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Summary
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AI Redefined the Charts: Generative AI apps, led by ChatGPT and Google Gemini, dominated downloads and reshaped mobile usage across categories.
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Monetization Took Priority: In 2025, non-game apps surpassed games in consumer spend as mobile entered a revenue-first era focused on ARPU.
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Disruption Still Happens: Short-form drama apps and niche leaders proved focused, mobile-first experiences can challenge category giants.
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Local & Niche Win: Regional leaders in food and travel, and passion-driven apps, showed winning locally is key to scaling globally.
What are the top apps in 2026? We’re now through most of the year, and the data is in: we know which apps dominated downloads and which claimed the most revenue. Time to dive into the key non-gaming categories like travel, music, entertainment, fitness, and food to see who came out on top.
Before we dig in, here are the top-most-downloaded apps globally in 2025, according to Business of Apps:
- ChatGPT
- TikTok
- Temu
- Google Gemini
- CapCut
- Block Blast
- Telegram
- Snapchat
- Threads
- Roblox
- WhatsApp Business
- Free Fire
- Spotify
- YouTube
- Amazon Prime Video
- Netflix
- Google Maps
The big story of 2025? Generative AI defined mobile. ChatGPT became the fastest app ever to reach 1 billion global downloads in July 2025, claiming the #1 spot globally with 770 million downloads for the year. Its rival Google Gemini grabbed 354 million downloads, marking AI assistants as the breakout category.
For the first time ever, according to Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile 2026 report, consumers spent more on non-game apps than games in 2025, fueled by strong revenue growth across generative AI, social media, video streaming, and productivity. Mobile entered what Sensor Tower calls a “monetization-first era.”
The top apps in most big categories seldom change, it’s really challenging to outgrow the giants like Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, or Netflix. But 2025 proved disruption is possible: ChatGPT dethroned TikTok in multiple markets, and short-form drama apps like DramaBox and ReelShort exploded onto the scene.
Hard to compete?
Absolutely.
The reality is that with 14 million apps on Google Play and the App Store as of 2026 and 100,000 new apps launching every month, it’s rare an upstart app is going to dominate a category overnight. It takes time, money, a great service, lots of luck, thousands of smart decisions, and ideally more than a splash of pixie dust. Even viral sensation TikTok took 2 years to hit the top charts in multiple countries. And Pokémon Go, perhaps the fastest-growing app of all time, took 5 years to hit $1 billion in annual revenue.
Recently we looked at the top mobile games.
Now let’s check out the biggest and most interesting apps in 5 key categories:
Top entertainment apps of 2026
The top entertainment apps in 2026 remain dominated by major streaming brands, but the landscape shifted dramatically. According to Business of Apps, Spotify led entertainment downloads globally with 215 million in 2025, but the real story is the explosive growth of short-form drama platforms.
| Top 10 entertainment apps | Global Downloads |
|---|---|
| 01. Spotify | 215 million |
| 02. DramaBox | 178 million |
| 03. ReelShort | 148 million |
| 04. Netflix | 147 million |
| 05. JioHotstar | 118 million |
| 06. Kuku TV | 121 million |
| 07. YouTube Kids | 115 million |
| 08. Amazon Prime Video | 105 million |
| 09. YouTube | 99 million |
| 10. DramaWave | 90 million |
None of the top entertainment apps are going to surprise you if you’re looking at the US market specifically. Essentially, they’re all fairly well-known streaming entertainment apps from major American or global brands. YouTube, Max (HBO), Disney+, Peacock, Hulu, and Paramount+ all maintain strong positions.
But globally? The story is different. Short-form drama apps – DramaBox, ReelShort, and DramaWave, absolutely exploded in 2025. These apps offer bite-sized TV episodes optimized for mobile viewing, and they’re disrupting traditional streaming.
Some of the newer competitors working hard to make it into the top apps in Entertainment include some big names that are undoubtedly already huge, think Amazon and Netflix, but are maybe taking a break on aggressive user acquisition right now. Or, they’ve maxed out their markets to an extent.
What’s super-interesting here is an emerging and very successful niche-focused market for entertainment apps in 2026:
- Crunchyroll bills itself as having the world’s largest collection of anime and continues growing
- Viki focuses on Korean and Chinese movies and dramas
- ViX is a big Spanish-language streaming brand
- The Zeus Network focuses on streaming media for the Caribbean audience
These niche players prove you don’t need to be Netflix to win, you need to own a passionate audience segment.
Top music apps of 2026
Look, we all know who the big players are: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora, iHeart.
But there’s also a large number of significant players who aren’t quite as big: TuneIn Radio, SoundCloud, and some that you might not expect, like BandLab, which is a creator app for music and beats. TIDAL continues to do well also, especially with audiophiles who care about sound quality.
| Top 10 music apps | Global Downloads |
|---|---|
| 01. Spotify | 215 million |
| 02. StarMaker | 76 million |
| 03. DDMusic | 73 million |
| 04. YouTube Music | 72 million |
| 05. Lark Player | 53 million |
| 06. Shazam | 51 million |
| 07. Soda Music | 48 million |
| 08. SoundCloud | 40 million |
| 09. JioSaavn | 34 million |
| 10. BandLab | 32 million |
Spotify dominated with 215 million downloads globally in 2025, way ahead of the competition. It’s always interesting to see how high Google’s (OK, Alphabet’s) YouTube Music ranks in Apple’s iOS mobile ecosystem, and how high Apple Music ranks in Google’s Android ecosystem. Cross-platform dominance is the name of the game for music streaming.
Note:
Apple Music doesn’t show up separately in iOS top lists because it’s preinstalled. Also, many purchases of Apple Music on iOS are hidden inside omnibus Apple subscription packages like Apple One, which offers music, news, storage, health and fitness features, and more for one set price.
| Top challenger music apps | What makes them interesting |
|---|---|
| AI music creation apps | AI Cover & Songs, Donna AI Song & Music Maker, Moises saw massive growth |
| MuseScore | Offers sheet music for musicians |
| Napster | The once-massive name is staging a comeback |
| LivePhish | An app about just 1 band (Phish) proving niche works |
| Deezer | Strong in European markets |
| Audiomack | Popular with hip-hop and emerging artists |
The AI music-making tools represent 2025’s biggest category shift. Music-making AI apps are making a huge push in 2026, as you can see from the data. Consumers are creating, remixing, and experimenting with music at unprecedented scale, powered by generative AI.
Top health & fitness apps for 2026
You wouldn’t be surprised by very many of the top health & fitness apps in 2026. Flo and Strava lead the pack. Fitbit is a Google company and essentially the Apple Watch of the Android world. MyFitnessPal, Peloton, Calm, and others are all, if not household names, nearly there.
| Top 10 health & fitness apps | Global Downloads |
|---|---|
| 01. Flo | 52 million |
| 02. Strava | 50 million |
| 03. Mi Fitness | 38 million |
| 04. Home Workout No Equipment | 26 million |
| 05. Sweatcoin | 24 million |
| 06. fitpro | 24 million |
| 07. Da Fit | 23 million |
| 08. Hiwatch Pro | 22 million |
| 09. HryFine | 21 million |
| 10. MyFitnessPal | 20 million |
Flo (period and pregnancy tracker) led with 52 million downloads globally. Strava, the social fitness tracking app, hit 50 million downloads, proving community features drive retention in fitness. According to Sensor Tower data, Strava was downloaded 3.4 million times globally in January 2025 alone, making it one of the most popular fitness apps by download velocity.
AllTrails is an interesting app here. It’s for a very niche segment, outdoor enthusiasts who like to hike, but it’s one of the undisputed leaders in its space. Niche focus can absolutely work at scale.
Apple Fitness+ probably should show up on this list, but all of its monetization happens via a subscription that is off the App Store… interestingly for Apple’s competition.
The other big sub-category in health & fitness apps, of course, is mental wellness. Calm and Headspace are the heavyweights in that sub-category.
| Top challenger apps in health & fitness | Category focus |
|---|---|
| BetterMe & JustFit | AI-powered personalized workout plans |
| Headspace | Mental wellness and meditation |
| Epocrates | Medical reference app for professionals |
| Ladder Strength Training | Weightlifting-focused programs |
| ShutEye & BetterSleep | Sleep improvement and tracking |
| Yoga-Go | Yoga and flexibility training |
| MacroFactor | Nutrition and macro tracking |
There are plenty of workout apps here for yoga and weightlifting, plus many for counting calories and improving your sleep habits. The trend toward specialization continues – generalist fitness apps compete with the giants, but specialized apps can carve out sustainable niches.
Top food & drink apps for 2026
I had to go with top downloads, not highest-grossing apps for the top food and drink apps of 2026. Most downloaded apps in the food & drink category are, I think, a pretty good proxy for the apps that are making the most money. They’re not perfect, because while McDonald’s is tops in downloads, the average DoorDash or Uber Eats delivery is likely to be higher cost.
But going with downloads seems like a better metric than revenue, because we’re not talking in-app purchases for food, unlike categories like games or streaming or health and fitness.
| Top 10 food & drink apps | Global Downloads |
|---|---|
| 01. McDonald’s | 89 million |
| 02. Blinkit | 82 million |
| 03. Zepto | 56 million |
| 04. Zomato | 46 million |
| 05. Uber Eats | 43 million |
| 06. bigbasket | 43 million |
| 07. Instamart | 43 million |
| 08. Swiggy | 38 million |
| 09. Domino’s Pizza | 38 million |
| 10. DoorDash | 27 million |
McDonald’s led global downloads with 89 million. But look at that list, six of the top ten are Indian rapid delivery apps (Blinkit, Zepto, Zomato, bigbasket, Instamart, Swiggy). This signals massive demand for quick commerce in India specifically.
For the US market, the picture is different:
According to Deliverect’s US Food Delivery report, DoorDash dominates with 67% US market share, followed by Uber Eats at 23%. The big three – McDonald’s, DoorDash, and Uber Eats – eat up the top spots.
What you’re seeing here are massive fast food brands and big food delivery companies, duking it out for food and drink supremacy in 2026 and beyond:
| US food & drink leaders | Market position |
|---|---|
| DoorDash | 67% US market share |
| McDonald’s | Download leader |
| Uber Eats | 23% US market share |
| Starbucks | QSR loyalty app leader |
| Taco Bell | Strong QSR presence |
| Domino’s | Pizza delivery leader |
| Chick-fil-A | High customer satisfaction |
| Wendy’s | QSR competitor |
| Crumbl | Cookie delivery specialist |
An interesting app on the list: Too Good To Go: End Food Waste. What does it do?
“In a world where 40% of food produced goes to waste annually, the Too Good To Go app is your ticket to unlocking affordable eats while helping the planet.”
That’s pretty cool. It shows consumers will adopt apps solving real problems beyond pure convenience.
Track food app performance with Singular
Top travel apps for 2026
As you might expect, there’s mostly big names at the top of the travel apps for 2026.
Again, to get the apps actually making the most money, I think you have to ignore the top-grossing list and go for the top downloads list. The reason is simple: no one buys a flight or books a hotel as an in-app purchase.
| Top 10 travel apps 2025 | Global Downloads |
|---|---|
| 01. Uber | 137 million |
| 02. Airbnb | 66 million |
| 03. Where is my Train | 63 million |
| 04. inDrive | 62 million |
| 05. Booking.com | 59 million |
| 06. Grab | 54 million |
| 07. Rapido | 53 million |
| 08. Bolt | 44 million |
| 09. Trip.com | 41 million |
| 10. Moovit | 27 million |
Uber led with 137 million downloads globally in 2025. Airbnb captured 66 million downloads as the dominant accommodation/rental platform. Regional players like Grab (Southeast Asia) and India-focused apps (Where is my Train, Rapido) demonstrate that travel apps must win locally before scaling globally.
Oddly, Uber is much bigger on iOS than Android globally, where it doesn’t even show up in the worldwide Android top 20 according to the data. Platform preference signals real behavioral differences. Meanwhile, Airbnb performs strongly on both, and both iOS and Android users are big American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta, and Southwest Airlines customers.
| US travel app leaders | Category |
|---|---|
| Uber | Rideshare leader |
| Airbnb | Vacation rental leader |
| Expedia | Travel booking aggregator |
| Google Translate | Essential travel utility |
| VRBO | Vacation rental competitor |
| Booking.com | Hotel booking platform |
| American Airlines | Major US carrier |
| Delta | Major US carrier |
| United Airlines | Major US carrier |
| Southwest Airlines | Budget carrier leader |
Challengers worth noting:
- Turo: Car rental sharing economy brand showing strong growth
- Mobile Passport Control: U.S. government’s digital identity app for faster customs
- Hotel chains: Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy maintaining strong loyalty program engagement through apps
As you’d expect, the travel list is dominated by major brands in hotel chains and booking services for hotels and airlines, with a sprinkling of transportation vendors and digital identity for travel.
Learn how Singular works for travel apps
Top apps: summary
Achieving a top spot out of the 14 million apps already on the two major global app stores and beating out the 100,000 new apps that show up every single month is a gargantuan task. So huge kudos to those companies, especially the challengers who aren’t from a multi-billion-dollar global tech company, who have managed it.
2026’s defining trends:
- AI ate everything: ChatGPT’s 770 million downloads and Google Gemini’s 354 million fundamentally reshaped the top charts. In July 2025, ChatGPT became the fastest app to reach 1 billion global downloads.
- Monetization over growth: Mobile entered what Sensor Tower calls a “revenue-first era” as mature apps focused on ARPU (average revenue per user) over pure user acquisition.
- Non-game apps surpassed games: For the first time ever, consumers spent more on non-game apps than games in 2025, fueled by strong revenue growth across generative AI, social media, video streaming, and productivity.
- Short-form drama exploded: DramaBox (178M downloads), ReelShort (148M), and DramaWave (90M) disrupted entertainment with mobile-first, bite-sized content.
- Quick commerce dominance in emerging markets: Rapid delivery apps in India proved that 10-minute delivery is becoming table stakes in competitive markets.
The one thing we know about mobile: the only constant is change.
Which means that top apps this year might not be top apps next year. And hope springs eternal for new entrants in all these categories.
Track what matters: measure your app’s real performance
Understanding which apps dominate the charts is one thing. Understanding what’s driving your app’s growth, or what’s holding it back, is another.
The apps that made it to the top in 2026 didn’t get there by guessing. They measured every channel, optimized every campaign, and knew exactly which UA dollars were working. Whether you’re competing with the giants or carving out a niche like LivePhish or Too Good To Go, you need accurate attribution and real-time insights to make smart decisions.
See how Singular helps mobile marketers measure what matters – you can start free here
Saadi Muslu
Saadi Muslu is the VP of Marketing at Singular and Extract, leading the evolution of marketing analytics and data infrastructure for the world’s top brands. A strategist at heart and storyteller by trade, she blends deep expertise in measurement, data orchestration, and AI-driven insights to help go-to-market teams accelerate growth. Over the past decade, her work has focused on uniting marketing, product, and data to deliver measurable business impact.
