Top 20 Programming Languages of January 2026: See What’s Dominating Tech!

C# named Programming Language of the Year 2025

TIOBE Software has awarded C# the title of “Programming Language of the Year” in its latest monthly ranking, which assesses the popularity of languages among developers. Having previously won in 2023, C# outpaced Python by registering the highest growth in popularity over the year, with an increase of +2.94%. Languages such as C (+2.13%) and Perl (+1.14%)—the latter jumping twenty-one spots in the ranking—also showed significant gains in 2025.

“For many years, there has been a head-to-head battle between Java and C# for software market dominance. I always believed Java would eventually prevail, but the match remains undecided after all this time,” says Paul Jansen, CEO of TIOBE Software.

Created in 2001, this language derived from C++, has “consistently evolved at the right times,” notes Paul Jansen. However, it still ranks fifth in the TIOBE index, well behind Python, C, Java, and C++. Python continues to be the most favored programming language among developers, holding a popularity rate of 22.61% compared to 10.99% for its closest competitor, C.

Ranking of the most popular computer languages in January 2026

The rest of the ranking sees other notable shifts. C and C++ swapped places, with the former rising to second place while the latter fell off the podium. The R language, which saw a popularity increase of 0.81% over the past twelve months, broke into the top 10, alongside Delphi/Object Pascal. Perl made a remarkable climb of twenty-one ranks to eleventh place, while Ada (+8 places) and Kotlin (+5 places) moved into the top 20.

On the downside, Go dropped nine positions and seems to have “definitively lost its spot in the top 10 during 2025,” elaborates Paul Jansen. “Ruby faces a similar fate: having dropped out of the top 20, it is unlikely to return anytime soon,” adds the CEO of TIOBE Software.

Here are the top 20 programming languages popular among developers in January 2026:

1. Python (= same position as January 2025)
2. C (+2)
3. Java (=)
4. C++ (-2)
5. C# (=)
6. JavaScript (=)
7. Visual Basic (+2)
8. SQL (=)
9. Delphi/Object Pascal (+2)
10. R (+8)
11. Perl (+21)
12. Fortran (-2)
13. Rust (+1)
14. MATLAB (+1)
15. PHP (-2)
16. Go (-9)
17. Scratch (-5)
18. Ada (+8)
19. Kotlin (+5)

Access the complete ranking

Criteria for the TIOBE index ranking

Updated monthly, the TIOBE index does not identify the best programming language, but the most popular, by measuring search volume across more than twenty search engines including Google, Wikipedia, Bing, and Amazon. It helps developers verify if their skills are current, or guide their choices when starting a new project.