diff --git a/common/models/popularity.json b/common/models/popularity.json
index 88a0c59a6a7..0032599de48 100644
--- a/common/models/popularity.json
+++ b/common/models/popularity.json
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
       "type": [
         "object"
       ],
-      "required": true
+      "required": true,
+      "default": []
     }
   },
   "validations": [],
diff --git a/news/routes/Show/Show.js b/news/routes/Show/Show.js
index ac5cb059080..f9e44c5224c 100644
--- a/news/routes/Show/Show.js
+++ b/news/routes/Show/Show.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { Image } from 'react-bootstrap';
 
 import Author from './components/Author';
 import { Loader } from '../../../common/app/helperComponents';
-import { getArticleById } from '../../utils/ajax';
+import { getArticleById, postPopularityEvent } from '../../utils/ajax';
 
 const propTypes = {
   history: PropTypes.shape({
@@ -83,6 +83,11 @@ class ShowArticle extends Component {
     }
     if (article) {
       const [, shortId] = slug.split('--');
+      postPopularityEvent({
+        event: 'view',
+        timestamp: Date.now(),
+        shortId
+      });
       /* eslint-disable react/no-did-mount-set-state */
       return this.setState(
         {
diff --git a/news/utils/ajax.js b/news/utils/ajax.js
index 124304f88cf..05cca79ee9d 100644
--- a/news/utils/ajax.js
+++ b/news/utils/ajax.js
@@ -21,3 +21,7 @@ export function getFeaturedList(skip = 0) {
     })}`
   );
 }
+
+export function postPopularityEvent(event) {
+  return axios.post('/p', event);
+}
diff --git a/server/boot/news.js b/server/boot/news.js
index a1c59d24e22..42d1cd41c14 100644
--- a/server/boot/news.js
+++ b/server/boot/news.js
@@ -1,9 +1,30 @@
 import React from 'react';
 import { renderToString } from 'react-dom/server';
 import { StaticRouter } from 'react-router-dom';
+import { has } from 'lodash';
+import debug from 'debug';
 
 import NewsApp from '../../news/NewsApp';
 
+const routerLog = debug('fcc:boot:news:router');
+const apiLog = debug('fcc:boot:news:api');
+
+export default function newsBoot(app) {
+  const router = app.loopback.Router();
+  const api = app.loopback.Router();
+
+  router.get('/n', (req, res) => res.redirect('/news'));
+  router.get('/n/:shortId', createReferralHandler(app));
+
+  router.get('/news', serveNewsApp);
+  router.get('/news/*', serveNewsApp);
+
+  api.post('/p', createPopularityHandler(app));
+
+  app.use(api);
+  app.use(router);
+}
+
 function serveNewsApp(req, res) {
   const context = {};
   const markup = renderToString(
@@ -12,20 +33,23 @@ function serveNewsApp(req, res) {
     </StaticRouter>
   );
   if (context.url) {
+    routerLog('redirect found in `renderToString`');
     // 'client-side' routing hit on a redirect
     return res.redirect(context.url);
   }
+  routerLog('news markup sending');
   return res.render('layout-news', { title: 'News | freeCodeCamp', markup });
 }
 
 function createReferralHandler(app) {
+  const { Article } = app.models;
+
   return function referralHandler(req, res, next) {
-    const { Article } = app.models;
     const { shortId } = req.params;
     if (!shortId) {
       return res.redirect('/news');
     }
-    console.log(shortId);
+    routerLog('shortId', shortId);
     return Article.findOne(
       {
         where: {
@@ -51,14 +75,77 @@ function createReferralHandler(app) {
   };
 }
 
-export default function newsBoot(app) {
-  const router = app.loopback.Router();
+function createPopularityHandler(app) {
+  const { Article, Popularity } = app.models;
 
-  router.get('/n', (req, res) => res.redirect('/news'));
-  router.get('/n/:shortId', createReferralHandler(app));
-
-  router.get('/news', serveNewsApp);
-  router.get('/news/*', serveNewsApp);
-
-  app.use(router);
+  return function handlePopularityStats(req, res, next) {
+    const { body, user } = req;
+    if (
+      !has(body, 'event') ||
+      !has(body, 'timestamp') ||
+      !has(body, 'shortId')
+    ) {
+      console.warn('Popularity event recieved from client is malformed');
+      console.log(JSON.stringify(body, null, 2));
+      // sending 200 because the client shouldn't care for this
+      return res.sendStatus(200);
+    }
+    res.sendStatus(200);
+    const { shortId } = body;
+    apiLog('shortId', shortId);
+    const populartiyUpdate = {
+      ...body,
+      byAuthenticatedUser: !!user
+    };
+    Popularity.findOne({ where: { articleId: shortId } }, (err, popularity) => {
+      if (err) {
+        apiLog(err);
+        return next(err);
+      }
+      if (popularity) {
+        return popularity.updateAttribute(
+          'events',
+          [populartiyUpdate, ...popularity.events],
+          err => {
+            if (err) {
+              apiLog(err);
+              return next(err);
+            }
+            return apiLog('poplarity updated');
+          }
+        );
+      }
+      return Popularity.create(
+        {
+          events: [populartiyUpdate],
+          articleId: shortId
+        },
+        err => {
+          if (err) {
+            apiLog(err);
+            return next(err);
+          }
+          return apiLog('poulartiy created');
+        }
+      );
+    });
+    return body.event === 'view'
+      ? Article.findOne({ where: { shortId } }, (err, article) => {
+          if (err) {
+            apiLog(err);
+            next(err);
+          }
+          return article.updateAttributes(
+            { viewCount: article.viewCount + 1 },
+            err => {
+              if (err) {
+                apiLog(err);
+                return next(err);
+              }
+              return apiLog('article views updated');
+            }
+          );
+        })
+      : null;
+  };
 }
diff --git a/server/middlewares/csurf.js b/server/middlewares/csurf.js
index 50b2821ceb1..bf49d0fb668 100644
--- a/server/middlewares/csurf.js
+++ b/server/middlewares/csurf.js
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ export default function() {
   return function csrf(req, res, next) {
 
     const path = req.path.split('/')[1];
-    if (/(api|external)/.test(path)) {
+    if (/(api|external|^p$)/.test(path)) {
       return next();
     }
     return protection(req, res, next);