Sensor Tower: daily US downloads required to reach No. 1 on the App Store Top Charts for non-game apps is 94K, down ~30% since 2016, but 174K for games, up ~47%
With the App Store's big makeover in fall 2017, Apple attempted to shift consumers' attention away from the Top Charts and more toward editorial content.
Context & Ripple Effects
Sensor Tower's numbers split the US App Store's No. 1 bar in two: non-game apps need just 94K daily downloads, down ~30% since 2016, while games need 174K, up ~47%. The non-game decline tracks Apple's fall 2017 redesign, which deliberately pushed users away from the Top Charts toward editorial placement — a shift that had already lifted browse-driven downloads above 15% of all installs.
The games side moves the opposite way because chart rank there still drives volume, so publishers keep buying installs to hold position. The later data confirms the ratchet: by 2022 an iOS No. 1 required 156K daily installs, well above this report's blended figures.
First-order effects
- Game publishers face a materially higher install bar to claim or defend the top spot, raising the cost of chart-driven user acquisition.
- Non-game developers can reach No. 1 with roughly half a top game's daily volume, but the prize is smaller as Apple's editorial surfaces siphon discovery away from the rankings.
Second-order effects
- User-acquisition spend concentrates in games, where chart position converts directly into organic installs, widening the gap between game and non-game marketing budgets.
- For non-games, a No. 1 badge becomes a weaker signal of momentum, pushing brands toward featuring placements and search rather than chart-chasing campaigns.
Third-order effects
- If the divergence holds, the Top Charts effectively bifurcate into two economies — a paid-install arms race for games and an editorially curated shelf for everything else — eroding the chart's role as a single ranking of app success.
- That trajectory favors Apple's stated design intent from the 2017 redesign and sets the baseline against which the 2022 jump to 156K installs should be read.
The trend: App Store chart economics are splitting between games, where the No. 1 bar keeps inflating through paid installs, and non-game apps, where Apple's shift from rankings to editorial curation keeps lowering it.