Stacked column chart

Stacked vertical column chart for composition over discrete columns; supports percent stacking.

column-stacked is the vertical sibling of bar-stacked — each column breaks down into segments. It's the right choice when the x-axis represents a small number of ordered steps (quarters, fiscal years, study cohorts). Set stackMode = "percent" for a 100 % composition view. See Properties for every key it accepts.

When to use

• Composition over a small number of discrete columns (5–10 quarters, years, or stages)
• When both the total and the breakdown matter for each column
• 100 % stacked view (stackMode = "percent") when readers should focus on relative share

When NOT to use

• More than ~10 time points — switch to area-stacked
• Data with negative values — stacking breaks down
• When precise segment-to-segment comparison is needed across columns

Example

chart column-stacked {
  theme = "blueprint-bold"
  colorPalette = "BlueprintBold"
  title = "Software revenue grew steadily while hardware spiked in Q4"
  description = "Quarterly revenue in millions, 2024"
  source = "Annual report"

  data {
    series = "Hardware","Software","Services"
    "Q1" = 120,85,45
    "Q2" = 135,92,48
    "Q3" = 128,98,52
    "Q4" = 155,105,58
  }
}

Properties

Every property column-stacked accepts, beside the frame and layout keys every chart shares. Anything absent from this table is rejected by validateChart and ignored by the renderer.

Property	Type	Default
colors	colors	(unset)
colorPalette	select, see Palettes	Blueprint
autoContrast	boolean	false
allowDarkMode	boolean	true
stackMode	select: normal, percent	normal
sortMode	select: none, total, within-groups	none
legend	boolean	true
legendAnchor	select: start, middle, end	start
legendPosition	select: top, bottom, left, right	top
directLabelling	select: "", auto, outside, inside	""
directLabelAnchor	select: start, middle, end	middle
showVerticalAxis	boolean	false
verticalAxisDirection	select: left, right	left
showVerticalTicks	boolean	false
verticalLabelPosition	select: auto, inside, outside, off	off
verticalGridStyle	select: solid, dashed, dotted, none	none
verticalNumberFormat	numberFormat	(unset)
verticalScaleType	select: linear, log	linear
verticalRangeMin	text	(unset)
verticalRangeMax	text	(unset)
showHorizontalAxis	boolean	true
showHorizontalTicks	boolean	false
horizontalLabelPosition	select: auto, inside, outside, off	auto
horizontalLabelRotation	select: auto, horizontal, vertical	horizontal
horizontalGridStyle	select: solid, dashed, dotted, none	none
horizontalNumberFormat	numberFormat	(unset)
valueLabels	boolean	true
valueLabelPosition	select: auto, outside, inside	auto
tooltips	boolean	false
crosshair	boolean	false
crosshairDirection	select: both, vertical, horizontal	both
crosshairStyle	select: solid, dashed, dotted	dashed
crosshairColor	text	#999

Common pitfalls

• Stacking too many series — the top layers float and lose their baseline
• Switching to stackMode = "percent" without telling the reader hides the change in absolute total
• Inconsistent segment ordering between columns destroys the visual flow

Related types

• bar-stacked — horizontal equivalent for long category labels
• area-stacked — same idea with many time points
• bar-multi — when you want side-by-side comparison instead of stacking

See also

• Choosing the right chart
• Design principles