As is the annual trend, Google has released the list of the most popular apps, games, music, movies, TV shows and books globally on Google Play Store for 2017. And the list includes dedicated statistics of what trended the most among Indians.
Most popular apps 2017
Talking about India’s favorites first, the Photo Editor app was the most popular this year. This also suggests how the Indian audience is dominated by the selfie trend. In fact, even globally the photo editing app remains the most popular. At the time of writing the story, the app had between ten to fifty million installs. It is interesting to note, that in 2016 as well, it was a photo editing app that leaded the popular app list among Indians.
Second in the popular app list is the Messenger Lite app, which was launched in July this year in the country, which has between 50 million to 100 million installs in total. Third in line is another photo editing app, called Selfie Camera. Next among the most popular is ALTBalaji, which is a subscription-based Video-on-Demand app, followed by the Paytm Mall app.
Globally, weather forecasting app What The Forecast?!! became the second most popular app, followed by Boomerang, TopBuzz Video, and Yarn, which is chat fiction app.
Gaming apps 2017
Moving to the most popular gaming apps in India in 2017, leading the list is Baahubali: The Game, which is unsurprising considering the release of Baahubali 2 this year crushed many box office records. This is followed by WWE Champions Free Puzzle RPG, Super Mario Run, Dr Driving 2, and Pokémon Duel.
Super Mario Run did well globally too, by topping the list. Bubble Witch 3 Saga sits at the second position, Magic Tiles 3 on number three, CATS on the fourth, and Ballz being the fifth most popular app globally in 2017.
Movie apps 2017
The list of the most popular movies in India this year is quite similar to the trend in 2016, with just one Bollywood flick making it to the top five list. In 2017, Dear Zindagi led the top movies chart on Google Play, followed by animated film Moana, Wonder Woman, The Boss Baby, and Doctor Strange. We’re happy to point out how women-centric films have dominated the charts here.
Moana, Wonder Woman and Doctor Strange have also made it to the top five global list of popular movies in 2017. Also in the list are Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and this summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
Top books 2017
Moving to top books of 2017, An Unsuitable Boy topped the list, followed by New Media Wing’s India 2017, Rishi Kapoor’s Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s I Do What I Do, and Sadhguru aka Jaggi Vasudev’s Adiyogi: The Source of Yoga.
Surprising how the book did not make it to the popular books in India list, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson was the most popular globally, and rightly so. It by Stephen King saw a major popularity as well, followed by The Battlemage by Taran Matharu, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
Top movie 2017
Finally, as per Google Play, Indians most listened to the song Saahore Baahubali this year, followed by Ik Vaari Aa by Arijit Singh, Badshah’s Mercy, another by Arijit Singh, which is Main Tera Boyfriend, and the recent Cheez Badi by Neha Kakkar. Indians kept it desi in 2017. Whereas globally, HUMBLE by Kendrick Lamar was the most popular in 2017, then comes Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar’s another one, DNA., Mask Off by Future, and also Body Like A Back Road by Sam Hunt.
Top shows 2017
Additionally, while the category isn’t available for Indians, Google has also shared the most popular TV shows of 2017 on the Play Store globally, which feature Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty, The Walking Dead, The Big Bang Theory, and Doctor Who.