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 following the series for the last few months you know what that is - the highest-earning apps in the world crossed $1B in net revenue for the first time in October, according to our App Intelligence.

That's a pretty big deal and marks a big milestone for a journey that sped up considerably this year.

Okay, and now to the actual highest-earners, ranked by revenue using our revenue estimates:

TikTok was the highest-earning app in the world in October. Not only did TikTok retain its spot (very much expected), but it also grew its revenue by $17M to end October with $269M in net revenue, according to our estimates. Wow!

YouTube, Disney+, Tinder, and Max round out the top 5 and I'm skipping analyzing this group because they were in the exact same position in September - no fun. But! Revenue for all four grew nicely in October. We estimate that the group's revenue rose by $39M in October. Add that to TikTok's $17M, and you have quite a bit of new revenue.

This set has been pretty unchanged in recent months, but I expect Disney+ to drift out over the coming months as it chose to feud with Apple and not allow new subscriptions via the App Store. We can already see the result of that on the Top Grossing chart in the US.

But there's more!

CapCut made the cut in October and didn't just inch its way up our list but rather skipped ahead right into 6th place with $57M. TikTok's video editor is growing at an amazing rate and is now responsible for more than 40% of the revenue in its category.

Our App Intelligence shows that together, net revenue of the top 10 highest-earning apps in the world rose 6% to $1B in October. Net means after fees have been deducted. This is the first time the total has crossed a billion.