TikTok, the app that has turned short-form mobile videos into viral sensations, has taken the top spot globally for most downloads in the first quarter of 2022.
TikTok has jumped ahead of Instagram as the world’s fastest-growing social media app, with over 175 million downloads since the start of the year, according to the Q1 2022 Store Intelligence Data Digest released by Sensor Tower.
In the report, Sensor Tower’s insights team noted that TikTok surpassed 3.5 billion all-time downloads in the first quarter of 2021. No app has had more downloads since 2018, according to the report.
The report cites estimated figures from the Apple App Store and Google Play compiled from January 1, 2022, through March 31, 2022. Data shows that worldwide app downloads reached 36.9 billion by the end of March, a 1.4% increase year over year. Of the downloads, 8.6 billion were downloaded via the App Store and 28.3 billion through Google Play.
Instagram finished second for quarter one with about 35 million worldwide downloads from the App Store and about 100 million from Google Play. “While Instagram’s installs were down 7 percent quarter-over-quarter, it was still the app’s second-best total since at least 2014,” the report said.
Two other Meta apps, Facebook and Whatsapp, took third and fourth place with 155 million and 125 million downloads, respectively. Twitter, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk just purchased for $44 billion this week, landed in the 16th spot with just under 50 million worldwide downloads since January 1.
In the United States, 19 million TikTok downloads were recorded in the first quarter, keeping it the app with the most U.S. downloads each quarter since the beginning of 2021. Zoom, the report said, was the most-downloaded app in the U.S. in the last quarter of 2020. YouTube, Facebook, HBO Max, and Instagram rounded out the top five for most U.S. downloads.
Garena Free Fire had just over 70 million downloads in the first quarter worldwide in the gaming app category. Also of note was the Wordle app, which exploded after receiving attention meant for the web-based game of the same name. Wordle had 13.5 million installs worldwide from the App Store — a big jump from the 32,000 downloads it had before 2022 — the report said. It was the top-ranking game in the U.S., with 9 million installs by March 31.
“Game installs showed signs of recovery after falling from the peak seen early in the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sensor Tower’s team reported. “The category had positive quarter-over-quarter growth each of the past three quarters, and downloads were up nearly 2 percent year-over-year.”
Non-gaming downloads, including utilities, entertainment, shopping, and photo and video, were up 1.8% worldwide year-over-year.
India, followed by the U.S., Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia were the top five countries by downloads.