1. They work
2. It worked for David Letterman
3. Women's magazines love them
4. It will help you get on Digg, Netscape, Reddit and even Sphinn
5. I can count to ten
6. It works for Lifehacker, Copyblogger, Problogger, modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk, guardian.co.uk, about.com, newscientist.com, timesonline.co.uk, time.com, bbc.co.uk, amazon.com, zdnet, cnet, etc.
7. If you can't think of ten simply miss number 8 out, people wont notice and those who do point it out , you know to avoid them at parties.
9. It annoys people over at Sphinn
10. People absolutely love them
You build a website, write a blog. You are in the publishing business. The publishing industry was built on top ten lists. Now I'm not saying fill your site with top ten lists, unless you are a top ten list aggregator. But don't ignore the technique because you find it a little too mass market.
Some people are getting very uptight on some social networks at the infestation of top ten lists or any kind of lists. But then you see how popular these lists are and you wonder how many people these detractors represent.
Follow the silent majority who speak with their votes.
This post is slightly tongue in cheek, but it outlines something of power and simplicity.