Area chart | the R Graph Gallery

Note on area chart

This section is tightly linked with other sections. A line chart is the same but doesn't fill the surface between the line and the X axis. A connected scatterplot is almost the same thing, but each observation is represented as a dot. More generally, the time series section can interest you.

connected scatter line chart time series

Step by step with ggplot2

ggplot2 allows to draw line charts thanks to the geom_line() function. It expects as input a data frame with 2 numeric variables, one displayed on each axis. Start your journey with the most basic line chart.

Most basic

Most basic area chart with R and ggplot2

Improve appearance

Use a theme, highlight top line, add points if needed, and more options.

Log transform

How to use a log transformation for the Y axis with scale_x_log10().

Most basic

Most basic stacked area chart you can build with R and ggplot2, using the geom_area function.

Small multiple

Small multiple is probably the best alternative, making obvious the evolution of each gropup.

Interactive version: plotly

The ggplotly() function of the plotly library makes it a breeze to build an interactive version. Try to hover circles to get a tooltip, or select an area of interest for zooming. Double click to reinitialize.

Get code

Interactive version: dygraph

The dygraph package is dedicated to time series visualization. It offers zooming, hovering, minimaps and much more. Visit the time series section that is dedicated to it for more.

Get code Time series section

Step by step with base R

In base R, the combination of the plot() and the polygon() functions allows to build quality area charts.

Most basic

Most basic area chart you can build in base R using the polygon function.