Apple Says New Year's Day Was the Biggest Day Ever on the App Store

Apple has announced that the App Store capped a record breaking holiday season with its busiest single day ever on New Year's day.

In 2016 alone, developers earned over $20 billion, up over 40 percent from 2015. Since the App Store launched in 2008, developers have earned over $60 billion, creating amazing app experiences for App Store customers across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Mac. Those efforts helped kick off 2017 with a remarkable start, making New Year’s Day the highest single day ever for the App Store with nearly $240 million in purchases.

“2016 was a record-shattering year for the App Store, generating $20 billion for developers, and 2017 is off to a great start with January 1 as the single biggest day ever on the App Store,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “We want to thank our entire developer community for the many innovative apps they have created — which together with our products — help to truly enrich people’s lives.”

Apple also revealed that purchases from the App Store topped $3 billion in December. In the same month, Nintendo’s Super Mario Run made history with more than 40 million downloads in just four days after its release, and was the most downloaded app globally on Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Super Mario Run is also among last year’s top 10 most downloaded apps worldwide, with Pokémon Go taking the top spot. Pokémon Go, a beloved game from Niantic, quickly became a cultural phenomenon in mid-2016. Prisma, Reigns, Procreate, Lumino City, Sweat With Kayla and djay Pro, from some of Apple's independent developers, were among the most successful apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch and Mac, respectively. The App Store offers 2.2 million apps in total, up over 20 percent from last year.



The App Store’s top-grossing markets include the US, China, Japan and the UK, with China experiencing record year-over-year growth at an incredible 90 percent. Apps for Earth and Games for (RED) helped raise over $17 million in total for World Wildlife Fund and RED.




There are now over 21,000 iMessage apps and 20,000 apps with subscription services across all app categories. Netflix, HBO Now, Line, Tinder and MLB.com At Bat were among last year’s most popular. iPhone and iPad customers grew the App Store’s subscription billings significantly in 2016 to $2.7 billion, up 74 percent from 2015.



Apple has provided a more comprehensive list of the top apps and games in 2016. Click here for more details.