RTL Today's most read articles of 2022

January

The year started with speculation of historic proportion, as Tom Tutton delved into a Reddit theory stating that Grand Duke Henri might be the rightful King of England (this was prior to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which would come to dominate the news just a few months later).

Covid, which was all over the news in 2021, was still a big topic at the start of this year - and our second-most-read article in January covered a protest over Covid-19 measures.. as did the third-most-read.

But even Covid can only nudge the ever-discussed housing issue so far down the reader list, and the top-10 also included three articles on that very subject. One on the gap between house prices and rents, another on the fact that 49 entities own a quarter of Luxembourg's build-able land, and the last one on whether moving across the border is still worth it.

February

© J. P. Gomez

While January's most-read article may sound like something from the Wurst, February's number 1 article actually was: Netflix announces 'Emily in Luxembourg'. That one certainly got tongues wagging and hopes (and fears, outrage, and disgust) up!

Yet again, though, Covid wasn't far behind as the government announced that 2G would be replaced by 3G (do you still remember what those means? Feels like a different lifetime altogether, doesn't it?). As if Covid wasn't enough to worry about, February also saw an unusual red weather alert (though the weather ended up being less severe than expected in the end).

History again made itself known this month, as a WWII explosive was found in Luxembourg City, leading to a partial local evacuation while it was safely removed.

Everyone's favourite Luxembourgish polyglot Philip Crowther also made his way back into headlines, by speaking an unreasonable number of languages with enviable fluency as he reported on news from the US for various international outlets (RTL Luxembourg included).  And on another positive note, you all got rather excited about the impending trigger of another wage indexation.

March

Most important of all, March saw the launch of RTL Today Radio and we introduced the team behind it (which sadly for us but awesomely for youlisteners include our much-missed web colleague and favourite weather-post-writer, Stephen Steps Lowe)!

Looking at the most read.. if you would believe it, Covid was right at the top of this month as well as restrictions were lifted and masks were no longer required in shops.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which surprisingly failed to make our top-20 in February (probably due to being towards the end of the month, and the wealth of cover in larger international outlets), landed in second place this month through our guide for refugee arrivals. The third-most-read article, meanwhile, saw other refugees raising concerns over their treatment as Ukrainians reportedly took priority. On a more positive note, almost 600 host families signed up to host Ukrainian refugees.

Rising fuel prices saw massive queues at petrol stations, and it would only be a few days before diesel prices topped €2.

And finally, indexation returned with the confirmation that it would be triggered on 1 April - a development which was soon followed by our last top-of-the-month article, confirming that the next indexation would be postponed until the spring of 2023.

April

This beauty was up for sale for the bargain-basement price of €260,000. / © Screenshot / atHome

As the person who wrote our April Fool's this year, I'm shocked and saddened to see that the 'news' that there would be parking fines on the motorway didn't top the list (it came in 7th). I will forgive you, in time, but the wound is a bit raw right now.

The actual most-read article was rather less positive, as a 46-year-old woman was sadly found murdered in a restaurant basement in Kirchberg. That wasn't the only Kirchberg story to make the list, as police were called out to a shopping mall to apprehend a suspect who had used pepper spray on fellow shoppers.

All wasn't bad in April, though, as Luxembourg made headlines by introducing free music lessons.

Want more news nostalgia? Check out our 2021 roundup

And finally, both housing an inflation came back for another round of developments. The first through a 'cottage' for sal at an eye-watering €260,000 in Stadtbremius and 'slowing' of house prices (according to atHome), and the latter through a cost-of-living overview.

May

Another real-estate article came close to topping the list, with this property (in need of some light touching up) was offered up at just €350,000. / © atHome/Unplash

We launched a new partnership with Elfi from TravelMatKanner, and her first article - water playgrounds in and around Luxembourg - caught the public mood and shot straight to number 1 that month!

The second article once again featured housing, this time through a Grevenmacher barn which was up for sale for a 'reasonable' €350,000.. and it's safe to say that it was a bit of a fixer-upper! Perhaps perused by people keen to purchase that property, third place with to an article on Luxembourg's best paid sectors. Spoiler: journalism isn't on the list. Oh, and just making the list was the news that the European Commission criticised Luxembourg residents' level of debt in relation to housing.

For those who decided to give up on property here altogether, next on the list was the announcement of a new airline to help take you far, far away.

Beyond that, it was all about the ING marathon: its traffic impact, who won, and an accusation of racism.

June

June started off with a focus on money, money, money as it was announced that employees would benefit from a new energy tax credit from July.

Meanwhile, the yellow thing that forgets all about us in winter was making itself known, and brought with it scorching heat that saw people crowd to an overwhelmed Upper Sure Lake. Good news on that front was that Echternach Lake would also open for bathers. Somewhat depressingly, the third biggest story of the month was the arrival of a particular brand of fried chicken. Keep it classy, Luxembourg.

And then came the ongoing saga of Dieschburg's alleged plagiarism - a charge of which he was more recently found innocent.

With a curious 42.0% readership rate (that may or may not be true), also high up the list was the announcement that the government council had green-lit a new cannabis law on personal consumption. Completely unrelated to that story in all but broad theme, one of our colleagues looked into whether the Pirate ship playground was a new drug hotspot.

July

© Pascal Ries

B-b-b-bird-bird-bird, bird was the word in July as a curious passenger was spotted on the tram in Luxembourg city.

...and then it was straight back to business as usual, with the news that Luxembourg ranked as one of the worst choices in the world for expats when it comes to the cost of living. Not much further down the top-list for July was the news that the energy crisis was real and we should 'prepare for the worst-case scenario', and the tangentially related announcement that another wage indexation had been triggered but delayed until 2023.

And, of course, there was more housing news as we translated a piece by our French colleagues on the 'craziest' prices on Luxembourg's rea estate market, before looking at the regions where price increases were slowing down.

Thank heavens for that bird.

August

After a couple of years of Covid putting a stop to the traditional Schueberfouer format, it was back in action this year - but what actually topped our most-read list for the month wasn't so much that announcement, as complaints over high prices.

That was a bit of a recurring theme this month, as energy prices were set to increase by 80%, and Enovos said the average 4-person household should expect an increase of €2,400 per year and Energy Minister Claude Turmes warned of a 'tough winter ahead'. This led us to asking you for your top inflation-busting, money-saving tips.

On the flip side of the literal coin, Luxembourg was found to be the richest country in the world according to Global Finance, while our teachers are the highest paid in the OECD.

And finally, I am certain that it was the news value rather than the picture that piqued your interest in a topless protest in Germany.

September

If you managed to avoid the knowledge that Christos Floros joined our team, he certainly did his best to remind you September as his opinion article detailing why an American civil war should concern us topped the most-read list.

With that out of the way, it was straight back to what seems to be your favourite subject this year - €€€. After three days of negotiation, an 'unprecedented' anti-inflation package was announced by the government. Just two spots below that - with a Luxair destination announcement wedged between - was some data on how much Luxembourg residents earn.

We also asked you to tell us what you thought made living in Luxembourg great, and money featured there too - but was far from the only factor. And while we're on the subject of, well, you guys - we published the results from the money-saving-tips article mentioned in August.

Housing also made another return, as fixed-rate mortgages saw continued cost increases.

October

October was off to a rather horrible start, as the top-3 most read articles featured a deadly shooting in Niederkorn and lethal domestic violence in Luxembourg City.

And then there was housing. Again. It was reported that prices of new apartments were starting to fall, while housing prices generally continued to rise despite falling sales numbers, and Strassen launched a 'tiny house' project.

Microsoft-man Bill Gates came for a visit and met with Xavier Bettel - in an unusual turn of events, Luxembourg's strongest man then decided to lift the tech billionaire with his teeth.

In almost equally unconventional news, the roads and bridges folk decided to up and move a massive bridge.

November

© Screenshot / Instagram

Elfi and TravelMatKanner did it again and lured you in with an overview of some of her favourite Christmas markets and fairy tale towns, while our favourite Emma seemed to upset a few people through her tongue-in-cheek rundown of places she'd been yelled at since moving here (calm down people!).

We then had a somewhat unusual interest tech news, with two stories appearing in the top-5: first that Amazon was laying of 10,000 people (worldwide, mind you!), and second that 188,000 WhatsApp accounts in Luxembourg had been hacked.

Kirchberg was also back in the news, this time with the announcement that Auchan would be introducing a parking fee for employees of the shopping centre.

And while we are (yet again) on the subject of money, Eurostat told us what Luxembourg residents spend their money on, while Statec told us we could see three indexations in 2023, and a study told us that civil servants earn an average of €8,688 per month.

Then came the start of the Bronchiolitis news, with hospitals reaching their limits and launching emergency measures.

December*

*Up until and including 28 December.

As you would expect, December very much led with Christmas stories. Less joyfolour is that they were both rather negative.. In first place, we have the burned market stalls at the City's Christmas market, while our second-most read article followed a reader e-mail, and our follow-up story on 129 Luxembourg-bound passengers who arrived to find that their luggage hadn't arrived with them just 10 days before Christmas.

Christmas was followed this month by what has clearly been one of your favourite subjects throughout the year: MONEY! In third place was an article on Luxembourg City dropping 38 places in a ranking of the most expensive cities in the world, followed by a story on the possibility of indexation triggering in January, and in sixth place was our article on Luxembourg's average salary as compared to the rest of the EU.

You may have noticed that I skipped the 5th most-read article, which was because it wasn't on the theme of money. Well, in part it is.. as it was our overview of changes coming our way in 2023.

And that's it, that was 2022 as far as our most read articles. With that, all of us here at RTL Today and Today Radio hope the new year is off to an amazing start for all of you, and may it only get better!