Google announces Best of Play Store lists for apps, games, movies, music, and more for 2015
We are proud to present the 'Best … Rita El Khoury / Android Police : Google Releases Its List Of Best Apps Of 2015 With Regional Focus And Some Questionable Choices Saqib Khan / ValueWalk : The Best Android Apps, Games Of 2015 Ketan Pratap / NDTV Gadgets360.com : Google Play Showcases the Best Apps, Games, Books, and Movies of 2015 Trixie / AndroidHeadlines.com : Google Play Names Best of 2015 List For Apps & Games Abner Li / 9to5Google : Play Store highlights best apps and entertainment in end of the year lists Shawn Knight / TechSpot : Google publishes “Best of 2015” list for Android apps and games Derek Walter / PCWorld : Google's new ‘Trial Run Ads’ let you briefly play a game right inside the advertisement
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's end-of-year Best of Play Store lists are the editorial bookend to a year in which it also gave developers new merchandising tools like A/B-tested store listings and price experiments. The lists span apps, games, books, movies, and music, with a deliberate regional focus — coverage from Android Police flagged some picks as questionable, underscoring that this is Google exercising taste, not just tabulating installs.
The interesting arc is what came after: within eighteen months, Google was layering algorithmic signals onto this editorial foundation, first shifting game promotion to continued engagement instead of raw installs, then rewarding technical quality with higher rankings for battery-efficient, crash-free apps. The 2015 lists mark the moment Play Store discovery became an explicitly curated surface.
First-order effects
- Developers named to the lists get a concentrated visibility boost during the holiday download season, with regional editions meaning different winners surface in each market.
- Google positions itself as a taste-maker for Android entertainment, not merely a distribution pipe — a framing competitors' stores did not match at the time.
Second-order effects
- Editorial curation creates a benchmark that algorithmic ranking must reconcile with: Google's subsequent move to engagement-based game promotion effectively codified 'what the editors liked' as a ranking signal.
- Being list-worthy starts shaping developer behavior upstream — apps optimized for retention and polish gain an edge over install-driven acquisition plays.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, store discovery consolidates into a hybrid system — annual editorial showcases like the later Android Excellence collections sitting atop continuous algorithmic ranking — making Play placement a surface Google tunes permanently rather than reviews once a year.
The trend: App store discovery is shifting from annual editorial roundups toward always-on curation fused with engagement- and quality-based ranking signals.