The Top Mobile Apps and Games of January 2018: Tencent's QQ Speed Races Up the Revenue Charts

Tinder was the world's top grossing non-game mobile app in January 2018 across the App Store and Google Play, according to Sensor Tower's Store Intelligence chart data. Consumers spent more than $68 million in the IAC-owned dating app, which took the top spot from Netflix, the top earning non-game app for all of 2017.

Sony's Fate/Grand Order was the top grossing mobile game on the two platforms we track, ahead of Mixi's Monster Strike and Tencent's Honor of Kings. However, newcomer QQ Speed, also from Tencent, delivered a strong showing for its first month on the game revenue chart. Read on to discover which other apps and games made the rankings.

Top Non-Game Apps by Revenue and Downloads - January 2018

HBO NOW returned to the overall revenue top 10, having ranked at No. 11 in December 2017. YouTube, which exceeded $17 million in mobile user spending on YouTube Red subscription last month, also climbed one spot from 30 days prior.

Netflix was the top earning non-game app on Apple's store again in January, but ranked at No. 5 on Google Play. Five of the top 10 highest grossing iOS apps hailed from China: Kwai, Tencent Video, iQIYI, QQ, and Youku.

In terms of new app installs, Facebook-owned WhatsApp ranked No. 1 across all three charts. In fact, four of the top five apps on the combined, App Store, and Google Play charts were owned by Facebook, the others being Messenger, Instagram, and the core Facebook app itself.

Top Mobile Games by Revenue and Downloads - January 2018

On the mobile gaming revenue charts, Fate/Grand Order displaced Mixi's Japanese juggernaut Monster Strike from its overall No. 1 position. Meanwhile, Honor of Kings remained atop the iOS ranking and NCSOFT's Lineage M reached No. 1 on Google Play, propelled by its immense popularity in South Korea.

As mentioned above, Tencent's mobile racing title QQ Speed made an impressive debut on the revenue chart after launching in late December, ranking No. 5 overall and No. 3 on the App Store. The iOS chart saw another newcomer from Tencent in the form of MU Awakening, the publisher's latest massively multiplayer mobile RPG.

The other big story concerning last month's revenue charts involves MZ and its Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire, which reached the App Store top 10 for the first time since launching last June.

Driven by its seemingly unwavering popularity on Google Play, Kiloo's Subway Surfers reclaimed its overall No. 1 ranking in terms of new mobile game downloads for the month. Meanwhile, the top spot on Apple's store was secured by newcomer QQ Speed, the platform's No. 3 earning game last month.

Also noteworthy was the claiming of three overall top 10 slots by survival-focused "battle royale" shooters, led by NetEase's Rules of Survival and including Free Fire- Battlegrounds (Garena) and Knives Out (NetEase). All three of these titles have begun monetizing post-launch, but none reached the top 10 for revenue.

While we expect to see more games of this type reach the most downloaded rankings in the coming months, their current rate of revenue growth may keep them out of the very highest echelon of earning apps for the foreseeable future.