Thanks for your thoughtful comments and sharing your own rates earned. Yes, I wondered whether viral stories get paid at a higher rate per minute. It looks like they might. After publishing this, I had a look at another one, which earned $85 for 24 hours of reading time. That also earned a better rate per minute than this month's top performer. It was published last April. But it also benefited from a longer read time. I'm not sure if I have another 16 hour read to compare this month's top story to. Interesting analysis. Thank you.