Can't Beat TikTok - The Highest Earning Apps in January

Ariel Ariel
Mar. 1

This is a single insight from This Week in Apps - AI, Again.. Check out the full article for more insights.


I ranked the highest-earning mobile apps in the world in January. After December's mega month I wasn't sure what to expect.

TikTok was the highest-earning app in the world in January, earning $196M of net revenue according to our estimates.

I can't really remember when TikTok wasn't the leader in our rankings, but what I do remember is that TikTok earned about a quarter of the revenue just a year or so ago.

YouTube was the second highest-earning app in January with an estimated net revenue of $110M. Similar to TikTok, YouTube's revenue was less than half of what it is now a year ago.

The same group we've seen dominate the top five didn't fail to surprise in January. Disney+, Tinder, and Max round out the top five highest-earning apps in the world.

Normally this is where I end the analysis because the bottom five are less exciting, but not this time!

Duolingo made it to #6 on our combined list with $45M of estimated net revenue. Although it isn't the first time we see the green owl on our charts it's the highest rank it's ever achieved.

Bumble came in 7th and LinkedIn at 8th. Both aren't foreign in this part of the chart but Audible and Crunchyroll, at 9th and 10th places kind of are.

Together, the top 10 highest-earning apps raked $748M of net revenue in January, according to our App Intelligence. Net means what these publishers get to keep after handing Apple and Google their fees.

If you're comparing this total to December's you'll notice it's lower by quite a few millions, and that's expected - every app dropped just a little bit.

App Intelligence for Everyone!

The insights in this report come right out of our App Intelligence platform, which offers access to download and revenue estimates, installed SDKs, and more! Learn more about the tools or schedule a demo with our team to get started.

Are you a Journalist? You can get access to our app and market intelligence for free through the Appfigures for Journalists program. Contact us for more details.

All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.


Related Resources

It Finally Happened! The Highest-Earning Apps in the World in October
Insights
It Finally Happened! The Highest-Earning Apps in the World in October

I'm going to start this in reverse because the thing we've been waiting to happen has finally happened. If you've been f...

A Few New Faces! The Most Downloaded Apps in the World in October
Insights
A Few New Faces! The Most Downloaded Apps in the World in October

October is behind us so we crunched the numbers and ranked the most downloaded mobile apps in the world. While I don't h...