Hi Phillip,
This can be achieved in three different ways:
Suggested method (maximum flexibility, but requires a bit of coding knowledge): here I posted a sample code that retrieves the thumbnail and excerpt only for the first post, and then it just returns the regular output. You can use this example as a base for your custom list. Be aware that the filter will change in the future, since this feature is completely experimental on version 2.3.7 (it wasn’t even announced on the changelog, but it works).
Method 2 (slightly less flexible but still does the job with a little bit of work): the widget allows customization by enabling the Custom HTML markup feature. The post html field uses special tags called Content tags (see more at wp-admin > Settings > WordPress Popular Posts > FAQ, scroll down to the end of the page) to format the output.
Method 3: similarly to the widget counterpart, the wpp shortcode uses the special parameters wpp_start, wpp_end and post_html to let people customize the HTML output of the list (see more at wp-admin > Settings > WordPress Popular Posts > FAQ, scroll down to the end of the page).
Be aware that using any of the methods above will make the listing lose its default CSS styling – so you would also need to customize the CSS part on your own (for example, by adding your own CSS classes to the HTML output and then style the list to your liking).
I’m know that the above might be a bit complex/overwhelming for the regular non-geek user, so if you need any help please let me know.
