Some of the memes born in 2020 pointed out how easy we have it today. One of them spoke of Sir Isaac Newton – you know, the one with the apple – who invented differential and integral calculus and made important discoveries in the fields of optics and universal gravitation while on lockdown at home during the Great Plague. Another pointed out that even just a few decades ago, we would’ve had to spend our lockdowns with little more than broadcast TV and feature phones instead of the countless wonders of high-speed internet.
Last year was atypical from the apps’ point of view. The events of the year have shifted our preferences and needs toward app categories that wouldn’t’ve shown up in the top lists in a normal year.Â
There are apps, in turn, that don’t show up in these top lists. One of them is the Betway app, only available in certain countries, which often slips under the radar. And this is a pity, honestly, because it not only provides its football-loving fans with the latest odds and predictions about upcoming matches and events but it also has all the most important sports news under its roof through Betway Insider.
So, without further ado, let’s see the world’s best-performing apps in 2020 according to mobile intelligence specialist Apptopia.
Music and audio
Music makes everything better – even the endless hours spent working from your home office with your headphones to keep you company. Music streaming apps have seen a great year in 2020, finding their way to the phones of millions throughout the year.
As you might expect, the most-downloaded music app of 2020 was Spotify (211 million) followed by YouTube Music (138 million). The music discovery app Shazam followed closely with 77 million downloads in 2020. SoundCloud, the podcast and music sharing service, came in fourth (57 million). And last but not least, the karaoke and music video recording app StarMaker was fifth with 53 million downloads.
Education
With schools closing and people having a lot of extra time at their hands, education moved into cyberspace.
This certainly shows when we look at app downloads: Google Classroom became the top downloaded app in this category in 2020 with more than 128 million. Duolingo, the language-learning app, came in second with 61 million downloads, followed by Photomath (48 million), Brainly (42 million), and language-learning app Cake (36 million).
Social networking
With meeting in person out of the question in many areas, social networking became the new norm for many. And it shows. Social networking apps have seen a massive hike in their downloads, with the biggest being TikTok (850 million) followed by Facebook (540 million), Instagram (503 million), Snapchat (281 million), and Pinterest (179 million).
Communication
Keeping in touch over long distances is certainly easier in the age of smartphones – and it has become vital for many, especially for work. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that communication and instant messaging apps were all the rage in 2020.
WhatsApp (Check out the hidden features on whatsapp) has seen its user base grow by over 600 million last year, followed by the video conferencing tool Zoom (477 million). Facebook’s own Messenger has found its way to more than 400 million new smartphone users, followed by the privacy-first messaging service Telegram that has seen its downloads grow to 256 million in 2020. Finally, Google’s own video conferencing service Meet has become the fifth-most-downloaded communication app in 2020 with 254 million downloads.
Video streaming and media
When people can’t go to the cinema, it can come to them through video streaming. Streaming has grown fast in the last few years but received an unexpected boost last year.
Unsurprisingly, Netflix has become the most-downloaded streaming app of 2020 with more than 220 million downloads, followed by YouTube (170 million), and Amazon Prime Video (130 million). In late 2019, newcomer Disney+ took the US and Canada by storm, then expanded to several countries around the world in 2020, amassing more than 100 million downloads in the process. Finally, MX Player – a media player software with hardware acceleration and extra features – became the fifth-most-downloaded media app of 2020 with more than 82 million downloads.
Games
Games, of course, were the pastime of choice for millions of people around the world. They provided them with distraction, escapism, and often social interaction.
Among them, the most downloaded app of 2020 was Among Us!, a surprise smash hit that was originally launched in 2018. Subway Surfers, a classic endless runner that’s been around for almost a decade, came in second with 227 million downloads, followed by Garena Free Fire (218 million), PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (175 million), and match-3 classic Gardenscapes with 171 million downloads in 2020.
Overall
The most downloaded app of 2020 was TikTok with 850 million downloads, followed by WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Zoom. TikTok also became the highest-grossing app of 2020 with revenues of $540 million throughout the year.
When it comes to revenues, dating service Tinder also did great with revenues of $513 million last year, proving that finding a soulmate is pretty high on people’s list of priorities.YouTube came in third with revenues of $478 million, followed by Disney+ ($314 million), and Tencent Video ($300 million).
