Weibo Hot Search Scraper - 微博热搜 Trending Topics

Get the live Weibo hot search list (微博热搜), the real-time list of trending topics in China. Each topic comes with its rank, heat score, category, 新/热/沸/爆 badge and the time it entered the list.

No Weibo account, login or cookies are needed. One run returns the full list in a few seconds. Download it as JSON, CSV or Excel, run it on a schedule to track trends over time, or ask an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT what is trending on Weibo now.

What does Weibo Hot Search Scraper do?

It reads the Weibo hot search list (微博热搜榜) at the moment of the run and saves one row for each topic:

• The pinned topic at the top of the list, with rank 0
• About 50 ranked topics, from rank 1 down
• Heat score: Weibo's own number for how hot the topic is
• Category: Weibo's topic category, for example 民生新闻 (news), 艺人 (celebrities), 剧集 (TV series) or 体育 (sports)
• Badge: Weibo's badge in Chinese (新, 热, 沸, 爆) and in English (new, hot, boiling, explosive)
• On list since: when the topic entered the list
• Search link: a Weibo search URL that opens the posts about the topic

Paid slots (广告 / 商) are removed, so you get only the organic trends.

Because it runs on the Apify platform, you also get API access, scheduling, integrations and run monitoring.

Why scrape the Weibo hot search list?

Weibo is one of China's largest social networks. Its hot search list is the most-watched signal of what Chinese internet users talk about right now.

• Media and China watchers: see the news, scandals and debates that drive Chinese public opinion today.
• Brands and agencies: catch a trend early for a campaign, or see a crisis about your brand before it grows.
• Market research: follow which celebrities, TV series, games, cars and products get attention in China.
• Academic research: build a time series of Chinese public attention and study how topics rise and fall.
• AI and data teams: feed the trending topics into dashboards, alerts, news digests or translation pipelines.

How to scrape Weibo trending topics in Apify Console

1. Click Start. You do not need to give any input.
2. Wait a few seconds for the run to finish.
3. Open the Output tab to see the list, or export it as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML.

Track trends over time: save the Actor as a task and add a Schedule, for example every 15 or 30 minutes. All rows of one run have the same scrapedAt time, so you can compare runs and follow the rank and heat of a topic.

Input

Configure the run on the Input tab, or send the input as JSON. All input is optional.

Field	What it does	Default
Max topics (maxResults)	The most topics to save. 0 saves the full list: the pinned topic plus about 50 ranked topics. The pinned topic counts as one topic	0

Example: the full list

{}

Example: the pinned topic and the top 10

{ "maxResults": 11 }

Output

You get one row for each topic. Here are the first rows of a real run, the pinned topic and the topic at rank 1:

[
  {
    "rank": 0,
    "keyword": "总书记对老年人的久久关怀",
    "heatScore": null,
    "category": null,
    "label": "热",
    "flag": "hot",
    "isPinned": true,
    "onListSince": null,
    "url": "https://s.weibo.com/weibo?q=%23%E6%80%BB%E4%B9%A6%E8%AE%B0%E5%AF%B9%E8%80%81%E5%B9%B4%E4%BA%BA%E7%9A%84%E4%B9%85%E4%B9%85%E5%85%B3%E6%80%80%23",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-18T10:01:45+00:00"
  },
  {
    "rank": 1,
    "keyword": "法国民众这次真急了",
    "heatScore": 1815675,
    "category": "国际时政",
    "label": "新",
    "flag": "new",
    "isPinned": false,
    "onListSince": "2026-10-18T16:43:20+08:00",
    "url": "https://s.weibo.com/weibo?q=%23%E6%B3%95%E5%9B%BD%E6%B0%91%E4%BC%97%E8%BF%99%E6%AC%A1%E7%9C%9F%E6%80%A5%E4%BA%86%23",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-18T10:01:45+00:00"
  }
]

The Output tab shows the topics in a table with the rank, topic, heat, category, badge and search link. You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

Data fields

Field	Description
rank	Position on the list. 0 is the pinned topic
keyword	The topic text, as Weibo shows it
heatScore	Weibo's heat score. null for the pinned topic
category	Weibo's category, for example 民生新闻 or 艺人. Some topics have two, for example 财经,互联网
label	Weibo's badge: 新, 热, 沸 or 爆, and sometimes 暖, 荐 or 独. null when the topic has no badge
flag	The badge in English: new, hot, boiling, explosive, warm, recommended or exclusive
isPinned	true for the pinned topic at the top of the list
onListSince	When the topic entered the list, ISO 8601, China time (UTC+8)
url	Weibo search link for the topic
scrapedAt	When your run read the list (UTC). The same for all rows of a run

How to use Weibo Hot Search Scraper

In Apify Console

1. Open the Actor and click Start. Change Max topics on the Input tab if you want fewer topics.
2. Open the Output tab when the run finishes.
3. Click Save as a new task. On the task, add a Schedule to save the list every 15 minutes, every hour or every day.

With the Apify API (HTTP)

Run the Actor and get its results in one request. Replace YOUR_API_TOKEN with your token from Settings → API & Integrations in Apify Console.

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/hgservices~weibo-hot-search-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"maxResults": 0}'

Add &format=csv or &format=xlsx to the URL to get CSV or Excel instead of JSON.

With the JavaScript client

Install the client with npm install apify-client, then run:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('hgservices/weibo-hot-search-scraper').call({
    maxResults: 0,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
for (const topic of items) {
    console.log(topic.rank, topic.keyword, topic.heatScore, topic.flag);
}

With the Python client

Install the client with pip install apify-client (version 3.0 or later), then run:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("hgservices/weibo-hot-search-scraper").call(
    run_input={"maxResults": 0}
)
if run is None:
    raise RuntimeError("The run was not found.")

for topic in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(topic["rank"], topic["keyword"], topic["heatScore"], topic["category"])

With Claude, ChatGPT and other AI assistants (MCP)

Connect your AI assistant to the Apify MCP server. The assistant can then run this Actor for you and answer from the results. To give the assistant this Actor as a tool, use this server URL:

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=hgservices/weibo-hot-search-scraper

• Claude (claude.ai or Claude Desktop): open Settings → Connectors, click Add custom connector and paste the URL.
• Claude Code: run claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=hgservices/weibo-hot-search-scraper".
• Apify CLI: run apify mcp install claude-code --tools hgservices/weibo-hot-search-scraper (also works for cursor, vscode and codex).
• ChatGPT: in Settings → Apps & Connectors, turn on developer mode, create a connector and paste the URL.
• Cursor, VS Code and other MCP clients: add the URL as a remote (HTTP) MCP server.

Sign in with your Apify account when asked. Then ask in plain language, for example:

• "What is trending on Weibo right now? Translate the top 20 topics into English."
• "Get the Weibo hot search list and group the topics by category."
• "Which Weibo hot search topics are about cars or technology brands today?"

With integrations

Send the results to Google Sheets, Slack, email, Zapier, Make, n8n, Airbyte or any webhook from the Actor's Integrations tab. For example, save the hot search list every hour to a Google Sheet, or send the top 10 to a Slack channel every morning.

Tips

• Schedule it for history. One run gives one snapshot of the list. Run it on a schedule to see how topics rise and fall.
• Compare runs with scrapedAt. All rows of one run share the same time, so it is easy to group them by run.
• Get the posts behind a topic. Open the url of a topic to see its posts. Then give the post links to Weibo Post Scraper to get their full text, stats and media.

Limits

• The list is a snapshot. You get the list that Weibo shows at the moment of the run, not past lists.
• The number of topics changes. Weibo usually shows about 50 ranked topics. After the paid slots are removed, a run can have a few fewer.
• The pinned topic has less data. Weibo shows no heat score, category or entry time for it, so these fields are null.

Related Actors

• Weibo Post Scraper gets posts: full text, stats and media.
• Weibo Comments Scraper gets the comments and replies of posts.
• Weibo Profile Scraper gets the newest posts of users, with their followers, bios and verification.
• Weibo Video Scraper gets the video posts of users.

FAQ, disclaimers and support

Do I need a Weibo account or cookies? No. The Actor reads only the list that Weibo shows to any visitor. It never logs in.

Do I need a proxy? No. You do not need to set up a proxy.

How fresh is the list? It is the live list at the moment of the run. Weibo changes the list all day, so run the Actor again to get the newest list.

Does the list include ads? No. Paid slots (广告 / 商) are removed, and only organic topics are saved.

Can I get the hot search list of a past date? No. Weibo shows only the current list. Run the Actor on a schedule to build your own history.

Is it legal to scrape the Weibo hot search list? The Actor collects only the public list that Weibo shows to any visitor. You are responsible for using the data in line with Weibo's terms of service and the laws that apply to you.

I found a problem or need a feature. Open an issue on the Issues tab, and we will look into it. Custom solutions for Weibo and other Chinese websites are available on request.