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Bump Chart Maker

Track how a ranking changed over time — who rose, who fell, and where they crossed. Upload your data and publish an interactive bump chart you can embed anywhere — free.

Bump Chart erstellen — kostenlosGalerie ansehen

Was ist ein Bump Chart?

A bump chart plots rank rather than value. Each item gets a line, the vertical axis is position — first at the top, last at the bottom — and time runs along the horizontal. Because rank is discrete and evenly spaced, the lines become clean parallel tracks that only move when an item actually overtakes another. That is the point: it makes crossings visible. League tables, best-selling products, most-visited countries and chart positions all suit it, and it answers "who overtook whom, and when" more directly than any chart of the underlying values.

Wann ein Bump Chart sinnvoll ist

  • Rank is what the audience cares about

    Who is first, who moved up, who dropped out of the top ten. Sport, sales league tables and popularity rankings all live in this shape.

  • Crossings are the story

    The moment two lines swap is the visual event a bump chart is built to deliver, and it is very hard to see in a chart of raw values.

  • The underlying values are hard to compare

    When the measures are on different scales or wildly different magnitudes, rank normalises them into something readable.

  • You have a handful of items over a handful of periods

    Around ten items across five to fifteen periods keeps the tracks distinguishable and the labels attachable.

Wann ein Bump Chart nicht passt

  • The size of the gap matters

    Rank hides magnitude completely. First and second may be neck and neck or an order of magnitude apart, and the chart looks identical either way.

  • Nothing much changes rank

    A set of flat parallel lines is a picture of stability that takes a lot of ink to say. State it in a sentence instead.

  • Too many items

    Twenty lines crossing repeatedly is a braid. Show the top ten and group the rest, or highlight two or three and grey the others.

  • There are ties or gaps in the data

    Rank needs a complete, unambiguous ordering at every time point. Missing periods break the lines and invite wrong inferences.

Bump Chart erstellen: Schritt für Schritt

Von der Tabelle zum veröffentlichten Diagramm, Schritt für Schritt.

01

Start from the bump chart template

Open the PlotSet bump chart template. It loads with sample data bound so you can see how items, periods and ranks become tracks.

02

Shape your data as item, period, rank

One row per item per period. If you only have values, rank them within each period first — the chart plots position, not the measure.

03

Upload or connect your data

Import a CSV or Excel file, paste from a spreadsheet, or connect a Google Sheet so the chart can be refreshed as new periods arrive.

04

Label the ends, not the middle

Names at the first and last period let readers find an item without a legend, and keep the crossings in the middle clean.

05

Publish, embed or export

Publish for a live interactive embed where hovering highlights one track through the whole chart, or export a PNG, SVG or PDF.

Starten Sie mit der Bump Chart-Vorlage samt Beispieldaten und ersetzen Sie diese durch Ihre eigenen.

Vorlage öffnen

Die Bestandteile eines Bump Chart

Track
One item's line across every period. Colour and end labels are how a reader follows it through the crossings.
Rank axis
Position, with first at the top. It is inverted relative to a normal value axis, which is worth stating so nobody reads a fall as a rise.
Period
One column of positions. Bump charts assume evenly spaced, complete periods; uneven gaps distort the slopes.
Crossing
Where two tracks swap position — the visual event the chart exists to show. Give crossings room by keeping the periods well spaced.
Node
The marker at each item-period intersection. It anchors the eye and gives a tooltip somewhere to attach.
Highlight
One or two tracks in colour with the rest in grey. On any chart with more than about eight items, this is what makes it readable.

Häufige Fehler bei einem Bump Chart

Implying magnitude

Readers assume a big rise in rank means a big rise in value. Say what the underlying measure is, and consider putting it in the tooltip.

Plotting too many items

Past a dozen tracks the chart is decorative. Cut to the top ten, or highlight the few that matter and mute the rest.

Leaving the rank axis unexplained

An inverted axis where up means better is a convention, not an instinct. Label the top of the axis "1st" and the direction becomes obvious.

Ranking on a noisy measure

If tiny value changes flip positions, the chart will be full of crossings that mean nothing. Check the gaps before you plot the ranks.

Bump Chart: häufige Fragen

Showing how rankings change over time — which items rose, which fell, and exactly when they overtook each other.

Erstellen Sie jetzt Ihr Bump Chart

Kostenlos starten mit über 300 Vorlagen. Keine Kreditkarte nötig.

Bump Chart erstellen — kostenlosAlle Diagrammtypen