ChatGPT-s rivals, Kwai-s quiet rise- the top Internet services of 2025

ChatGPT’s lead holds, but the GenAI field is suddenly crowded

Cloudflare’s 2025 analysis of DNS trends from its 1.1.1.1 resolver shows that Google remains the world’s most popular Internet service for the fourth straight year, with Facebook holding at #2. Below that, however, the year brought notable movement. Instagram climbed from #7 to #5 overall — and briefly touched #4 in May and June — while YouTube edged up one spot to #7. Apple held #3 despite a mid-year challenge from Microsoft, which finished at #4. AWS slipped one position to #6, TikTok fell from #4 to #8, and Amazon stayed at #9.

These rankings group related domains into single services (so twitter.com, t.co, and x.com count as X) and rely on a machine-learning-assisted method first introduced in 2022. A lower rank reflects slower growth relative to peers, not necessarily lower absolute traffic.

X’s decline continued in 2025. After ranking as high as #10 in 2022 and dropping to roughly #14–15 in 2024, it started 2025 at #15 and ended the year outside the global Top 20 — a fall examined further in the social media data below.

Top 10 most popular Internet services in 2025, overall

1. Google
2. Facebook
3. Apple
4. Microsoft ▲
5. Instagram ▲
6. AWS ▼
7. YouTube ▲
8. TikTok ▼
9. Amazon
10. WhatsApp

ChatGPT dominates, but the challengers are closing in

OpenAI’s ChatGPT remained by far the most-used Generative AI service in 2025, but the category has become genuinely competitive. Claude (Anthropic), Perplexity, and Google Gemini all posted strong growth through the year, while 2024’s #2–#4 — Character.AI, the coding assistant then called Codeium (now Windsurf AI), and QuillBot — all slid down the rankings.

Top 10 Generative AI services in 2025

1. ChatGPT / OpenAI
2. Claude / Anthropic ▲
3. Perplexity ▲
4. Google Gemini ▲
5. Character.AI ▼
6. GitHub Copilot ▲
7. Windsurf AI ▼
8. QuillBot ▼
9. Grok / xAI ▲
10. DeepSeek ▲

Gemini made the steepest climb, entering the year outside the GenAI Top 10 and rising to a consistent #2 from mid-September onward; the year-end weighted ranking puts it at #4. Claude also had one of the year’s strongest showings, reaching #2 on most weekdays in July and August before Gemini overtook it, consistent with its enterprise-focused positioning. Perplexity secured #3 from September onward.

Grok entered the GenAI Top 20 in mid-February and reached #9 by month’s end, later peaking at #6 on several weekends in October and November. DeepSeek made the most dramatic entrance: between January 28 and February 3 it surged from outside the Top 20 to #3, before settling into a #6–#10 range for the rest of the year.

Usage patterns split clearly along weekday lines. ChatGPT and Claude dominated weekdays, reflecting workplace adoption, while Grok, Perplexity, and DeepSeek performed comparatively better on weekends, suggesting a stronger consumer and hobbyist user base.

Coding assistants and niche AI players carve out their positions

Among coding tools, GitHub Copilot improved from #7 to #6, touching #3 on several days in the first half of the year. Windsurf AI (formerly Codeium) started 2025 strong at #4 but drifted to #7–8 by year-end as general-purpose chatbots drew more traffic.

ByteDance’s Doubao — marketed internationally as Dola (formerly Cici) — showed surprising global strength despite the naming split. Its international version uses separate domains, but network patterns suggest shared backend infrastructure with Doubao, helping explain its presence in global rankings even where Dola is the consumer-facing brand. Doubao ranks #7 in GenAI in Australia, #8 in New Zealand, and #9 in the UK, and reaches #2 in Angola and Congo.

Open-source model hub Hugging Face had some of the sharpest spikes of the year, hitting #3 on September 20–21, likely tied to model releases. ElevenLabs, the AI voice generation service, reached #13–14 at peak periods, while Poe, Quora’s multi-bot aggregator, fell from #11 to #18. Meta AI never cracked the Top 10, appearing intermittently in August and again in October–November. Google’s DeepMind peaked at #12 in May, and AI Studio briefly entered the Top 20 in mid-September.

ChatGPT’s steady march up the Overall ranking

In the broader Overall category, ChatGPT’s climb has been remarkable for a service that launched in late 2022. After hovering around #200 in early 2023, it approached the Top 50 by late 2024, driven by back-to-school and return-to-work patterns. In 2025 it started between #51–60 and peaked at #33 on November 25, consistently ranking higher on weekdays.

By late November, ChatGPT sat just behind X (between #26–29) and ahead of Discord, Pinterest, and Reddit. It wasn’t alone in rising, though others gained more slowly. Gemini, which entered the Overall Top 500 in mid-March, peaked at #133 on November 24. Claude went from barely inside the Top 500 in January to #155 on December 2, holding a Top 200 position from August onward. Perplexity surged from around #450 early in the year to a #155 peak on October 19 and hovered near #160 in November. Grok reached #223 on November 18.

Social media: Instagram overtakes TikTok, while X slips

With more than 5 billion people now on social media, the category continues to grow, though the pecking order shifted noticeably in 2025. Facebook remains the world's dominant platform, but the headline change was Instagram moving past TikTok to claim the #2 position from late June onward. Snapchat also rose to #4 in March, pushing X down to #6 — behind LinkedIn for the first time in the rankings. Discord and Reddit each made brief runs at #7 before settling at #8 and #9-10, respectively.

1. Facebook
2. Instagram ▲
3. TikTok ▼
4. Snapchat ▲
5. Linkedin ▲
6. X / Twitter ▼
7. Kwai ▲
8. Discord ▼
9. Pinterest
10. Reddit

Kwai's emerging-market momentum

Kwai (known as Kuaishou in China) climbed from #8 in late 2024 to #7 in 2025, powered by growth in Latin America and other emerging markets. The short-video platform now ranks #2 in Brazil's social media category, behind only Facebook, and #3 in Brazil's overall ranking. It also cracked the Top 10 in Indonesia at #9 and posted strong showings in Syria (#15), Colombia (#18), and Egypt (#20), with further presence in the Dominican Republic (#25), Guyana (#26), Oman (#28), and Argentina (#30).

Non-Western platforms feature prominently further down the global list. Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, held #11 for a second straight year. VK, Russia's answer to Facebook, stayed at #12, and SnackVideo — a Southeast Asian TikTok rival also owned by Kuaishou — ranked #13. Xiaohongshu (RedNote), which drew attention during January's brief U.S. TikTok ban, finished at #14.

Microblogging challengers to X made little headway. Threads never entered the Top 20, and Bluesky appeared only once, on January 30 during the U.S. TikTok ban. Tumblr spent much of the year in the Top 20, and Mastodon servers were present through most of October. OnlyFans, the subscription content platform, held a spot around #19 from May to early August before fading in the second half of the year. The 2024 Social Media Top 10 chart:

Beyond the category: X alternatives in the Overall ranking

In the broader Overall ranking, X alternatives showed limited DNS presence. Mastodon (aggregated servers) was the strongest, holding between #208 and #248 with more weekend traffic. Bluesky peaked near #240 in May but declined through most of the year, with a notable spike on November 4 (#229) around U.S. off-year elections — a pattern mirroring its post-election bump in 2024, when it hit #193 on November 14. Threads lagged both, peaking at #279 in June but generally ranking near #360. (Note: Threads shares Meta's infrastructure, so some images may load from Facebook/Instagram domains, reducing its standalone DNS footprint.)

Distinct usage patterns emerged in the Overall ranking:

• Weekday vs. weekend trends: X, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Discord performed better on weekdays, while Kwai, Pinterest, Tumblr, and OnlyFans peaked on weekends. LinkedIn was strongest Monday-Wednesday, and Tinder kept its pattern of Sunday peaks.
• Growth stories: Reddit remained in the Top 50 all year, stabilizing in the #34-40 range after May with its best days Monday-Thursday. Kwai had a strong second half, peaking at #28 in September.
• Declines: Quora kept sliding from 2024, falling from around #160 to outside the Top 200. Tinder and Tumblr also dropped below #200. OnlyFans stayed inside the Top 200 from April to June but declined later in the year.
• Event-driven spikes: Instagram reached #4 for several days between mid-May and mid-June. X peaked at #15 on March 2 during the Oscars, down from its #12 peak in 2024. Pinterest surged on November 30, the Sunday of Black Friday week.

E-commerce: Shopee and Temu close in on Amazon

Amazon remained the clear e-commerce leader in 2025, but the momentum came from challengers rounding out the Top 3: Shopee, launched in Singapore in 2015 and popular across Southeast Asia, and China's Temu, which entered the U.S. in 2022. As a result, 2024's top-three finishers Taobao and AliExpress slipped to #5 and #10, respectively.

1. Amazon
2. Shopee ▲
3. Temu ▲
4. Shopify
5. Taobao ▼
6. eBay ▲
7. Alibaba ▼
8. Shein
9. Mercado Libre
10. AliExpress ▼

Shopee and Taobao spent early 2025 battling for #2, with Temu briefly overtaking both from mid-April to early July. From July onward, Shopee held #2 consistently and Temu settled at #3. In 2024, Shopee sat just outside the Top 10 and Temu finished #5. Shopify strengthened its standing too, opening the year at #6 and holding #4 since July — its 2024 finish, but now ahead of Taobao and AliExpress. eBay recovered from its 2024 slump (ending that year at #7, after #3 in 2023), moving between #3 and #6 early on and ultimately holding #6. Shein stayed at #8, outpacing Mercado Libre at #9. Just outside the Top 10 sat Russia's Wildberries, followed by Walmart and Japan's Rakuten.

Black Friday's impact on the Overall ranking

Several retail patterns stood out in the broader Overall ranking during the holiday push:

• Amazon followed a trajectory similar to 2024, hovering between #9 and #10 after July, rising to #8 during Black Friday week, and peaking at #7 on November 29. It continued performing better on Sundays.
• Shopee stayed near #50 most of the year, with its best performance on Singles' Day (November 11) at #46, just ahead of its Black Friday #48. Shopify closed the gap in November, with its best day on Black Friday (November 28) and a #49 finish on November 6; it showed stronger weekday performance.
• Temu peaked at #36 on May 18, the day after the Eurovision final. It started the year near #60 and ended around #50, with no visible Black Friday impact.

• Shein was steadier this year, holding between #80 and #90 after ending 2024 just outside the Top 100. It peaked at #78 on November 29. Temu, which performed similarly to Shein in 2024, clearly outran it in 2025.
• eBay improved its consistency, ranking between #46 and #62 all year after spending 2024 outside the Top 70. It peaked at #42 on April 15, and, as in prior years, Black Friday had little effect on demand for second-hand goods.
• Mercado Libre grew notably, entering the Top 100 from September onward. Its best day — as in 2024 — was Black Friday (November 28), when it reached #82, improving on its 2024 peak of #100.

Other retailers also saw Black Friday week impact in the Overall category:

• Adidas entered the top 250, hitting #229 on Cyber Monday and #249 on Black Friday.
• Nike slipped slightly, peaking at #287 on Black Friday.
• Target reached #117 on Cyber Monday, bettering its 2024 high of #127, and performed best on Saturdays.
• Walmart outperformed Target, peaking at #101 on the August 23-24 weekend and reaching #120 before Thanksgiving.
• Ikea showed a pattern nearly identical to 2024, peaking at #242 on June 2-3.

Video streaming: HBO Max enters the Top 10

Streaming was one of 2025's most stable categories, even amid industry consolidation. The Top 3 was unchanged for the third straight year: YouTube at #1, followed by Netflix and Twitch.

1. YouTube
2. Netflix
3. Twitch
4. Roku
5. Disney Plus
6. Prime Video
7. Vimeo
8. Pluto TV ▲
9. Plex TV ▼
10. HBO Max ▲

HBO Max was the year's biggest climber, entering the Top 10 for the first time and reaching #8 on Cyber Monday (December 1), helped by new episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry. The only other Top 10 change saw Pluto TV, the free ad-supported service, move ahead of Plex TV. Among paid services, Netflix led clearly, followed by Disney Plus (#5) and Prime Video (#6). Hulu (#11), Peacock (#15), Apple TV+ (#17), and Paramount Plus (#20) stayed outside the Top 10. Roku held #4 consistently and briefly overtook Twitch during Black Friday week. Disney Plus held #5 all year but reached #4 on several weekends between March and June around premieres of Daredevil: Born Again and Andor season 2.

Content-driven spikes in the Overall ranking

Major premieres produced clear surges in the broader Overall ranking through the year:

• YouTube peaked at #5 on July 5, the day MrBeast released "World's Fastest Car Vs Cheetah!"
• Netflix stayed near #11 on weekends from late June and peaked at #10 on November 30, following the release of Stranger Things season 5.
• Disney Plus ranged between #47 and #60, with its strongest spikes likely tied to Daredevil: Born Again.
• Prime Video reached #53 after the launch of The Family Man season 3 on November 22-23 and again on November 30.

• HBO Max was consistently close to the Top 100 and peaked on November 23 during an IT: Welcome to Derry release. Hulu showed similar Cyber Week behavior, reaching #132. Paramount Plus outperformed Peacock on weekends in late November, peaking at #197 on November 23 and 30.

As in prior years, most paid streaming platforms were strongest on weekends, especially Sundays, reflecting global viewing habits.

News rankings: Globo leads a shifting landscape

AI-powered search and summarization tools continue to dent publisher referral traffic, a trend that shaped the News category in 2025. Brazil's Globo held the top spot for the third straight year, but movement below it reflected both event-driven spikes and structural decline for legacy outlets.

Top 10 News services in 2025

1. Globo
2. ESPN ▲
3. BBC ▼
4. NY Times ▼
5. CNN ▼
6. Fox News ▼
7. Yahoo Finance
8. Google News ▲
9. NewsBreak ▲
10. Times of India ▲

ESPN overtook the BBC for #2, pushing the New York Times, CNN, and Fox News down one slot each. Google News climbed to #8 (with a clear weekend bias), and U.S. local-news aggregator NewsBreak surged late in the year, touching #7 on several days in November.

Notable rankings outside the Top 10: The Guardian briefly hit #10 during Canada's March leadership election; RT fell from the Top 10 early in the year to around #20 by December; and the Financial Times spiked to #4 on July 24-27 amid U.S.-EU tariff negotiations.

Across the broader Overall ranking, geopolitical events drove sharp traffic surges:

• Trump inauguration (January 20-21): CNN, NYT, and Fox News all spiked prominently.
• U.S.-UK trade deal and VE Day 80th anniversary (May 8): The year's highest peaks — CNN (#126), NYT (#129), Fox News (#164), BBC (#106).
• Israel-Iran conflict (June 13-24): BBC hit its yearly peak at #101, with parallel spikes for CNN (#125), NYT (#136), and Fox News (#160).
• U.S. off-year Election Day (November 5): CNN (#157), NYT (#169), and Fox News (#191) saw moderate increases.

Regional and sports events also mattered. Globo peaked during Brazil's Supercopa do Brasil final on February 2, ranking between #60-77. ESPN saw event-driven jumps on April 26 (NFL Draft and NBA playoffs, #82), September 28 (NFL Week 4 plus MLB regular-season finale, #79), and October 26 (F1 Mexico City Grand Prix coinciding with NFL Week 8 and the NBA season opener, #79).

Through the second half of 2025, most major U.S. news outlets showed a gradual slide toward the #200 range, evidence that AI tools and social platforms increasingly intermediate news access.

Messaging: WhatsApp stays dominant, Signal moves up

Messaging leaders held firm for another year. WhatsApp remained #1 for the fourth consecutive year, while the notable shift was Signal's climb to #5, signaling stronger demand for privacy-focused communication.

(Note: Apple's iMessage is excluded for lacking distinct domains. Messaging features inside social platforms are not measurable separately from the underlying platforms.)

Top Messaging services in 2025

1. WhatsApp
2. QQ
3. Telegram
4. Rakuten Viber
5. Signal ▲
6. WeChat ▼
7. LINE
8. Messenger ▲
9. Zalo.me ▲
10. KakaoTalk ▲

Tencent's QQ held #2 for the third year, supported by its integration of games, payments, and communication. Telegram (#3) and Rakuten Viber (#4) remained stable across Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Signal, the open-source encrypted messaging service, overtook WeChat from October onward, reversing their 2024 order. Asian apps LINE (#7), Vietnam's Zalo.me (#9), and South Korea's KakaoTalk (#10, down from #8 in late 2024) completed the list. Meta's Messenger reached #8 after June.

Trends in the Overall ranking:

• WhatsApp held its #9 Overall position, reaching #8 in January and on several November days.
• Telegram peaked at #56 on July 1, coinciding with regional unrest in the Middle East.
• WeChat declined from near the Top 100 to roughly #130 by December.

Gaming: Roblox on top, PlayStation passes Xbox

Gaming remained a major traffic driver even as metaverse hype faded. Roblox led for the third consecutive year, but the biggest change was PlayStation overtaking Xbox for #2 from May onward.

Top 10 Metaverse & Gaming services in 2025

1. Roblox
2. PlayStation ▲
3. Xbox / Xbox Live ▼
4. Epic Games / Fortnite ▼
5. Steam ▼
6. Electronic Arts
7. Blizzard
8. Minecraft ▲
9. Riot Games / League of Legends ▼
10. Nintendo ▲

Steam held #4 after its 2024 surge, performing best on weekdays during key releases. Its best day was April 24 (reaching #2) with the launch of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. Electronic Arts and Blizzard stayed put, while Minecraft rose to #8 with weekend strength. Riot Games dropped to #9, and Nintendo returned to the Top 10.

Meta's Oculus remained outside the Top 10 for a second year, slipping from around the Top 100 to roughly #130 in the Overall ranking.

Overall ranking patterns:

• Roblox peaked at #15 on July 6 during its Hatch event (July 2-12), with consistent weekend gains.
• PlayStation hit #30 during Black Friday week, its best of the year.
• Minecraft stayed between #87 and #120 with predictable weekend spikes.
• Oculus declined through the year, reflecting slow mainstream VR adoption.

Gaming platforms — Roblox, Xbox, Epic/Fortnite, Steam, and PlayStation — showed strong weekend effects, ranking 20-40 positions higher on Saturdays and Sundays.

Financial services: Stripe holds, Brazil's banks gain

Digital-first finance kept its grip on the category in 2025. Stripe topped the list for the third consecutive year after taking #1 from PayPal in 2023.

Top 10 Financial Services in 2025

1. Stripe
2. TradingView
3. Alipay
4. PayPal
5. Nubank
6. Binance
7. Banco do Brasil ▲
8. Intuit ▲
9. Google Pay ▲
10. OKX ▲

The top six positions were unchanged from late 2024. PayPal briefly reached #1 in late February and early March. TradingView peaked at #1 on January 13 when U.S. markets tumbled on inflation fears. Alipay held #3.

Brazil's online banking expansion was again evident. Nubank, the world's largest digital bank, held #5 for a second year. Banco do Brasil entered the Top 10 for the first time, displacing fellow Brazilian bank Bradesco. Binance stayed at #6, while Coinbase fell out. Intuit entered, peaking at #6 during U.S. Tax Day (April 14-15). Google Pay and OKX joined the Top 10 for the first time.

Other Overall ranking trends:

• Stripe peaked late in the year at #70 (November 12) and #71 on Cyber Monday, trending upward from around #80 to near #70.
• PayPal spiked at #82 on November 29 (Black Friday week), with its overall peak of #73 on March 2.
• Nubank performed best before Brazil's Carnival (February 28-March 5), hitting #85 on February 22, and spiked again to #96 on Black Friday.

Cryptocurrency: Binance leads, OKX closes strong

Beyond financial services, dedicated crypto platforms saw relative stability in 2025. Binance remained the category leader, while OKX built steady momentum from September onward to finish at #2, swapping places with 2024's #2 Coinbase.

Top 10 Cryptocurrency services in 2025

1. Binance
2. OKX ▲
3. Coinbase ▼
4. CoinGecko ▲
5. 2miners.com ▼
6. CoinMarketCap ▼
7. Bybit
8. MEXC ▲
9. Exodus ▲
10. Bitget ▲

CoinGecko rose from #6 to #4, while 2miners.com fell to #5. The final three entries were new Top 10 members:

• MEXC (#8): a global exchange for spot and futures trading.
• Exodus (#9): a multi-asset wallet emphasizing self-custody.
• Bitget (#10): an exchange specializing in derivatives and copy-trading.

The U.S. presidential inauguration on January 20 drove traffic surges across crypto platforms:

• Binance peaked at #95.
• Coinbase reached #121.
• OKX peaked at #157 on January 19.

CoinGecko trended downward overall, from near the Top 200 to around #270. Binance and Coinbase stayed relatively stable, while OKX's growth from September pushed it toward the #150 range.

Seasonal spikes, developer constants, and event-driven surges

Several services outside the main categories saw notable traffic surges tied to real-world events and cultural moments:

• FlightRadar24 jumped to #260 on June 13-15 during Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, as users sought real-time airspace disruption data.

• NOAA Tides & Currents hit #300 on October 27 as Hurricane Melissa intensified as a Category 5 storm threatening the Caribbean.
• IMDb peaked on September 14, aligning with the Primetime Emmy Awards.
• Wikipedia hovered between #22 and #24 for most of the year but spiked to #19 on July 5, driven by a failed "July 5, 2025, disaster prophecy" from a 1999 manga that made "Nothing happened in Japan" trend #1 on China's Sina Weibo.
• Spotify stayed in the #16-19 range through 2025, strongest in September and November at #16. The dataset ends December 2, so the December 3 Spotify Wrapped release isn't reflected.

Sports-related traffic also registered:

• The NBA reached #237 on April 19, the NBA Playoffs opening day featuring a Nuggets-Clippers overtime game.
• FIFA appeared in the Top 500 for the first time, peaking at #373 on November 17 when it announced the FIFA Priority Appointment Scheduling System (FIFA PASS) for World Cup 2026 ticket holders with the U.S. State Department.

Regional patterns across the rankings

Google ranked #1 in almost every country on our country-specific Overall lists, with Libya, dominated by Facebook, as a rare exception. Beyond that, location data reveals distinct regional dynamics.

ChatGPT performed strongly outside traditional tech hubs, reaching the Top 30 in Kyrgyzstan, Somalia, the United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia. Google Gemini showed similar traction in emerging markets, ranking highest in Ethiopia (#94), Sri Lanka (#105), Guatemala (#118), Rwanda (#122), and Thailand (#124), with comparable results across Peru, Taiwan, Nepal, Vietnam, and Malawi.

Social platforms fragmented along regional lines. Facebook held #1-2 in many countries, but local contenders gained ground: Kwai reached #3 in Brazil with significant presence across Latin America and the Middle East. Instagram ranked highest in parts of Central Asia and the Gulf, while TikTok dominated much of Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Snapchat performed best in Iraq, Libya, Palestine, and Pakistan. LinkedIn showed a dual profile, ranking high in advanced economies like Australia and France alongside fast-growing markets such as Bangladesh, Peru, and Saudi Arabia.

Entertainment and messaging followed geographic divides. Netflix ranked #8-10 across several Latin American countries but lower in Asia and much of Europe, where Spotify was strongest in the Nordics and Southern Europe. WhatsApp led in the Caribbean, Africa, and parts of Asia; Telegram topped Eastern Europe and Central Asia; Signal gained traction in privacy-focused markets like Ukraine and Switzerland; and Viber continued to dominate the Balkans.

The GenAI contest for second place

ChatGPT topped the Generative AI category in nearly every country, with one exception:

• Google Gemini took the #1 spot in Venezuela.
• Gemini also secured #2 across Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia) and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia), reflecting Google's platform strength in mobile-first markets.
• Perplexity was the #2 choice across Europe (Germany, France, Spain) and #3 in major English-speaking markets (U.S., UK, Australia), indicating strong appeal among information-seeking users.
• Claude showed selective strength at #3-5, performing best in Western Europe (Georgia, Switzerland) and developed markets like Germany, France, and Japan, consistent with its enterprise focus.
• Lovable, the Swedish vibe-coding platform, reached #10 in the GenAI category in Angola, #16 in Sweden and Slovenia, and #17 in Brazil.

While ChatGPT remains the clear global leader, the race for second place is highly regional: Gemini in emerging markets, Perplexity across Europe, and Claude in more technologically advanced economies. By late November, Gemini had secured the #2 spot in our GenAI rankings, directly contesting ChatGPT's lead.

2025's defining trajectory

The year's overall picture combined stability with disruption. Google, Facebook, and Instagram stayed dominant at the top of the Overall rankings, but generative AI's maturation was the central story. ChatGPT climbed into the global Top 40, with Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and DeepSeek emerging as credible challengers in a category that barely existed three years ago.

Social media fragmentation continued: Instagram rose to #5 overall while X fell outside the Top 20, and platforms like Kwai gained meaningful traction in Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. In e-commerce, Shopee and Temu joined Amazon in the global top three, displacing long-established Chinese marketplaces. Cryptocurrency traffic stabilized after earlier volatility, with surges around events like the U.S. presidential inauguration.

These rankings reflect continued data validation and methodological refinement. We welcome feedback and suggestions for categories to explore in future editions.