How to add a sidebar containing popular posts section, (with images)

Hi there,

I think the only way to do it without a plugin is to handpick the popular posts then build that widget manually by inserting pictures and titles.

Something like this would be best handled by a plugin as there needs to be some sort of logic that determines what a popular post is.

Here are some suggestions:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/5-best-popular-posts-plugins-for-wordpress/

I couldn't tell which plugin the example is using unfortunately.