Apple reveals 2017’s most popular apps, music, movies and more

Apple has unveiled its 2017 charts and trends, celebrating the most popular apps, music, movies, TV shows, books and podcasts across the App Store, Apple Music, iTunes, iBooks and Apple Podcasts.

Editors and curators from Apple Music, App Store and iTunes highlight great content from indie artists and developers from around the globe.  

On Apple Music, Ed Sheeran dominates the charts with album of the year for “÷,” and with “Shape of You” gaining top song honours. Taylor Swift’s album “reputation” has already shot up to #3 on the 2017 US top album charts, despite having only been available for a short period of time. Apple Music Up Next 2017 artists Khalid, Daniel Caesar and 6LACK all earned GRAMMY nominations as part of their success this year.

App Store editors identify four breakout trends in app culture for 2017: the introduction of AR (augmented reality) apps and games, the rise of real-time competitive gaming, apps focused on mental health and mindfulness and apps transforming storytelling and reading.

Editorial App and Game of the Year Selections

2017 iPhone App of the Year: Calm
2017 iPhone Game of the Year: Splitter Critters
2017 iPad App of the Year: Affinity Photo
2017 iPad Game of the Year: The Witness

App Charts

iPhone users running iOS 11 will view iPhone charts below; iPad users running iOS 11 will view iPad charts.

Top Apps Charts
Top Games Charts

The top movie of the year was “Moana,” followed by “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” iTunes is leading the charge toward 4K HDR content, with most of the top charting movies already available in 4K HDR as well as classics and holiday favourites like the Harry Potter series, “Home Alone,” “Office Christmas Party” and “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

Drama is the genre dominating the iTunes TV charts this year, with favourites like “Game of Thrones” and “Suits” topping the year. New series driving the charts this year were HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” NBC’s “This Is Us,” PBS’s “Victoria” and FX’s “The Americans.”

“TED Talks Daily” remains the most downloaded podcast of the year. Daily news has proven a popular genre, with new podcasts this year like “The Daily” from the New York Times and “Up First” from NPR charting in the most downloaded podcasts of the year. True crime continues to drive listenership with top shows like “A Murder On Orchard Street,” “Dirty John” and “S-Town.”

This year’s iBooks fiction charts were filled with titles adapted into TV shows including “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Big Little Lies,” as well as “feel-good” fiction such as “Before We Were Yours.” “Hillbilly Elegy” topped the nonfiction charts, leading a wave of titles on current events and politics.

Computer science was a huge area of interest in 2017, with the top three courses on iTunes U focusing on learning to code and developing apps with Swift. Popular courses this year covered the breadth of human curiosity, from the language of music to human emotions to personal finance to machine learning.