If you look at http://radar.oreilly.com/upload/2011/02/AllYearsLanguages.jpg http://radar.oreilly.com/upload/2011/02/AllYearsLanguages.jp..., what Java did was

If you look at http://radar.oreilly.com/upload/2011/02/AllYearsLanguages.jpg http://radar.oreilly.com/upload/2011/02/AllYearsLanguages.jp..., what Java did was no so much "retake the top" as "slide backwards, while watching the languages previously above it slide back further." One might go so far as to question whether "leadership" in a sinking market is a good thing.