problems with comments_number()

comments_number() echo’s the number of comments, while get_comments_number() returns the number of comments as a string, so what you are likely looking for is get_comments_number instead of comments_number, like 

echo '<ul>';
while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
    $query->the_post();

    $title = get_the_title();
    echo '<li>' . $title . get_comments_number() . '</li>';
}
echo '</ul>';

https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/get_comments_number

Related Posts:

  1. meta_query ‘compare’ => ‘IN’ not working
  2. Use the page slug in a WP_Query?
  3. Sorting: custom query with orderby meta_value_num THEN by title
  4. WP_Query and next_posts_link
  5. Using OR conditions in meta_query for query_posts argument
  6. Get posts by menu ID
  7. count posts from custom taxonomy terms by year
  8. replace the WP_Query class in the main query
  9. Woocommerce query by price range and custom meta key
  10. Get posts with condition on comment meta value
  11. WP_Query sort by comment meta data
  12. Move posts to top of WP_Query if in certain Taxonomy?
  13. WP_query ‘orderby=none’ Problem
  14. How can I create a WP_Query that returns posts where one meta_value
  15. ‘paged’ in wp_query doesn’t work
  16. Sorting meta_value as integer doesn’t work
  17. Display different number of posts from one category on the different pages
  18. How to display child posts in the parent category
  19. Get posts from the Main site to sub site – WordPress MultiSites Network
  20. Custom Field Query – Meta Value is Array
  21. How to count data records in wordpress which have same meta_value in wp_postmeta table?
  22. Order terms inside a select dropdown
  23. WP_Query for showing specific post by id
  24. Ordering by meta_value AND date NOT WORKING with wp_query
  25. Transient caching for wp query
  26. WP_Query orderby breaks when using AJAX?
  27. Query by custom dates in UNIX Time
  28. Custom WP Query from meta_value stored as serialised array
  29. Get List of all the Authors
  30. How to check if a post “does not have term” in conditional statement?
  31. Detect featured image among the attached images
  32. Pass arguments to WP_Query using “set” method
  33. WP_Query returns more results than expected
  34. Make WP_Query more efficient?
  35. Set order of returned items in the WP_Query() class/function
  36. unable to retrive parent page information
  37. Which method is faster to get a single post?
  38. Show Sticky Post at the top but do not show again in the loop?
  39. Site not getting correct featured image from my query
  40. Using WP_Query within an mu-plugin
  41. Use more than one query, but prevent duplicates – at scale!
  42. WP Query related posts by tags
  43. How to add posts, manually, to a wp_query?
  44. wp_reset_postdata() does not work as expected
  45. Search Query for multiple categories using ‘OR’ but having certain categories be ‘AND’
  46. WP_query with OR relation between args[‘s’] and arg[‘meta_query’]
  47. add_filter(‘query_vars’) not working in custom template
  48. Out Of memory issue on post per page parameter
  49. Avoid repeated post on page 2 when excluding one on page 1
  50. Stale $GLOBALS[‘post’] after custom WP_Query empty result set bothers my template, whose fault is this?
  51. How to count posts with specific arguments
  52. Why post__not_in is ignored?
  53. find posts that don’t have a custom taxonomy
  54. WP_Query and is_page_template() conditional
  55. Exclude recently updated post from custom WP_Query using multiple loops
  56. get_posts output always same post
  57. WordPress Custom Search Form Displaying Unexpected Results
  58. Stomping WP_Query in author archive to facilitate pagination with custom queries
  59. Limit number of posts in loop
  60. How do I get Woocommerce product variation name and variation description in a WP_Query?
  61. Slow Query On Search
  62. Loop posts based on permalink term
  63. Does putting queries within loops cause an issue on WordPress?
  64. How to get current page nearest parent id?
  65. How to create Page templates for showing Blog posts in different layouts?
  66. wp Query Posts to display in Nivo Slider
  67. How to get only ONE category of “Portfolio” posts to display on main page rather than ALL categories?
  68. Determining what post is displayed out of total posts found
  69. Strange behaviour of hierarchical taxonomy archive
  70. Is it normal that get_post() gets run 300 times and the content of those posts aren’t visible?
  71. WordPress Sub Category Archive, Show Extra Empty Page Number in Pagination
  72. SQL to join u3g_users & u3g_meta_value with repeating data
  73. Doing $wpdb->get_results returns NULL, doing the same query in my DB returns correct value
  74. SEARCH QUERY PLEASE HELP | call_user_func_array() expects parameter 1 to be a valid callback php
  75. How to get meta key list efficiently?
  76. Get posts having meta value between two numbers
  77. WP_Query how to add a thumbnail to the first post from the last 5 posts?
  78. How order by works?
  79. taxquery taxonomy get terms
  80. Separate by Category Post Type
  81. ACF: using two loops, the_field returns field content from another loop
  82. Using modified ‘meta_key’ to set ‘orderby’ in WP_Query?
  83. WP_Query don’t working with fixed post_id and term_taxonomy
  84. Combine WP_Query with array of custom data to single loop without breaking the pagination
  85. Query posts in current category but not attachment format
  86. WP_Query with Pagination and orderby meta_value_num showing duplicates
  87. Using orderby with 2 meta keys
  88. wp_query – Modify $query to include duplicate content
  89. Optimising specific Query with ACF meta objects
  90. Slow getting posts from category
  91. Query specific number of posts for each post type in specific order
  92. Avoiding page loop
  93. Query Users by post count, last 30 days and display each users post count according to post type
  94. how do I exclude child categories from a wp_query?
  95. How to create a loop inside WP_Query?
  96. how to show only catergory titles on a page in wordpress
  97. How can I get taxonomy term name using term slug & post ID using build in WordPress function or class?
  98. Why does wp_query only display the most recent post when using order ASC?
  99. new WP_Query with order args – no more distinction between categories
  100. How to make OR condition in WP_Query
error code: 523