Three lists
Three lists, three different numbers
Each one is ordered by a different measurement, and each one prints that measurement in the row next to the date it was read. None of them is headed “best”, because nobody has measured that.
We open every listing's t.me page ourselves and read it. A listing qualifies only if the last check answered as a direct account, because a channel cannot be messaged.
We poll Telescope's public live endpoint every 10 minutes and keep one row per host per poll. Nobody else holds that history, which is the only reason the list is worth having.
A different population from the directory: OnlyFans accounts, ranked by the like count OnlyFans publishes on each profile. Not one creator listed here is shown with an OnlyFans link, because the data does not contain one.