Apple has revealed the top content we have enjoyed in its annual “Off The Charts” Best of 2017 list for Australia across movies, TV shows, music, books and the best apps of the year.
In terms of apps, 2017 has been a massive year with four breakout trends emerging.
It was the year that saw the introduction of augmented reality apps and games, the rise of real-time competitive gaming as well as apps focused on mental health and mindfulness and apps transforming entertainment.
APPS
New Tech & Innovation: AR
This year, millions of iPhone and iPad users were able to enjoy the ground-breaking technology known as AR (augmented reality)
– My Very Hungry Caterpillar
– IKEA Place
– Night Sky
– AR Zombie Gunship
– Insight Heart
– Player Piano 3D
– Mammoth Golf AR (Australian)
– Holo (Australian)
Games: Competitive Online Gaming
App Store became home to some of the most-played multiplayer games in the world.
– Hearthstone
– The Elder Scrolls: Legends
– Clash Royale
– Art of War: Red Tides
– Hearthstone
– Guns of Boom
– Star Wars: Force Arena
– Crash of Cars (Australian)
Culture & Entertainment: Stream Anytime, Anyplace
Browse it, choose it, want it, buy it. Stream it, watch it, pause, rewind it. 2017 has seen us accessing a world of video content at our finger tips, and not just from the comfort of our living rooms.
– Netflix
– SBS on Demand (Australian)
– AFL (Australian)
– Docplay (Australian)
– ABC Kids iview (Australian)
– NBA
Lifestyle: At Your Service
This has been the year that helpful, time-saving services have come into their own. Now anyone can have butler service at a tap of their device.
– Deliveroo
– Airtasker
– Uber
– Hipages (Australian)
– Glamazon (Australian)
– UberEats
Lifestyle: Mindfulness
From the high-school television drama 13 Reasons Why on Netflix, to music greats taking their own lives, mindfulness has been particularly front of mind for us this year.
– Lake
– Memorado
– Aura
– Headspace
– Smiling Mind (Australian)
– Bloom
App Store Editor Selects:
Besides the app charts below, our App Store Editors picked their favourite apps of the year:
2017 iPhone App of the Year: Calm
2017 iPhone Game of the Year: Splitter Critters
2017 iPad App of the Year: Affinity Photo
2017 iPad Game of the Year: The Witness
2017 Watch App of the Year: iTranslate Converse
2017 Watch Game of the Year: Micropolis
2017 Apple TV App of the Year: Tastemade
2017 Apple TV Game of the Year: Framed 2 (Australian)
2017 Mac App of the Year: Aurora HDR 2018
2017 Mac Game of the Year: The Witness
App Store Charts:
Top Free iPhone Apps:
- Messenger
2. Instagram
3. Snapchat
4. Bitmoji
5. Spotify Music
6. Facebook
7. YouTube
8. Uber
9. Google Maps
10. WhatsApp Messenger
Top Paid iPhone Apps:
- TripView – Sydney & Melbourne
2. The Wonder Weeks
3. WikiCamps Australia
4. 7 Minute Workout Challenge
5. Facetune
6. Enlight
7. Scanner for Me + OCR
8. Monash University FODMAP diet
9. iScanner – PDF Scanner App.
10. Full Fitness: Exercise Workout Trainer
Top Free iPhone Games:
- Super Mario Run
2. Snake VS Block
3. Word Cookies!
4. 8 Ball Pool™
5. Ballz
6. Subway Surfers
7. Episode – Choose Your Story
8. Paper.io
9. Color Switch
10. Candy Crush Saga
Top Paid iPhone Games:
- Heads Up!
2. Plague Inc.
3. Minecraft
4. Bloons TD 5
5. Hitman Sniper
6. MONOPOLY Game
7. Monument Valley 2
8. True Skate
9. Geometry Dash
10. Agent A: A puzzle in disguise
Top Free iPad Apps:
- Netflix
2. YouTube
3. Messenger
4. Spotify Music
5. Facebook
6. Google Chrome
7. 9Now
8. Gmail
9. The Calculator
10. Skype
Top Paid iPad Apps:
- Book Creator for iPad
2. Procreate
3. Toca Hair Salon 3
4. Explain Everything™ Classic
5. Toca Life: Hospital
6. WikiCamps Australia
7. Notability
8. Toca Life: Stable
9. GoodReader – PDF Reader Annotator and File Manager
10. Green Screen by Do Ink
Top Free iPad Games:
- Super Mario Run
2. Paper.io
3. Word Cookies!
4. Snake VS Block
5. Subway Surfers
6. Roll the Ball® – slide puzzle
7. slither.io
8. Cooking Fever
9. Rolling Sky
10. Color Switch
Top Paid iPad Games:
- Minecraft
2. Geometry Dash
3. The Escapists
4. Terraria
5. Bloons TD 5 HD
6. Plague Inc.
7. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location
8. Five Nights at Freddy’s
9. True Skate
10. Scribblenauts Unlimited
MUSIC
It’s also been an interesting year in music with Ed Sheeran having the top two songs of the year. Ed Sheeran also took out the top album while one in four of the top 20 albums were movie soundtracks.
Taylor Swift’s new album Reputation, despite being released a few weeks ago, has raced to the No 3 spot.
Top Songs:
- Shape of You, Ed Sheeran
- Castle on the Hill, Ed Sheeran
- Despacito (Remix) [feat. Justin Bieber], Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee
- Rockabye (feat. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie), Clean Bandit
- Something Just Like This, The Chainsmokers & Coldplay
- I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker), ZAYN & Taylor Swift
- Galway Girl, Ed Sheeran
- Say You Won’t Let Go, James Arthur
- Starboy (feat. Daft Punk), The Weeknd
- 24K Magic, Bruno Mars
- Slow Hands, Niall Horan
- Fresh Eyes, Andy Grammer
- Thunder, Imagine Dragons
- Green Light, Lorde
- Closer (feat. Halsey), The Chainsmokers
- I Feel It Coming (feat. Daft Punk), The Weeknd
- CAN’T STOP THE FEELING! (Original Song From DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls), Justin Timberlake
- There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back, Shawn Mendes
- Stranger (feat. Elliphant), Peking Duk
- Issues, Julia Michaels
Top Albums:
- ÷, Ed Sheeran
- Trolls (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Various Artists
- reputation, Taylor Swift
- Starboy, The Weeknd
- 25, Adele
- 24K Magic, Bruno Mars
- DAMN., Kendrick Lamar
- Moana, Various Artists
- More Life, Drake
- x, Ed Sheeran
- Melodrama, Lorde
- Christmas (Deluxe Special Edition), Michael Bublé
- Harry Styles, Harry Styles
- Illuminate, Shawn Mendes
- Memories…Do Not Open, The Chainsmokers
- Sing, Various Artists
- So Fresh they: The Hits of Winter 2017, Various Artists
- 21, Adele
- Glory Days, Little Mix
- +, Ed Sheeran
MOVIES
On the movie front, kids’ movies were very popular while our love of superheroes continued to grow.
And many of the most popular movies of the year were based on bestselling books including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Hidden Figures, The Girl on the Train and Lion.
Top sellers:
- Moana (2016)
- Trolls
- Wonder Woman (2017)
- Sing
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- The Boss Baby
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- Despicable Me 3
- The Accountant (2016)
- The Girl on the Train
- Arrival (2016)
- Fifty Shades Darker
- Beauty and the Beast (2017)
- Doctor Strange (2016)
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Logan
- Hidden Figures
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Ballerina
TV SHOWS
The HBO mini-series Big Little Lies, based on the Australian bestseller, was a huge hit alongside book adaptions of The Handmaid’s Tale and Outlander.
And, of course, Game of Thrones was more popular than ever.
Top sellers:
- Game of Thrones
- Suits
- Big Little Lies
- Outlander
- The Walking Dead
- Keeping Up With the Kardashians
- Grey’s Anatomy
- Homeland
- The Handmaid’s Tale
- Vikings
- Nashville
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- PAW Patrol
- Westworld
- Girls
- The Big Bang Theory
- Pretty Little Liars
- Scandal
- Modern Family
- Veep
BOOKS
Australian author Lianne Moriarty dominated the fiction charts with four of her books.
In the non-fiction section, The Barefoot Investor was the standout title.
- Top sellers – Fiction:
- Big Little Lies/Liane Moriarty
- The Handmaid’s Tale/Margaret Atwood
- Darker/EL James
- Sycamore Row/John Grisham
- The Dry/Jane Harper
- The Girl Before/J.P. Delaney
- Origin/Dan Brown
- The Husband’s Secret/Liane Moriarty
- The Girl on the Train/Paula Hawkins
- Into the Water/Paula Hawkins
Top sellers – Non-fiction:
- The Barefoot Investor/Scott Pape
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck/Mark Manson
- Lion: A Long Way Home/Saroo Brierley
- When Breath Becomes Air/Paul Kalanithi
- The Clever Guts Diet/Michael Mosley
- Last King of the Cross/John Ibrahim
- In Order To Live/Yeonmi Park
- The CSIRO Low-Carb Diet/Grant Brinkworth, Dr. Pennie Taylor
- First, We Make the Beast Beautiful/Sarah Wilson
- Save Our Sleep/Tizzie Hall
Top sellers – Audiobooks:- The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need (Unabridged)/Scott Pape
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Book 1 (Unabridged)/J.K. Rowling
- The Power of Now (Unabridged)/Eckhart Tolle
- The Peter Rabbit Collection (Unabridged)/Beatrix Potter
- Awaken the Giant Within/Anthony Robbins
- Motivational vs Discipline: Real Talk by Ashy Bines, Book 2 (Unabridged)/Ashy Bines
- How to Win Friends and Influence People: A Condensation from the Book (Unabridged)/Dale Carnegie
- The Gruffalo (Unabridged)/Julia Donaldson
- Alice in Wonderland (Unabridged)/Lewis Carroll
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Book 2 (Unabridged)/J.K. Rowling
- Top sellers – Fiction:
