Google shares list of top apps, games, music, movies and books on the Play Store in 2017

Google has announced the list of most popular applications, music, movies and books on the Play Store in India, as well as a global list. While the top applications in India are apps released in any year, the Global list considers only new applications for the list. Both top app lists are topped by an app called "Photo Editor - Beauty Camera & Photo Filters". The application has a one tap beautify function, a range of filters, as well as the ability to add virtual make up effects. There is a TV shows listing available in the global list as well, which is not surprisingly topped by HBO's Game of Thrones.

Image: Google

Baahubali: The Game was the most popular game on the Play Store in India, soundly beating international competition. The Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) title has been developed by Moonfrog Labs, and features gameplay similar to the wildly popular Clash of Clans. Indian authors dominated the local book list as well. The preference for local content was seen in the list of songs as well, with the top tracks for India also dominated by musicians from India.

On the global side, the What The Forecast?!! came in second place, an application that gets the job done even though the UI is a bit clunky. Super Mario Run was on the top of the list of the most popular game, which made it to only third place in India. The top streamed track internationally was  HUMBLE. by Kendrick Lamar. Disney's Moana topped the movies list internationally, and the movie proved to be the second most popular in India. The top book for 2017 on the Play Store was The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. There is a TV shows listing available in the global list, which is not surprisingly topped by HBO's Game of Thrones. There is no such category on the Indian list.

Coming in second place after the Photo Editor app was Messenger Lite, a watered down version of Facebook Messenger meant to be lightweight and less of a bandwidth hog. Although the application was available since 2016 in other markets, it only launched in India in July this year. The application has sure proven to be popular. PayTM Mall, which launched in February this year, also made it to the top five.

The most popular game in India was Baahubali: The Game. WWE seems to have a heavy local following as its puzzle RPG title managed to beat the global leader, Super Mario Run. Rounding off the list was Dr. Driving 2 and Pokémon Duel. We are frankly surprised that Mini Militia 2 or Ludo Star did not make it to the top 5.

Baahubali was on top of the most streamed songs list as well, with the drum heavy Saahore Baahubali by MM Keeravaani taking the top place. Two songs by Arijit Singh made it to the top 5, Ik Vaari Aa and Main Tera Boyfriend.

When it came to movies, Dear Zindagi topped the list. The movie list bucked the trend of Indian audiences preferring Indian content. Two superhero movies, and two animated movies took up the remaining four spots.

Memoirs by Karan Johar, Rishi Kapoor and Raghuram G Rajan all making it to the top 5 books. The top book in India was Karan Johar's An Unsuitable Boy.

On the global list, two video content delivery apps made it to the top 5, Boomerang and Topbuzz Video. Yarn, an app that delivers interactive microfiction came in fifth, showing just how popular chatbots have become.

Kendrick Lamar proved to be the most popular artist on Google Play, with two songs in the top 5 list of most streamed songs. DNA. came in at third while HUMBLE. topped the list.

Movies with strong female characters featured high on the list, including Moana, Rogue One and Wonder Woman. Disney properties dominated the list, with Moana, Rogue One, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Doctor Strange all making it to the top 5. The lone outlier was Wonder Woman, which performed better than the two Marvel movies, so that must be some consolation to DC fans.

Science fiction and fantasy shows dominated the global TV show list, which shows a definitive trend in terms of what kind of television content is consumed the most. The only exception was The Big Bang Theory, which is about a bunch of people who are likely to devour these science fiction and fantasy shows.

Finally, we have the top list of books worldwide.