A few days ago I polled my Twitter followers and asked how many apps and games they thought get more than 1,000,000 downloads per month on the App Store and Google Play.
The popular opinion was that fewer than 500 apps and games are in the 1M+ club.
That's actually incorrect. The real number is higher!
I used Explorer to find all the mobile apps and games that get at least 1 million downloads every month across the App Store and Google Play and that search resulted in 1,305 apps and games.
Yes!
Instagram and TikTok lead the way, of course, and if you're reading our Most Downloaded series, you know a handful of others, but let me shed some more light on those millionaires for you.
Most of those apps and games, 1,136 to be precise, reside on Google Play. The App Store has just 169 apps that cross the threshold. That's nearly a 10x difference. Given Android's international footprint, this isn't as surprising, but still very interesting to keep in mind as you develop -- don't ignore Android.
Games are where the downloads are. 52% of all apps in the list are games, and within games, Google Play wins again with 94% of games. If you're publishing a game, don't ignore Android.
You might be thinking, "but there are more apps and games on Google Play so that's why". Keep in mind, we're looking at apps and games getting more than a million downloads every month. More apps being available would just make rising to the top harder, so that's not it.
Downloads don't mean revenue. I'll be looking at that in the near future and there the results will be very different. Stay tuned.
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