Back in the Billions - The Highest Earning Apps in December
This is a single insight from This Week in Apps - TikTok Ban?. Check out the full article for more insights.
It's 2025, which means we have data to size up December - arguably the best month for many different types of apps and games. And a big month it was!
The increase was felt across the board. Every app in our top 10 list saw more revenue in December.
After ranking all apps by their net revenue (what they keep after store fees) it was TikTok that took the crown. The app might get banned in the US next week, but that hasn't stopped the short-video platform from growing to a whopping $336M of net revenue.
That's the most TikTok has ever earned in a single month. How ironic...
YouTube came in second with $136m of estimated net revenue in December. When rounding, that total looks exactly like November's but really it's a few dollars higher. But but, YouTube is the only app that didn't grow by a large amount. Subscription increases are probably coming.
Disney+, Tinder, and Max round out the top 5 highest earners in December - the same set we saw last month, but with about $60M more in their bottom lines.
The only app that wasn't here last month is CapCut, TikTok's video editor. CapCut had a very strong December, which it ended with an estimated $59M of net revenue from the App Store and Google Play - but really, mostly from the App Store.
CapCut's fate is tied to TikTok's and may get banned next week.
Our intelligence shows that together, the top 10 highest earning apps in the world brought in $1.1B of net revenue in December. A double-digit increase over November and the highest month of revenue ever.
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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.