COUNTERPOINT · THE #1 STOCK — Being the biggest was a losing trade — until this decade
Cost of being #1 — The relative return of owning the market's biggest stock.
From 1950–2023 the #1 stock lagged the index by 4.3% a year. Since 2014 that reversed: year-end top-3 names have mostly beaten the index since. Recomputed yearly, refreshed daily.
What this page answers
This static page is built to answer searches for COUNTERPOINT · THE #1 STOCK. It summarizes the live dataset behind the Being the biggest was a losing trade — until this decade panel and links to the full interactive chart.
From 1950–2023 the #1 stock lagged the index by 4.3% a year. Since 2014 that reversed: year-end top-3 names have mostly beaten the index since. Recomputed yearly, refreshed daily. The data is refreshed by the History of Market pipeline and published as a stable JSON endpoint for research, citation, and AI-agent use.
The plate
Latest Snapshot
- Updated
- 2026-08-25
Data & Source
GET /api/latest/concentration.json — Canonical dataset endpoint.
Exchange closing prices · Company filings · Robert Shiller · FRED · NBER.
FAQ
Where does this data come from?
History of Market combines public market and macro datasets — exchange closing prices, company filings, Robert Shiller, FRED, NBER, and the UBS Global Investment Returns Yearbook (Dimson–Marsh–Staunton). The exact endpoint for this panel is linked below.
How often is it updated?
Daily-tier datasets refresh after the U.S. market close, with a broader weekly refresh on Sunday. The timestamp shown on this page comes from the JSON payload.
Can I use the data?
Yes, for research and education with attribution to History of Market. Upstream data sources retain their own terms.