Editor's note: As we look back at the top city life stories that captivated our readers in 2023, we see one topic that eclipsed them all: Dallas-Fort Worth's population explosion. Aspirational readers also ate up a list of local billionaires and stories about the wealthiest suburbs. The one story that landed high atop the list, though, was about the leggy crane flies that arrived in droves last spring. Here are the 10 most-read city life stories of 2023:

1. Crane flies have landed ever so lightly in Dallas, which means one thing. The crane flies arrived in Dallas in March, and this year, they were here in droves. Fragile, leggy, and whisper-light, crane flies are most often found around streams and lakes. But at certain times of year, they show up in urban areas, hovering and bobbing around houses and doorways. Spring 2023 was that time.

2. Dallas-Fort Worth population headed toward jaw-dropping milestone by 2028. Dallas drivers, prepare to share the roads with nearly a million more people. An analysis in July predicted Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington's population could cross the 8 million threshold in the next five years, swelling to nearly 8.5 million total residents.

3. Dallas neighbor booms as 6th fastest-growing U.S. college town, report says. Dallas might be one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., but there's one North Texas city that's outdoing it in a different category of population growth. A study released in September by university scholarship website BrokeScholar deemed Denton the No. 6 fastest-growing college town in the country.

4. Elite Dallas enclave makes bank as 4th richest small town in U.S., report says. University Park packed some new prestige into its compact 3.73 square miles, ranking No. 4 on a list of the wealthiest small towns in America. In June, the number crunchers at GoBankingRates.com analyzed income data from the U.S. Census Bureau for towns with 500 to 15,000 households across the country to come up with the richest small towns in every state, ranked from lowest to highest income.

5. 4 Dallas-Fort Worth universities earn top spots on new list of best U.S. colleges. Four Dallas-Fort Worth area universities rose through the ranks in a highly anticipated list of the country's best universities published in September. Niche, an education review and ranking website, deemed Southern Methodist University the fifth best college in Texas. It was joined by three more local schools.

6. 19 Dallas-Fort Worth billionaires land on Forbes' 2023 list of richest Americans. Austin's Elon Musk and Michael Dell are the richest people in Texas, but Dallas-Fort Worth billionaires are not far behind, according to the Forbes 400, a list of the 400 richest people in the United States for 2023, released in October.

7. 2 freeway shutdowns this weekend in northeast Dallas of I-635 and US-75. A portion of I-635 was closed in all directions the weekend of December 2-3. In the same weekend, all lanes of southbound US 75 were closed at the I-635 junction for a sign maintenance project.

8. Dallas-Fort Worth could be biggest metro in U.S. by year 2100, new report says. Start spreading the news: Dallas-Fort Worth will eclipse New York City as the biggest metro area by the year 2100, a report predicted. An analysis by moving services site moveBuddha published June 22 said the Metroplex's population could swell to 33.91 million people in the next 77 years.

9. Cool Dallas mid-century hotel off I-35 gets funding to become apartments. Developers of the historic Cabana Hotel, the distinctive mid-century Dallas lodging where the Beatles once stayed, received a $41 million go-ahead from the Dallas City Council in late September to turn the building into apartments.

10. Wealthy Dallas suburb boasts the 3rd biggest holiday spenders in U.S. According to a November study by Wallethub, Santa's gonna be working overtime to fulfill the orders for residents of Frisco this holiday season. The personal finance experts have determined Frisco is the U.S. city with the No. 3 biggest holiday spending budget in 2023. Shoppers in the affluent Dallas suburb are expected to spend $3,546 this festive season.