Use cases

Worked examples of the shapes the Bump Chart is built for — the data behind each one, the fields to bind, and the settings worth changing. Each is a starting point, not a rule.

Product and category sales rankings

Which products lead, which are climbing, and which quietly slipped off the podium. The commonest bump chart of all.

Quarter	Product	Revenue
2026 Q1	Aurora	412,000
2026 Q1	Beacon	388,500
2026 Q1	Cascade	301,900
2026 Q2	Beacon	402,100
2026 Q2	Aurora	355,000
2026 Q2	Cascade	344,700

Field	Bind
Series	Product
Time	Quarter (or a date column at quarter level)
Value	Total Revenue measure
Tooltips	Units sold, margin %, growth vs prior quarter

Settings: Top N 10, Smooth curves, rank numbers on, right-hand labels only, legend Top.

tip

Put the growth measure in Tooltips rather than in Value. Ranking by revenue and explaining with growth is far more useful than ranking by growth, which tends to put your smallest products on top.

Sports league tables

Standings after each round — the case bump charts were invented for. Every team plays every round, so the chart is a clean grid with no gaps.

Round	Team	Points
12	Northfield	27
12	Kingsbridge	25
12	Ravenhill	25
13	Kingsbridge	28
13	Northfield	27
13	Ravenhill	26

Field	Bind
Series	Team
Time	Round (a whole-number column)
Value	Cumulative Points measure
Tooltips	Played, won, goal difference

Settings: Linear curves (a round is a discrete event), Top N off for a small league, marker size 14 so the position numbers read clearly.

tip

Points tables tie constantly. Add your competition's own tie-breaker into the measure — points plus goal difference divided by a large constant, say — so the chart orders teams the way the official table does. See Ties.

Market share and brand tracking

Where you sit against competitors over time, and when a rival overtook you.

Month	Brand	Share
2026-01	Our brand	0.184
2026-01	Competitor A	0.211
2026-01	Competitor B	0.147
2026-02	Our brand	0.203
2026-02	Competitor A	0.199

Field	Bind
Series	Brand
Time	Month (date column, month level)
Value	Market Share % measure
Tooltips	Share %, share point change, category size

Settings: Top N 8, Data Colors with your brand in a strong colour and every competitor in grey, opacity 80, labels both sides.

tip

Share moves in fractions of a point, and a bump chart deliberately hides that. Keep the actual share in the tooltip, and pair the chart with a card or line chart showing the real numbers — the bump chart answers "who is ahead", the line chart answers "by how much".

Regional and store performance

A league table of branches, regions or reps, refreshed every month, with a slicer to drill into one area.

Month	Region	Net Sales
2026-01	North	1,204,000
2026-01	South	998,500
2026-01	Midlands	1,110,300

Field	Bind
Series	Region (or Store)
Time	Month
Value	Net Sales measure
Tooltips	Target attainment, headcount, sales per head

Settings: Top N 10 for stores, off for regions; Reverse Rank on if your audience reads a climb as improvement; legend Right.

tip

Add a Region slicer and set its interaction to filter rather than highlight — then the chart re-ranks within the chosen region instead of dimming everything else. See Being filtered by other visuals.

Search terms, support topics and content popularity

What people ask about, week by week — a field of many series where only the leaders matter.

Week	Topic	Tickets
2026-W09	Billing	412
2026-W09	Login issues	388
2026-W09	Exports	97

Field	Bind
Series	Topic
Time	Week (text column sorted by a week-number key)
Value	Ticket Count measure
Tooltips	Average resolution time, reopen rate

Settings: Top N 10, line width 2, opacity 70, marker size 8, rank numbers off, right labels only.

tip

This is the shape where series enter and leave the top constantly. Broken lines are the point — each break shows a topic dropping out of the top ten and coming back. Don't try to eliminate them.

Portfolio and asset class performance

Which asset classes, funds or strategies led each quarter — the classic "periodic table of returns", drawn as a race.

Quarter	Asset class	Return
2026 Q1	Equities	0.061
2026 Q1	Bonds	0.012
2026 Q1	Real estate	0.028

Field	Bind
Series	Asset class
Time	Quarter
Value	Quarterly Return measure
Tooltips	Return %, volatility, weight in portfolio

Settings: Top N off (the field is fixed and small), Linear curves, marker size 16 with rank numbers on, labels both sides, legend off.

tip

Returns can be negative, which ranks perfectly well — the worst performer simply takes the bottom row. Keep the actual return in the tooltip so a reader can see whether rank 1 was a good quarter or merely the least bad one.

Choosing the right settings for your shape

Your data	Top N	Curve	Markers	Labels
Under 6 series, every period	Off	Smooth	Size 14, rank numbers on	Both sides
6–15 series	10	Smooth	Size 10, rank numbers on	Right only
Many series, churning leaders	10	Linear	Size 8, rank numbers off	Right only
Discrete events (rounds, stages)	Off	Linear	Size 14, rank numbers on	Both sides
Small tile or dashboard	5	Smooth	Size 6, rank numbers off	Off, legend on

When not to use a bump chart

A bump chart is the wrong tool when:

• The size of the gap is the story. Rank hides magnitude — use a line or bar chart.
• You have one or two series. There's no race; a line chart or a KPI card says it better.
• Your periods are irregular and the spacing matters. The axis is evenly spaced by design — see The axis is evenly spaced.
• Series appear and disappear constantly with no stable field. The picture becomes noise; rank the top few in a table instead.

Related

• Ranking & Top N — the mechanics behind every example above.
• Formatting reference — every setting with its default.