Happy 5th Birthday, Google Play!
Google Play is much more than an app store -- it is also the search giant's digital shop for games, music, videos, and books. While it is primarily designed for Android, purchases can be enjoyed on other platforms too. Quite frankly, Google Play Music, for instance, works brilliantly on desktop browsers for Windows, Mac, and Linux-based systems.
Today, Google Play is celebrating its 5th birthday! Yes, it was on March 6, 2012, that the Android-maker made the store available to the public. To mark the occasion, Google is sharing several all-time "Top Five" lists for various categories, such as albums, books, and games.
"In five years, we've grown to more than 1 billion active users in 190 countries. And with millions of apps, 40 million songs, 5 million books, and more movies than ever, there's so much to explore. Google Play has also become an important distribution platform for developers to build their global audience," says Sameer Samat, Vice President, Google Play.
Samat also says, "Whether you have a phone, tablet, Chromebook or Watch, your device can become anything and take you anywhere, with a world of things to watch, read, play and do. Google Play brings your devices to life by delivering great content to people all around the world. In fact, the Google Play Store and Android apps are now available on in more places than ever before including Chromebooks, Android Wear devices and Daydream, Google's Virtual Reality platform. And this is just the beginning."
Google shares the following "Top Five" lists below. Check them out and tell me your thoughts in the comments.
TOP INSTALLED GAMES
- Candy Crush Saga
- Subway Surfers
- Temple Run 2
- Despicable Me
- Clash of Clans
TOP INSTALLED APPS (Does not count pre-installed apps)
- Facebook Messenger
- Pandora Radio
- Snapchat
TOP SELLING SONGS
- Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud
- Lorde - Royals
- Taylor Swift - Blank Space
- Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk
- Pharrell Williams - Happy
TOP SELLING ALBUMS
- Adele - 25
- Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP2 (Deluxe)
- Taylor Swift - 1989
- Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late
- Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
TOP SELLING MOVIES
- The Interview
- Frozen
- Deadpool
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Guardians of the Galaxy
TOP SELLING BOOKS
- Fifty Shades of Grey, by E L James
- The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
- A Game of Thrones, by George RR Martin
- The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
- Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn
Image Credit: Sean Locke Photography / Shutterstock