
- bestseller badge 100+
- Recommended by
- 61
- +5 in 30 days
- Recommends
- 32
- Bestsellers rank
- #11
- International
Followers by day
Tracking since Oct 31, 2026. This is the first reading. Substack doesn't publish past follower counts, so history starts the day I first read a writer and grows by one reading every 3 days (daily if it's on your watchlist). The 7-day change appears on Nov 7, the 30-day change on Nov 30. Recommendation dates below go further back: they're Substack's own.
Show as a table
| Date | Followers | Change | Subscribers | Paid band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 31, 2026 | 56,662 | 37K+ |
Leaderboard positions
| Board | Rank now | Best on record | Reads on it |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Bestsellers | #11 | #11 | 4 of 4 |
Rank on each read
| Writer | Oct 3107:00 | Oct 3113:00 | Oct 3119:47 | Nov 621:50 | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| International Bestsellers | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | ▲1 |
I read every board once a day.
Recommendations
61 publications recommend Ken Opalo; 4 started in the last 30 days. Ken Opalo recommends 32, and 5 of those recommend back. Lists read Oct 31.
When the recommendations started
Show as a table
| Month | Started |
|---|---|
| 2023-01 | 1 |
| 2023-02 | 2 |
| 2023-03 | 1 |
| 2023-04 | 1 |
| 2024-01 | 1 |
| 2024-07 | 1 |
| 2025-10 | 1 |
| 2026-03 | 1 |
| 2026-04 | 1 |
| 2026-05 | 7 |
| 2026-06 | 13 |
| 2026-07 | 17 |
| 2026-08 | 4 |
| 2026-09 | 5 |
| 2026-10 | 5 |
Recommended by
Adam Tooze256k followers · started Feb 2023 · mutual
Roger Pielke Jr.102k followers · started Feb 2023 · mutual
Climate Action Now102k followers · started Oct 2025
Sam Matey-Coste39k followers · started Jan 2023
Vincent Bevins23k followers · started Jul 2024 · mutual
Johan Fourie10k followers · started Apr 2023 · mutual
Godfree Roberts9.2k followers · started Mar 2023
Feyi Fawehinmi8.5k followers · started Jun 14, 2026 · mutual
Phil A. Neel2.6k followers · started Mar 29, 2026
Andreas Sator1.8k followers · started Jan 2024
Tomorrow Is Possible932 followers · started Apr 28, 2026- Laiba Farooqstarted Oct 24, 2026new
- Faarax's Substackstarted Oct 24, 2026new
- Faarax's Substackstarted Oct 24, 2026new
- Nonni's Last Recipe Bookstarted Oct 21, 2026new
- Nabeeha's Substackstarted Oct 7, 2026
- CounterFactual's Substackstarted Sep 29, 2026
- The Service Continentstarted Sep 22, 2026
- Scope 4started Sep 19, 2026
- BoardLotSultan's Substackstarted Sep 19, 2026
- Finding My Cheesestarted Sep 13, 2026
- Kaylee's Substackstarted Aug 23, 2026
- Kaylee's Substackstarted Aug 23, 2026
- Philip's Substackstarted Aug 18, 2026
All 61
- Carol's Substackstarted Aug 13, 2026
- Cindy's Substackstarted Jul 31, 2026
- Maya Horgan-Famodustarted Jul 27, 2026
- Il Substack di marcostarted Jul 24, 2026
- Geopolitics, Unfilteredstarted Jul 23, 2026
- The AmarElla Podcaststarted Jul 21, 2026
- L'Abstractstarted Jul 18, 2026
- Otticha, Honestlystarted Jul 16, 2026
- Le Substack de Moniquestarted Jul 16, 2026
- Mixed Feelingsstarted Jul 15, 2026
- Patrick's Substackstarted Jul 14, 2026
- Christian's Substackstarted Jul 12, 2026
- Underminedstarted Jul 9, 2026
- State of AI Diffusionstarted Jul 8, 2026
- n=1 economicsstarted Jul 7, 2026
- Indra's Substackstarted Jul 7, 2026
- the brawlerstarted Jul 6, 2026
- Federicoh's Substackstarted Jul 5, 2026
- Nabila's Substackstarted Jun 30, 2026
- T's Substackstarted Jun 28, 2026
- Miller's Substackstarted Jun 28, 2026
- De African Violetstarted Jun 24, 2026
- Off Centrestarted Jun 21, 2026
- Ludovick's Substackstarted Jun 17, 2026
- Substack von hubertusstarted Jun 12, 2026
- Nuake's Substackstarted Jun 12, 2026
- COGNOSCENTI.started Jun 12, 2026
- Mato's Substackstarted Jun 4, 2026
- Peter's Substackstarted Jun 4, 2026
- Abdul's Substackstarted Jun 2, 2026
- nyadhi's Substackstarted May 31, 2026
- Noemi's Substackstarted May 27, 2026
- MAYAKA's Substackstarted May 26, 2026
- El Substack de Paolastarted May 20, 2026
- Cristian's Substackstarted May 20, 2026
- African Prosperity - En françaisstarted May 18, 2026
- African Prosperitystarted May 18, 2026
Recommends
- Adam Tooze256k followers · started Feb 2023 · mutual
- Roger Pielke Jr.102k followers · started Jun 14, 2026 · mutual
- Vincent Bevins23k followers · started Jun 14, 2026 · mutual
- Johan Fourie10k followers · started Mar 2023 · mutual
- Feyi Fawehinmi8.5k followers · started Jun 14, 2026 · mutual
- In Development Magazinestarted Aug 8, 2026
- The External Accountstarted Jul 5, 2026
- Hidden Rules of Developmentstarted Jul 5, 2026
- Global Developmentsstarted Jun 14, 2026
- AgriViewstarted Jun 14, 2026
- The Asia They Don’t Teach Youstarted May 7, 2026
- The Good Societystarted Nov 2025
- John Kamau’s 'Historia Yetu" newsletterstarted Jul 2025
- Post Strategystarted May 2025
- In Pursuit of Development with Dan Banikstarted May 2025
- Aid Interruptedstarted May 2025
- The Kenyaniststarted Jul 2024
- Sawahilstarted Jul 2024
- Penkelemesi started Jun 2024
- Kibaostarted Jun 2024
- Africa Watchstarted May 2024
- By the Numbersstarted Apr 2024
- Yaw's Brief: Guns, Trade, Cobalt & Africa Beyond Colonialismstarted Mar 2024
- Global Inequality and More 3.0started Jul 2023
All 32
- The Great Gender Divergencestarted Jul 2023
- Long Covid: An Anthropological Perspectivestarted Jul 2023
- Eat More Electronsstarted May 2023
- the Africa Projectstarted Feb 2023
- Africa Updatestarted Jan 2023
- African History Extrastarted Jan 2023
- This Week in Africastarted Jan 2023
- David Hundeyinstarted Jan 2023
Substack lists the 50 newest recommenders of each publication. I add every recommendation found in the full lists of the 6,392 publications I read, so writers with many recommenders may still be missing a few small ones. "Started" is Substack's date.
Recommended by the same publications
Writers who share the most recommenders with Ken Opalo. Useful for finding peers, and for sponsors looking for similar audiences.
- 5 shared
Noah SmithNoahpinion
691k followers - 3 shared
Adam ToozeChartbook
256k followers - 3 shared
Brian PotterConstruction Physics
126k followers - 3 shared
The Argument@theargument
65k followers - 3 shared
Michael ThomasDistilled
50k followers - 3 shared
Andy RevkinSustain What
29k followers - 3 shared
Jan RosenowBright Spots
11k followers - 3 shared
Johan FourieOur Long Walk
10k followers
Who recommends writers like this one
Publications that recommend at least two other International writers with 50,000 or more followers (12 writers in that group), but not Ken Opalo.
- recommends 3 of them
Alexander Vindman@avindman - recommends 3 of them
Tim Mak@timkmak - recommends 3 of them
Dominik Presl@stationzero - recommends 2 of them
Aaron Rupar@aaronrupar - recommends 2 of them
Simon Rosenberg@simonwdc - recommends 2 of them
Anne Applebaum@anneapplebaum - recommends 2 of them
Jeff Stein@spytalk - recommends 2 of them
Mick Ryan@mickryan - recommends 2 of them
Sasha Ingber@sashaingber - recommends 2 of them
Jacob Kaarsbo@jacobkaarsbo
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