How would I create a blog that each article has its own topic and then people are able to filter by topic?
You would need to add a Multi-reference field to the blog collection list, and use Finsweet's CMS filter to connect it
The multi-reference will allow you to reference another collection list, i.e. the topics, so you'll need a collection list called topics and you'll add them all there
I have never set this up but it looks like Finsweet has a solution https://finsweet.com/attributes/resources/searchable-cms-using-finsweet-attributes
FS is great because it has a debugging tool you can use to find any mistakes you may have made in the setup