Google’s global Google Play “Best of 2016” announcement, published December 1, 2016, ranked five entries in each entertainment category. Pokémon GO led the trending-game list, Game of Thrones led television, and “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots led streamed songs. Google published positions and names, but no audience totals or detailed methodology, so these are Google Play rankings rather than a complete measure of everything people consumed worldwide that year.
What Google’s 2016 lists measured
The announcement covered global Google Play rankings for trending apps, trending games, streamed songs, movies, TV shows and books. “Trending” and “streamed” are Google’s category labels; they should not be treated as interchangeable measurements. The announcement gives no download counts, sales figures, viewing totals, listening totals or formula explaining how each list was calculated.
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Google described Game of Thrones as having kept The Walking Dead “away to once again claim the Iron Throne as the most popular TV show of 2016.” The statement was attributed to Kara Bailey, Google’s vice president of Strategy, Android & Google Play.
Top trending apps
| Rank | App |
|---|---|
| 1 | Face Changer 2 |
| 2 | Lumyer – Photo & Selfie Editor |
| 3 | Castbox – Podcast Radio Music |
| 4 | Emoji Keyboard Pro |
| 5 | MSQRD |
These are the five apps Google identified as its top trending apps globally for 2016. The announcement does not provide a numerical trend score or explain whether the ranking combined factors such as downloads, user growth or engagement.
#1 Best Overall
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards. Good for use on the US Google Play Store only. Terms apply - see below.
- Google Play gift codes can be used on the Google Play Store, the official app store for Android, to purchase apps, games, and more.
- To redeem, enter code in the Play Store app or play.google.com.
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Top trending games
| Rank | Game |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pokémon GO |
| 2 | Clash Royale |
| 3 | Traffic Rider |
| 4 | slither.io |
| 5 | Dream League Soccer |
Pokémon GO occupied the top position on the trending-games list. The ranking identifies order only; it does not state how far ahead any game was or provide a worldwide player total.
Top streamed songs
| Rank | Song | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Stressed Out” | Twenty One Pilots |
| 2 | “Sorry” | Justin Bieber |
| 3 | “One Dance (feat. WizKid & Kyla)” | Drake |
| 4 | “Don’t Let Me Down (feat. Daya)” | The Chainsmokers |
| 5 | “Me, Myself & I” | G-Eazy |
“Stressed Out” was Google’s number-one streamed song in the announcement. No stream counts, geographic breakdown or service-specific methodology accompanies the positions.
Rank #2
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards. Good for use on the US Google Play Store only. Terms apply - see below.
- Google Play gift codes can be used on the Google Play Store, the official app store for Android, to purchase apps, games, and more.
- To redeem, enter code in the Play Store app or play.google.com.
- Endless games to explore: Find and play old and new favorites – from mind-bending puzzles to epic quests and more.
- Just the app you’re looking for: Millions of apps means millions of ways to get things done, learn something new, and maybe even meet someone special.
Top movies
| Rank | Movie |
|---|---|
| 1 | Deadpool |
| 2 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens |
| 3 | Zootopia |
| 4 | Captain America: Civil War |
| 5 | Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice |
Deadpool ranked first among the listed movies, ahead of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Zootopia. Google did not say whether this ordering represented rentals, purchases, views or another Play-specific signal.
Top TV shows
| Rank | Show |
|---|---|
| 1 | Game of Thrones |
| 2 | The Walking Dead |
| 3 | The Big Bang Theory |
| 4 | Mr. Robot |
| 5 | The Flash |
Game of Thrones was the top TV entry, with The Walking Dead second. The list is a Google Play ranking and does not establish total television audiences across broadcast, cable and other streaming services.
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- No returns and no refunds on gift cards. Good for use on the US Google Play Store only. Terms apply - see below.
- Google Play gift codes can be used on the Google Play Store, the official app store for Android, to purchase apps, games, and more.
- To redeem, enter code in the Play Store app or play.google.com.
- Endless games to explore: Find and play old and new favorites – from mind-bending puzzles to epic quests and more.
- Just the app you’re looking for: Millions of apps means millions of ways to get things done, learn something new, and maybe even meet someone special.
Top books
| Rank | Book | Author or credited creators |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe | Cullen Bunn |
| 2 | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two | J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne |
| 3 | The Girl on the Train: A Novel | Paula Hawkins |
| 4 | The Art of War | Tzu Sun |
| 5 | Me Before You: A Novel | Jojo Moyes |
Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe took the first book position, while Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two ranked second. The announcement does not state whether the book order reflects purchases, downloads, reading activity or another Google Play Books measure.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to interpret the rankings
- They are platform lists: the scope is Google Play’s global year-end announcement, not every market or service.
- They show rank, not scale: Google supplied positions one through five but no comparable numerical totals.
- Categories use different labels: apps and games are called “trending,” while songs are called “streamed”; movies, TV and books are presented as ranked lists without a stated common metric.
- Cross-category comparisons are not meaningful: a number-one game cannot be said to be more popular than a number-one song from these tables alone.
The clearest headline results are therefore category-specific: Pokémon GO for trending games, “Stressed Out” for streamed songs, Game of Thrones for TV, and Deadpool for movies. The book list’s first entry, Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, gives the same character a separate number-one placement in literature, but that does not merge the movie and book metrics.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards. Good for use on the US Google Play Store only. Terms apply - see below.
- Google Play gift codes can be used on the Google Play Store, the official app store for Android, to purchase apps, games, and more.
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- Easy to use: With a Google Play gift code, you never have to worry about expiration dates or fees.
- Endless games to explore: Find and play old and new favorites – from mind-bending puzzles to epic quests and more.
Rank #4
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards. Good for use on the US Google Play Store only. Terms apply - see below.
- Google Play gift codes can be used on the Google Play Store, the official app store for Android, to purchase apps, games, and more.
- To redeem, enter code in the Play Store app or play.google.com.
- Endless games to explore: Find and play old and new favorites – from mind-bending puzzles to epic quests and more.
- Just the app you’re looking for: Millions of apps means millions of ways to get things done, learn something new, and maybe even meet someone special.
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