Popular posts by views, 3 days, 7 days, 30 days not working

Question

I try to use this code (I found it on personal blog) for my custom Wordpress theme to show popular posts in one custom page. Unfortunately it show the same posts in every of those three UL block's. Idea is to show most viewed post in 3 days, then in another block show most viewed posts in 7 days, and then in last block sho most viewed posts in 30 days. I don't now why is not working.

// Top post by views in last 3 day's
<ul>
    <?php
    function filter_where($where = '') {
        $where .= " AND post_date > '" . date('Y-m-d', strtotime('-3 days')) . "'";
        return $where;
    }
    add_filter('posts_where', 'filter_where');
    query_posts('post_type=post&posts_per_page=5&orderby=post_views_count&order=DESC');
    while (have_posts()): the_post(); ?>
        <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php printf(esc_attr('Permalink to %s'), the_title_attribute('echo=0')); ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
        <?php
    endwhile;
    wp_reset_query();
    ?>
</ul>

// Top post by views in last 7 day's
<ul>
    <?php
    function filter_where2($where = '') {
        $where .= " AND post_date > '" . date('Y-m-d', strtotime('-7 days')) . "'";
        return $where;
    }
    add_filter('posts_where', 'filter_where2');
    query_posts('post_type=post&posts_per_page=5&orderby=post_views_count&order=DESC');
    while (have_posts()): the_post(); ?>
        <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php printf(esc_attr('Permalink to %s'), the_title_attribute('echo=0')); ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
        <?php
    endwhile;
    wp_reset_query();
    ?>
</ul>

// Top post by views in last 30 day's
<ul>
    <?php
    function filter_where3($where = '') {
        $where .= " AND post_date > '" . date('Y-m-d', strtotime('-30 days')) . "'";
        return $where;
    }
    add_filter('posts_where', 'filter_where3');
    query_posts('post_type=post&posts_per_page=5&orderby=post_views_count&order=DESC');
    while (have_posts()): the_post(); ?>
        <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php printf(esc_attr('Permalink to %s'), the_title_attribute('echo=0')); ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
        <?php
    endwhile;
    wp_reset_query();
    ?>
</ul> 

Answer 1

The orderby value is not recognize by WP_Query (query_posts use this class).

You didn't mentionned if you add (and increment) a custom field post_view_count each time a post has been load.

If it's the case, you can change your query_posts :

add_filter('posts_where', 'filter_where');
$args = array('post_type'=>'post', 
           'posts_per_page'=>5, 
           'orderby'=>'meta_value_num', 
           'order'=>'DESC', 
           'meta_key'=>'post_views_count'
);
$query = new WP_Query($args);

while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
    $query->the_post(); ?>
    <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php printf(esc_attr('Permalink to %s'), the_title_attribute('echo=0')); ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
    <?php
}
wp_reset_query();

continue with this logic for the 2 queries left.

You will find all details on the WP_Query reference

Hope it helps.