COUNTERPOINT · THE #1 STOCK — The Performance Drag of Owning #1: A Historical Reversal
Performance of Top 3 Champions — Long-term compound returns of investing exclusively in the top three largest stocks: dispelling mega-cap outperformance myths.
The plate
From 1950 through 2023, the #1 market cap company lagged the broader index by 4.3% annually. Since 2014, this relationship reversed, with the top three companies outperforming in most years.
What this page answers
This static page is built to answer searches for COUNTERPOINT · THE #1 STOCK. It summarizes the live dataset behind the The Performance Drag of Owning #1: A Historical Reversal panel and links to the full interactive chart.
From 1950 through 2023, the #1 market cap company lagged the broader index by 4.3% annually. Since 2014, this relationship reversed, with the top three companies outperforming in most years. The data is refreshed by the History of Market pipeline and published as a stable JSON endpoint for research, citation, and AI-agent use.
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.