diff --git a/app/controllers/explore/posts_controller.rb b/app/controllers/explore/posts_controller.rb
index f733bf6e1..20e289356 100644
--- a/app/controllers/explore/posts_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/explore/posts_controller.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ module Explore
   class PostsController < ApplicationController
     respond_to :html, :xml, :json
 
+    rate_limit :popular, rate: 1.0/1.minute, burst: 50, if: -> { request.format.json? }, key: "explore:popular.json"
+
     def popular
       @date, @scale, @min_date, @max_date = parse_date(params)