WordPress.org

1. Download the plugin and extract its contents.
2. Upload the wordpress-popular-posts folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
3. Activate Wordpress Popular Posts plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress.
4. In your admin console, go to Design > Widgets (or Presentation > Widgets for Wordpress 2.3 and lower), and drag the Wordpress Popular Posts widget to wherever you want it to be, and click Save Changes.
5. optional In your admin console, go to Appearance > Widgets (or Presentation > Widgets for Wordpress 2.3 and lower), click Edit on Popular Posts and customize it to your likings. Once you're done with it, click on Change and then on Save Changes. [NEW FEATURE] You can now also change its settings using WPP Admin page.

Placing Wordpress Popular Posts in your templates

If you want to use Wordpress Popular Posts somewhere else in your templates, simply place <?php get_mostpopular(); ?> where you want your listing to be displayed. Easy, huh?.

USAGE:

<?php if (function_exists('get_mostpopular')) get_mostpopular(); ?>