diff --git a/backend/public/src/datasources/posts.rs b/backend/public/src/datasources/posts.rs
index d560a43..8b2afc7 100644
--- a/backend/public/src/datasources/posts.rs
+++ b/backend/public/src/datasources/posts.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-use axum::routing::trace;
-use sqlx::{PgPool, Pool, Postgres};
+use sqlx::{Pool, Postgres};
 
 use crate::routes::posts::Post;
 
@@ -12,6 +11,11 @@ impl PostsDatasource {
     }
 
     pub async fn get_one(pool: &Pool<Postgres>, post_id: i32) -> Result<Post, sqlx::Error> {
+        let _ = sqlx::query("UPDATE posts SET view_count = view_count + 1 WHERE post_id = $1")
+            .bind(post_id)
+            .execute(pool)
+            .await;
+
         sqlx::query_as!(Post, "SELECT p.post_id, a.first_name, a.last_name, p.title, p.body, p.created_at FROM posts p LEFT JOIN authors a ON a.author_id = p.author_id WHERE p.deleted_at IS NULL AND p.post_id = $1 ORDER BY p.created_at DESC", post_id)
         .fetch_one(pool)
         .await
@@ -22,4 +26,10 @@ impl PostsDatasource {
         .fetch_all(pool)
         .await
     }
+
+    pub async fn get_hot(pool: &Pool<Postgres>) -> Result<Vec<Post>, sqlx::Error> {
+        sqlx::query_as!(Post, "SELECT p.post_id, a.first_name, a.last_name, p.title, p.body, p.created_at FROM posts p LEFT JOIN authors a ON a.author_id = p.author_id WHERE p.deleted_at IS NULL ORDER BY p.view_count DESC LIMIT 3")
+        .fetch_all(pool)
+        .await
+    }
 }
diff --git a/backend/public/src/routes/posts.rs b/backend/public/src/routes/posts.rs
index 488252b..5210cbd 100644
--- a/backend/public/src/routes/posts.rs
+++ b/backend/public/src/routes/posts.rs
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ impl PostsRoute {
             .route("/all", get(PostsRoute::get_all))
             .route("/:id", get(PostsRoute::get_one))
             .route("/popular", get(PostsRoute::get_popular_posts))
+            .route("/hot", get(PostsRoute::get_hot_posts))
             .with_state(app_state.db.clone())
     }
 
@@ -65,7 +66,12 @@ impl PostsRoute {
     }
 
     // get the top three posts with the highest view count
-    // async fn get_hot_posts(State(pool): State<PgPool>) {}
+    async fn get_hot_posts(State(pool): State<Pool<Postgres>>) -> impl IntoResponse {
+        match PostsDatasource::get_hot(&pool).await {
+            Ok(posts) => Ok(Json(posts)),
+            Err(e) => Err((StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, e.to_string())),
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 fn serialize_datetime<S>(