mais populares por visitas

Olá a todos.

Estou a usar um tema livre que traz um widget com tabs, um para mostrar os artigos mais populares e outro para mostrar os mais recentes. No entanto, os mais populares são selecionados pelo número de comentários e eu queria que mostrasse por número de visitas.

Alguém me ajuda a alterar isto? Penso que é logo no inicio onde está
$popular = new WP_Query(‘showposts=’. $posts .’&orderby=comment_count&order=desc’);

Ou em alternativa, criar mais um tab neste widget com esse tipo de consulta, chamada OS MAIS VISTOS?

Ou então indicar-me um bom plugin, de preferência gratuito e que tenha bom aspeto visual e que tenha estas funcionalidades (tabs e artigos mais vistos, mais populares e recentes).

O código atual é este:

<?php
/**
 * MyThemeShop Tabs Widget
 */
 function mts_popular_tabs( $posts = 5 ) {
	$popular = new WP_Query('showposts='. $posts .'&orderby=comment_count&order=desc');
	$popular_post_num = 1;
	while ($popular->have_posts()) : $popular->the_post();
?>
<?php if($popular_post_num != 1){echo '<div class="tabsSep"></div>';} ?>
<li>
<div class="left">
<?php if(has_post_thumbnail()): ?>
<?php $image = wp_get_attachment_image_src(get_post_thumbnail_id($post->ID), 'featured-small'); ?>
<a href='<?php the_permalink(); ?>'><img src="<?php echo $image[0]; ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>"  width='82' height='60' class="wp-post-image" /></a>
<?php else: ?>
<a href='<?php the_permalink(); ?>'><img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/images/smallthumb.png" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>"  width='82' height='60' class="wp-post-image" /></a>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="clear"></div>
</div>
 	<div class="info">
 	<p class="entry-title"><a title="<?php the_title(); ?>" href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></p>
	<div class="meta">
	<?php the_time('j F, Y'); ?><br />
    <span class="pcomments"><a rel="nofollow" href="<?php comments_link(); ?>"><?php comments_number('0 Comentários','1 Comentário','% Comentários'); ?></a> |</span>
	<p><span class="theauthor"><?php the_author_posts_link(); ?></span></p>
	</div> <!--end .entry-meta-->
	</div> <!--end .info-->
	<div class="clear"></div>
</li>

<?php $popular_post_num++; endwhile;
}

function mts_latest_tabs( $posts = 5 ) {
	$the_query = new WP_Query('showposts='. $posts .'&orderby=post_date&order=desc');
	$recent_post_num = 1;
	while ($the_query->have_posts()) : $the_query->the_post();
?>
<?php if($recent_post_num != 1){echo '<div class="tabsSep"></div>';} ?>
<li>
<div class="left">
<?php if(has_post_thumbnail()): ?>
<?php $image = wp_get_attachment_image_src(get_post_thumbnail_id($post->ID), 'featured-small'); ?>
<a href='<?php the_permalink(); ?>'><img src="<?php echo $image[0]; ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>"  width='82' height='60' class="wp-post-image" /></a>
<?php else: ?>
<a href='<?php the_permalink(); ?>'><img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/images/smallthumb.png" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>"  width='82' height='60' class="wp-post-image" /></a>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="clear"></div>
</div>
 	<div class="info">
 	<p class="entry-title"><a title="<?php the_title(); ?>" href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></p>
	<div class="meta">
	<?php the_time('j F, Y'); ?><br />
    <span class="pcomments"><a rel="nofollow" href="<?php comments_link(); ?>"><?php comments_number('0 Comentários','1 Comentário','% Comentárioss'); ?></a> |</span>
<p><span class="theauthor"><?php the_author_posts_link(); ?></span></p>
	</div> <!--end .entry-meta-->
	</div> <!--end .info-->
	<div class="clear"></div>
</li>

<?php $recent_post_num++; endwhile;
}
class mts_Widget_Tabs extends WP_Widget {

	function mts_Widget_Tabs() {
		$widget_ops = array('classname' => 'widget_tab', 'description' => __('Display the popular Posts and Latest Posts in tabbed format'));
		$control_ops = array('width' => 400, 'height' => 350);
		$this->WP_Widget('tab', __('MyThemeShop: Tab Widget'), $widget_ops, $control_ops);
	}

	function widget( $args, $instance ) {
		extract($args);
		$popular_post_num = $instance['popular_post_num'];
		$recent_post_num = $instance['recent_post_num'];
		?>

	<div id="tabber">

		<ul class="tabs">
			<li><a href="#popular-posts"><?php _e('Artigos Populares', 'mythemeshop'); ?></a></li>
			<li class="tab-recent-posts"><a href="#recent-posts"><?php _e('Artigos Recentes', 'mythemeshop'); ?></a></li>
		</ul> <!--end .tabs-->

		<div class="clear"></div>

		<div class="inside">

			<div id="popular-posts">
				<ul>
					<?php rewind_posts(); ?>
					<?php mts_popular_tabs($popular_post_num); ?>
				</ul>
		    </div> <!--end #popular-posts-->

		    <div id="recent-posts">
		        <ul>
					<?php mts_latest_tabs($recent_post_num); ?>
				</ul>
		    </div> <!--end #recent-posts-->

			<div class="clear"></div>

		</div> <!--end .inside -->

		<div class="clear"></div>

	</div><!--end #tabber -->

		<?php
	}

	function update( $new_instance, $old_instance ) {
		$instance = $old_instance;
		$instance['popular_post_num'] = $new_instance['popular_post_num'];
		$instance['recent_post_num'] =  $new_instance['recent_post_num'];
		return $instance;
	}

	function form( $instance ) {
		$instance = wp_parse_args( (array) $instance, array( 'popular_post_num' => '5', 'recent_post_num' => '5') );
		$popular_post_num = $instance['popular_post_num'];
		$recent_post_num = format_to_edit($instance['recent_post_num']);
	?>
		<p><label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('popular_post_num'); ?>"><?php _e('Number of popular posts to show:'); ?></label>
		<input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('popular_post_num'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('popular_post_num'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo $popular_post_num; ?>" /></p>

		<p><label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('recent_post_num'); ?>"><?php _e('Number of latest posts to show:'); ?></label>
		<input class="widefat" type="text" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('recent_post_num'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('recent_post_num'); ?>" value="<?php echo $recent_post_num; ?>" /></p>

	<?php }
}

register_widget('mts_Widget_Tabs');

?>

NOTA: Eu não percebo de php por isso agradeço a vossa ajuda.