TikTok Rules The World In 2021, Instagram And Facebook Bye!

JAKARTA - This year, various mobile applications, both those owned by social networks and movie streaming platforms, continue to compete for the top rankings, such as TikTok for example.

Because the pandemic is not over yet, high access to applications is used for shopping, entertainment needs, communication and working from home. Many of them also spend their free time using movie streaming services such as Netflix.

Instagram users also seem to be growing, and stay connected via Zoom and Facebook. However, TikTok has established itself as the most popular app of the year.

App analytics company Apptopia named TikTok as the most popular app in 2021. This data is taken from the list of the most downloaded apps in 2021, and video sharing apps took the top spot among global users.

Launching CNET, Friday, December 31, Apptopia collects data from mobile app stores to check which categories are growing the most and which brands are getting the highest number of downloads.

Analyzing information from Google Play and the iOS App Store, the company determined the top 10 mobile apps in the United States (US) and the world. ByteDance's TikTok sits in first place on both country charts.

According to Apptopia's global listing, TikTok had 656 million downloads in 2021. Followed by Instagram 545 million, Facebook 416 million, WhatsApp 395 million, Telegram 329 million and Snapchat 327 million.

While Zoom achieved 300 million downloads, Messenger 268 million, CapCut 255 million and Spotify 203 million. It's noted that ByteDance is also the parent company for CapCut, it's a free video editing app that allows users to create and edit clips, which can then be exported to TikTok.

In the US, TikTok's 94 million downloads outperformed Instagram's 64 million. But the other top 10 countries include Snapchat 56 million, Cash App 56 million, Zoom 52 million, Messenger 51 million, Facebook 47.3 million, WhatsApp 47.2 million, YouTube 47 million and HBO Max 45 million. Domestically, HBO Max beat its TV streaming competitor and shifted Netflix to second place.

When compared to Apptopia's 2020 findings, TikTok still ranks number one but experienced higher download volumes last year globally. But in 2021, video app downloads in the US increased by 6 million.

Previously reported, TikTok is also claimed to be the third largest social network in the world, just behind Facebook and Instagram by 2022 based on data from Insider Intelligence.

The company, formerly known as eMarketer, uses TikTok's global application installation base. They predict that TikTok will reach 755 million monthly users by 2022, after seeing 59.8 percent growth in 2020, followed by 40.8 percent growth in 2021.

Meanwhile, Facebook, on its latest revenue report, reported 2.91 billion monthly active users after seeing a 6 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth. Insider Intelligence predicts Facebook will reach 2.1 billion monthly users by 2022.