Sensor Tower: daily downloads needed for an app to hit No. 1 on the US App Store is 156K, up 37% from 114K in 2019; Android apps need 56K, down from 83K in 2019
A new analysis indicates it's gotten harder to get an app to the top of the App Store, in terms of downloads, over the past several years.
Context & Ripple Effects
Sensor Tower has been tracking the price of a No. 1 slot for years: its 2019 Top Charts analysis found the non-game threshold had fallen ~30% since 2016 while the games bar climbed ~47%, and the 2020 pandemic surge that pushed US App Store downloads past China's flooded the store with new users and new apps.
The new numbers show the two platforms diverging: iOS chart entry now costs 156K daily installs, up 37% from 114K in 2019, while Google Play's bar dropped to 56K from 83K. For developers weighing where launch budgets go, the same chart position is nearly three times as expensive to buy on Apple's side.
First-order effects
- Small iOS publishers face a steeper paid-install bill to reach the top charts, while Android-first teams can buy their way onto Google Play's leaderboard for roughly a third of the iOS cost.
- The finding lands alongside Sensor Tower's projection that 906 developers would pass $1M annual revenue in 2021 — a cohort whose growth depends on exactly this kind of top-chart visibility.
Second-order effects
- User-acquisition budgets and launch sequencing tilt toward Google Play, where the cheaper chart slot offers more organic-discovery payoff per install dollar.
- Games and consumer apps competing for the same US iPhone audience bid up install prices further, since the 2019 data already showed the games bar at 174K daily downloads versus 94K for non-game apps.
Third-order effects
- If the iOS threshold keeps climbing, top-chart placement consolidates as a channel for well-funded publishers, pushing smaller developers toward editorial featuring, social discovery, and web-based acquisition instead of chart-driven installs.
- A widening iOS/Android gap could reshape platform economics for developers who treat the stores as distribution markets rather than mere storefronts, reinforcing concentration among apps that can sustain six-figure daily install runs.
The trend: App Store top charts are hardening into a pay-to-play visibility market on iOS while loosening on Android, splitting mobile discovery economics by platform.