Facebook and its derivative apps are no longer the most downloaded apps around the world. This position is now taken over by TikTok.
This is the latest finding collected by the Nikkei based on data from the Annie App. TikTok became the most downloaded app worldwide in 2020, up from fourth place in 2019.
Facebook Messenger, which in 2019 ranked first, dropped to number five. Facebook remained at number two, and Instagram rose one spot to number four.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp remains in third place despite being hit by controversy due to its latest privacy policy. Telegram, which is WhatsApp’s toughest competitor, actually climbed one spot to seventh place.
According to Nikkei and App Annie, TikTok’s rise to number one was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, where the ByteDance app was the most downloaded app in Europe, South America and the United States.
“The overall duration of watching TikTok in the US and UK is longer than YouTube and short videos will continue to attract attention,” said App Marketing Manager Annie Chuzen Kin, as quoted by Nikkei Asia on Tuesday (10/8/2021).
“In terms of content, music and comedy are becoming more popular,” he continued.
Despite successfully topping the global download list, TikTok still lost to Facebook in the Asian market outside of China. Unfortunately the Nikkei does not provide the number of downloads recorded by each app on this list.
TikTok’s growth in the global market is quite rapid, as the app was only launched by ByteDance internationally in 2017.
TikTok comes under the name Douyin in its native country, China. Douyin managed to maintain its position as the most downloaded app in China, beating WeChat and QQ.
Based on other data collected by Sensor Tower, TikTok was also the most downloaded non -game app in the world in July 2021. This short video app was downloaded more than 63 million times during that period.
In the first half of 2021, TikTok was downloaded approximately 384.6 million times on Android and iOS. While looking impressive, this figure represents a 38% year -over -year drop from 619 million downloads in the first half of last year.
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APPS & GAMES
