diff --git a/app/controllers/explore/projects_controller.rb b/app/controllers/explore/projects_controller.rb
index 38e5943eb76..a62c6211372 100644
--- a/app/controllers/explore/projects_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/explore/projects_controller.rb
@@ -21,8 +21,7 @@ class Explore::ProjectsController < Explore::ApplicationController
   end
 
   def trending
-    @projects = TrendingProjectsFinder.new.execute
-    @projects = filter_projects(@projects)
+    @projects = filter_projects(Project.trending)
     @projects = @projects.page(params[:page])
 
     respond_to do |format|
diff --git a/app/finders/trending_projects_finder.rb b/app/finders/trending_projects_finder.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index c1e434d9926..00000000000
--- a/app/finders/trending_projects_finder.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-# Finder for retrieving public trending projects in a given time range.
-class TrendingProjectsFinder
-  # current_user - The currently logged in User, if any.
-  # last_months - The number of months to limit the trending data to.
-  def execute(months_limit = 1)
-    Rails.cache.fetch(cache_key_for(months_limit), expires_in: 1.day) do
-      Project.public_only.trending(months_limit.months.ago)
-    end
-  end
-
-  private
-
-  def cache_key_for(months)
-    "trending_projects/#{months}"
-  end
-end
diff --git a/app/models/project.rb b/app/models/project.rb
index 88e4bd14860..74d54e69648 100644
--- a/app/models/project.rb
+++ b/app/models/project.rb
@@ -375,19 +375,9 @@ class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
       %r{(?<project>#{name_pattern}/#{name_pattern})}
     end
 
-    def trending(since = 1.month.ago)
-      # By counting in the JOIN we don't expose the GROUP BY to the outer query.
-      # This means that calls such as "any?" and "count" just return a number of
-      # the total count, instead of the counts grouped per project as a Hash.
-      join_body = "INNER JOIN (
-        SELECT project_id, COUNT(*) AS amount
-        FROM notes
-        WHERE created_at >= #{sanitize(since)}
-        AND system IS FALSE
-        GROUP BY project_id
-      ) join_note_counts ON projects.id = join_note_counts.project_id"
-
-      joins(join_body).reorder('join_note_counts.amount DESC')
+    def trending
+      joins('INNER JOIN trending_projects ON projects.id = trending_projects.project_id').
+        reorder('trending_projects.id ASC')
     end
 
     def cached_count
diff --git a/app/models/trending_project.rb b/app/models/trending_project.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..27e3732da17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/trending_project.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+class TrendingProject < ActiveRecord::Base
+  belongs_to :project
+
+  # The number of months to include in the trending calculation.
+  MONTHS_TO_INCLUDE = 1
+
+  # The maximum number of projects to include in the trending set.
+  PROJECTS_LIMIT = 100
+
+  # Populates the trending projects table with the current list of trending
+  # projects.
+  def self.refresh!
+    # The calculation **must** run in a transaction. If the removal of data and
+    # insertion of new data were to run separately a user might end up with an
+    # empty list of trending projects for a short period of time.
+    transaction do
+      delete_all
+
+      timestamp = connection.quote(MONTHS_TO_INCLUDE.months.ago)
+
+      connection.execute <<-EOF.strip_heredoc
+        INSERT INTO #{table_name} (project_id)
+        SELECT project_id
+        FROM notes
+        INNER JOIN projects ON projects.id = notes.project_id
+        WHERE notes.created_at >= #{timestamp}
+        AND notes.system IS FALSE
+        AND projects.visibility_level = #{Gitlab::VisibilityLevel::PUBLIC}
+        GROUP BY project_id
+        ORDER BY count(*) DESC
+        LIMIT #{PROJECTS_LIMIT};
+      EOF
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/workers/trending_projects_worker.rb b/app/workers/trending_projects_worker.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..df4c4a6628b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/workers/trending_projects_worker.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+class TrendingProjectsWorker
+  include Sidekiq::Worker
+
+  sidekiq_options queue: :trending_projects
+
+  def perform
+    Rails.logger.info('Refreshing trending projects')
+
+    TrendingProject.refresh!
+  end
+end
diff --git a/config/initializers/1_settings.rb b/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
index c5ed2162c92..efe0ac9c965 100644
--- a/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
@@ -304,6 +304,10 @@ Settings.cron_jobs['prune_old_events_worker'] ||= Settingslogic.new({})
 Settings.cron_jobs['prune_old_events_worker']['cron'] ||= '* */6 * * *'
 Settings.cron_jobs['prune_old_events_worker']['job_class'] = 'PruneOldEventsWorker'
 
+Settings.cron_jobs['trending_projects_worker'] ||= Settingslogic.new({})
+Settings.cron_jobs['trending_projects_worker']['cron'] = '0 1 * * *'
+Settings.cron_jobs['trending_projects_worker']['job_class'] = 'TrendingProjectsWorker'
+
 #
 # GitLab Shell
 #
diff --git a/db/migrate/20161007133303_precalculate_trending_projects.rb b/db/migrate/20161007133303_precalculate_trending_projects.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b324cd94268
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20161007133303_precalculate_trending_projects.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# See http://doc.gitlab.com/ce/development/migration_style_guide.html
+# for more information on how to write migrations for GitLab.
+
+class PrecalculateTrendingProjects < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  include Gitlab::Database::MigrationHelpers
+
+  DOWNTIME = false
+
+  def up
+    create_table :trending_projects do |t|
+      t.references :project, index: true, foreign_key: { on_delete: :cascade }, null: false
+    end
+
+    timestamp = connection.quote(1.month.ago)
+
+    # We're hardcoding the visibility level (public) here so that if it ever
+    # changes this query doesn't suddenly use the new value (which may break
+    # later migrations).
+    visibility = 20
+
+    execute <<-EOF.strip_heredoc
+      INSERT INTO trending_projects (project_id)
+      SELECT project_id
+      FROM notes
+      INNER JOIN projects ON projects.id = notes.project_id
+      WHERE notes.created_at >= #{timestamp}
+      AND notes.system IS FALSE
+      AND projects.visibility_level = #{visibility}
+      GROUP BY project_id
+      ORDER BY count(*) DESC
+      LIMIT 100;
+    EOF
+  end
+
+  def down
+    drop_table :trending_projects
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index 56da70b3c02..c5ddf9eee32 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #
 # It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
 
-ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20160926145521) do
+ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20161007133303) do
 
   # These are extensions that must be enabled in order to support this database
   enable_extension "plpgsql"
@@ -1070,6 +1070,12 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20160926145521) do
   add_index "todos", ["target_type", "target_id"], name: "index_todos_on_target_type_and_target_id", using: :btree
   add_index "todos", ["user_id"], name: "index_todos_on_user_id", using: :btree
 
+  create_table "trending_projects", force: :cascade do |t|
+    t.integer "project_id", null: false
+  end
+
+  add_index "trending_projects", ["project_id"], name: "index_trending_projects_on_project_id", using: :btree
+
   create_table "u2f_registrations", force: :cascade do |t|
     t.text     "certificate"
     t.string   "key_handle"
@@ -1212,5 +1218,6 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20160926145521) do
   add_foreign_key "personal_access_tokens", "users"
   add_foreign_key "protected_branch_merge_access_levels", "protected_branches"
   add_foreign_key "protected_branch_push_access_levels", "protected_branches"
+  add_foreign_key "trending_projects", "projects", on_delete: :cascade
   add_foreign_key "u2f_registrations", "users"
 end
diff --git a/spec/finders/trending_projects_finder_spec.rb b/spec/finders/trending_projects_finder_spec.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index cfe15b9defa..00000000000
--- a/spec/finders/trending_projects_finder_spec.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,48 +0,0 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
-
-describe TrendingProjectsFinder do
-  let(:user) { create(:user) }
-  let(:public_project1) { create(:empty_project, :public) }
-  let(:public_project2) { create(:empty_project, :public) }
-  let(:private_project) { create(:empty_project, :private) }
-  let(:internal_project) { create(:empty_project, :internal) }
-
-  before do
-    3.times do
-      create(:note_on_commit, project: public_project1)
-    end
-
-    2.times do
-      create(:note_on_commit, project: public_project2, created_at: 5.weeks.ago)
-    end
-
-    create(:note_on_commit, project: private_project)
-    create(:note_on_commit, project: internal_project)
-  end
-
-  describe '#execute', caching: true do
-    context 'without an explicit time range' do
-      it 'returns public trending projects' do
-        projects = described_class.new.execute
-
-        expect(projects).to eq([public_project1])
-      end
-    end
-
-    context 'with an explicit time range' do
-      it 'returns public trending projects' do
-        projects = described_class.new.execute(2)
-
-        expect(projects).to eq([public_project1, public_project2])
-      end
-    end
-
-    it 'caches the list of projects' do
-      projects = described_class.new
-
-      expect(Project).to receive(:trending).once
-
-      2.times { projects.execute }
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/spec/models/project_spec.rb b/spec/models/project_spec.rb
index 8aadfcb439b..dae546a0cdc 100644
--- a/spec/models/project_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/project_spec.rb
@@ -800,32 +800,14 @@ describe Project, models: true do
       end
 
       create(:note_on_commit, project: project2)
+
+      TrendingProject.refresh!
     end
 
-    describe 'without an explicit start date' do
-      subject { described_class.trending.to_a }
+    subject { described_class.trending.to_a }
 
-      it 'sorts Projects by the amount of notes in descending order' do
-        expect(subject).to eq([project1, project2])
-      end
-    end
-
-    describe 'with an explicit start date' do
-      let(:date) { 2.months.ago }
-
-      subject { described_class.trending(date).to_a }
-
-      before do
-        2.times do
-          # Little fix for special issue related to Fractional Seconds support for MySQL.
-          # See: https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/14359/files
-          create(:note_on_commit, project: project2, created_at: date + 1)
-        end
-      end
-
-      it 'sorts Projects by the amount of notes in descending order' do
-        expect(subject).to eq([project2, project1])
-      end
+    it 'sorts projects by the amount of notes in descending order' do
+      expect(subject).to eq([project1, project2])
     end
 
     it 'does not take system notes into account' do
diff --git a/spec/models/trending_project_spec.rb b/spec/models/trending_project_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cc28c6d4004
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/models/trending_project_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+describe TrendingProject do
+  let(:user) { create(:user) }
+  let(:public_project1) { create(:empty_project, :public) }
+  let(:public_project2) { create(:empty_project, :public) }
+  let(:public_project3) { create(:empty_project, :public) }
+  let(:private_project) { create(:empty_project, :private) }
+  let(:internal_project) { create(:empty_project, :internal) }
+
+  before do
+    3.times do
+      create(:note_on_commit, project: public_project1)
+    end
+
+    2.times do
+      create(:note_on_commit, project: public_project2)
+    end
+
+    create(:note_on_commit, project: public_project3, created_at: 5.weeks.ago)
+    create(:note_on_commit, project: private_project)
+    create(:note_on_commit, project: internal_project)
+  end
+
+  describe '.refresh!' do
+    before do
+      described_class.refresh!
+    end
+
+    it 'populates the trending projects table' do
+      expect(described_class.count).to eq(2)
+    end
+
+    it 'removes existing rows before populating the table' do
+      described_class.refresh!
+
+      expect(described_class.count).to eq(2)
+    end
+
+    it 'stores the project IDs for every trending project' do
+      rows = described_class.order(id: :asc).all
+
+      expect(rows[0].project_id).to eq(public_project1.id)
+      expect(rows[1].project_id).to eq(public_project2.id)
+    end
+
+    it 'does not store projects that fall out of the trending time range' do
+      expect(described_class.where(project_id: public_project3).any?).to eq(false)
+    end
+
+    it 'stores only public projects' do
+      expect(described_class.where(project_id: [public_project1.id, public_project2.id]).count).to eq(2)
+      expect(described_class.where(project_id: [private_project.id, internal_project.id]).count).to eq(0)
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/workers/trending_projects_worker_spec.rb b/spec/workers/trending_projects_worker_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c3c6fdcf2d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/workers/trending_projects_worker_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+describe TrendingProjectsWorker do
+  describe '#perform' do
+    it 'refreshes the trending projects' do
+      expect(TrendingProject).to receive(:refresh!)
+
+      described_class.new.perform
+    end
+  end
+end