diff --git a/.eleventy.js b/.eleventy.js
index dad5ab84b..322193276 100644
--- a/.eleventy.js
+++ b/.eleventy.js
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ const {
   getAllPosts,
   getAllUniqueCategories,
   getPostsByCategory,
-  getPopularCategories,
 } = require('./config/collections');
 const markdownLib = require('./config/plugins/markdown');
 const { dir, imagePaths, scriptDirs } = require('./config/constants');
@@ -99,7 +98,6 @@ module.exports = (eleventyConfig) => {
   eleventyConfig.addCollection('posts', getAllPosts);
   eleventyConfig.addCollection('categories', getAllUniqueCategories);
   eleventyConfig.addCollection('postsByCategory', getPostsByCategory);
-  eleventyConfig.addCollection('popularCategories', getPopularCategories({ limit: 10, minCount: 5 }));
 
   // Plugins
   eleventyConfig.addPlugin(PluginFootnotes, {
diff --git a/config/collections/index.js b/config/collections/index.js
index fb3119a9a..305b90a97 100644
--- a/config/collections/index.js
+++ b/config/collections/index.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 const lodash = require('lodash');
 const { getAllUniqueKeyValues, slugifyString } = require('../utils');
 const site = require('../../src/_data/site');
-const { limit } = require('../filters/filters');
 const { dir } = require('../constants');
 
 /** Returns all blog posts as a collection. */
@@ -10,17 +9,45 @@ const getAllPosts = (collection) => {
   return posts.reverse();
 };
 
+/** Given a category name and an optional page number, returns the root-relative URL to that category's page.
+ * @param {string} category
+ * @param {number} [page] The one-indexed page number
+ */
+const getCategoryHref = (category, page) => {
+  const slug = slugifyString(category);
+  return page > 1 ? `/tags/${slug}/page/${page}/` : `/tags/${slug}/`;
+};
+
 /** Returns all unique categories as a collection.
  * NOTE: I'm calling these "categories" to distinguish them from 11ty's built-in "tags." However,
  * these are still referred to as tags in the UI since that's what's most common.
+ * @returns {({ title: string; href: string; count: string })[]}
  */
 const getAllUniqueCategories = (collection) => {
   const allPosts = getAllPosts(collection);
-  const categories = getAllUniqueKeyValues(allPosts, 'categories').map((category) => ({
-    title: category,
-    slug: slugifyString(category),
-  }));
-  return categories;
+  const uniqueCategories = getAllUniqueKeyValues(allPosts, 'categories');
+
+  // Do this separately for performance rather than inside the category map logic below, which would be several levels of nesting loops
+  const categoryCounts = allPosts.reduce((categoryCounts, post) => {
+    post.data.categories?.forEach((category) => {
+      if (!categoryCounts[category]) {
+        categoryCounts[category] = 0;
+      }
+      categoryCounts[category]++;
+    });
+    return categoryCounts;
+  }, {});
+
+  return (
+    uniqueCategories
+      .map((category) => ({
+        title: category,
+        href: getCategoryHref(category),
+        count: categoryCounts[category],
+      }))
+      // Popular categories first
+      .sort((a, b) => b.count - a.count)
+  );
 };
 
 // Blog posts by category, for pagination
@@ -41,10 +68,7 @@ const getPostsByCategory = (collection) => {
     const chunkedCategoryPosts = lodash.chunk(categoryPosts, postsPerPage);
 
     // Map each chunk to its page slug
-    const categorySlug = slugifyString(category);
-    const pageHrefs = chunkedCategoryPosts.map((_, i) =>
-      i > 0 ? `/tags/${categorySlug}/page/${i + 1}/` : `/tags/${categorySlug}/`
-    );
+    const pageHrefs = chunkedCategoryPosts.map((_, pageIndex) => getCategoryHref(category, pageIndex + 1));
 
     chunkedCategoryPosts.forEach((posts, index) => {
       // Massage the data into a format that 11ty's pagination will like
@@ -69,16 +93,8 @@ const getPostsByCategory = (collection) => {
   return blogPostsByCategory.sort((category1, category2) => category2.posts.length - category1.posts.length);
 };
 
-/** Returns the top `n` categories with at least `minCount` posts, in descending order. */
-const getPopularCategories = (params) => (collection) => {
-  const categories = getPostsByCategory(collection).filter((category) => category.posts.length >= params.minCount);
-  const popularCategories = limit(categories, params.limit);
-  return popularCategories;
-};
-
 module.exports = {
   getAllPosts,
   getAllUniqueCategories,
   getPostsByCategory,
-  getPopularCategories,
 };
diff --git a/src/_pages/tags.html b/src/_pages/tags.html
index 70f00f9ef..468132220 100644
--- a/src/_pages/tags.html
+++ b/src/_pages/tags.html
@@ -22,11 +22,11 @@
   <h1 class="hero-title">All Tags</h1>
   <nav aria-label="Tags">
     <ol class="pill-group">
-      {%- for tag in collections.postsByCategory %}
+      {%- for tag in collections.categories %}
         <li>
           <a href="{{ tag.href }}" class="pill" data-shape="round" data-size="sm">
-            {{ tag.title }}&nbsp;<span class="pill-count" aria-hidden="true">{{ tag.posts | size }}</span
-            ><span class="screen-reader-only">{{ tag.posts | size }} posts</span>
+            {{ tag.title }}&nbsp;<span class="pill-count" aria-hidden="true">{{ tag.count }}</span
+            ><span class="screen-reader-only">{{ tag.count }} posts</span>
           </a>
         </li>
       {% endfor %}