Apple reveals 2017’s best apps, music, movies, TV shows and books

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:

1. 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:

1. 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:

1. 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:

1. 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:

1. 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:

1. 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:

1. 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:

1. 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:

1. Shape of You, Ed Sheeran
2. Castle on the Hill, Ed Sheeran
3. Despacito (Remix) [feat. Justin Bieber], Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee
4. Rockabye (feat. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie), Clean Bandit
5. Something Just Like This, The Chainsmokers & Coldplay
6. I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker), ZAYN & Taylor Swift
7. Galway Girl, Ed Sheeran
8. Say You Won’t Let Go, James Arthur
9. Starboy (feat. Daft Punk), The Weeknd
10. 24K Magic, Bruno Mars
11. Slow Hands, Niall Horan
12. Fresh Eyes, Andy Grammer
13. Thunder, Imagine Dragons
14. Green Light, Lorde
15. Closer (feat. Halsey), The Chainsmokers
16. I Feel It Coming (feat. Daft Punk), The Weeknd
17. CAN’T STOP THE FEELING! (Original Song From DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls), Justin Timberlake
18. There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back, Shawn Mendes
19. Stranger (feat. Elliphant), Peking Duk
20. Issues, Julia Michaels

Top Albums:

1. ÷, Ed Sheeran
2. Trolls (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Various Artists
3. reputation, Taylor Swift
4. Starboy, The Weeknd
5. 25, Adele
6. 24K Magic, Bruno Mars
7. DAMN., Kendrick Lamar
8. Moana, Various Artists
9. More Life, Drake
10. x, Ed Sheeran
11. Melodrama, Lorde
12. Christmas (Deluxe Special Edition), Michael Bublé
13. Harry Styles, Harry Styles
14. Illuminate, Shawn Mendes
15. Memories…Do Not Open, The Chainsmokers
16. Sing, Various Artists
17. So Fresh they: The Hits of Winter 2017, Various Artists
18. 21, Adele
19. Glory Days, Little Mix
20. +, 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:

1. Moana (2016)
2. Trolls
3. Wonder Woman (2017)
4. Sing
5. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
6. The Boss Baby
7. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
8. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
9. Despicable Me 3
10. The Accountant (2016)
11. The Girl on the Train
12. Arrival (2016)
13. Fifty Shades Darker
14. Beauty and the Beast (2017)
15. Doctor Strange (2016)
16. Hacksaw Ridge
17. Logan
18. Hidden Figures
19. Spider-Man: Homecoming
20. 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:

1. Game of Thrones
2. Suits
3. Big Little Lies
4. Outlander
5. The Walking Dead
6. Keeping Up With the Kardashians
7. Grey’s Anatomy
8. Homeland
9. The Handmaid’s Tale
10. Vikings
11. Nashville
12. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
13. PAW Patrol
14. Westworld
15. Girls
16. The Big Bang Theory
17. Pretty Little Liars
18. Scandal
19. Modern Family
20. 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.

1. 1. Top sellers – Fiction:
      1. Big Little Lies/Liane Moriarty
      2. The Handmaid’s Tale/Margaret Atwood
      3. Darker/EL James
      4. Sycamore Row/John Grisham
      5. The Dry/Jane Harper
      6. The Girl Before/J.P. Delaney
      7. Origin/Dan Brown
      8. The Husband’s Secret/Liane Moriarty
      9. The Girl on the Train/Paula Hawkins
      10. Into the Water/Paula Hawkins

      
      Top sellers – Non-fiction:

   1. The Barefoot Investor/Scott Pape
   2. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck/Mark Manson
   3. Lion: A Long Way Home/Saroo Brierley
   4. When Breath Becomes Air/Paul Kalanithi
   5. The Clever Guts Diet/Michael Mosley
   6. Last King of the Cross/John Ibrahim
   7. In Order To Live/Yeonmi Park
   8. The CSIRO Low-Carb Diet/Grant Brinkworth, Dr. Pennie Taylor
   9. First, We Make the Beast Beautiful/Sarah Wilson
   10. Save Our Sleep/Tizzie Hall

   
   Top sellers – Audiobooks:

   1. The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need (Unabridged)/Scott Pape
   2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Book 1 (Unabridged)/J.K. Rowling
   3. The Power of Now (Unabridged)/Eckhart Tolle
   4. The Peter Rabbit Collection (Unabridged)/Beatrix Potter
   5. Awaken the Giant Within/Anthony Robbins
   6. Motivational vs Discipline: Real Talk by Ashy Bines, Book 2 (Unabridged)/Ashy Bines
   7. How to Win Friends and Influence People: A Condensation from the Book (Unabridged)/Dale Carnegie
   8. The Gruffalo (Unabridged)/Julia Donaldson
   9. Alice in Wonderland (Unabridged)/Lewis Carroll
   10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Book 2 (Unabridged)/J.K. Rowling