All over the internet in the month of December, and probably part of January, we are going to see all sort of posts that span the entire 2014 year. For instance, the best Tablets of 2014, the best smartphone of 2014, the most streamed shows of 2014 ect. They will be cover lots of topics and they will be plentiful. Â Google has put their hat in the mix this year with their first ever “Year in Entertainment” infographic (not to be confused with their Zeitgeist which is all about search) that spans the top apps, games, Movies & TV shows, Books and Newsstand as only Google could cover it. The results from 2014 might surprise you while some of the details won’t.
The infographic is large and in charge, so I broke it down into smaller sections to see. To start off we have the most download apps of the year. Google took it to the extreme and gave us the top app from each category.
I personally have only used a small handful of those listed myself. Netflix is a given in the Entertainment arena though. Facebook seems like a hoax though, mainly because so many phones have it pre-installed. There at the bottom Google gives us a little more knowledge for our noggins and lets us know that the fastest growing app category was Health & Fitness. I wonder if that was due to the rise in wearable fitness tech that was launched this year or if the quality of apps to help us stay fit and be healthy are starting to make an impact on a global scale.
Next on the list we have games. Games is a bit tricky, if you didn’t already see the image below, what game stands out in your mind as the most downloaded game of 2014? If you guessed Candy Crush Saga you would be right. That game was like crack. Hopefully it never resulted in any breakups of divorces. Anyone have a statistic on that one? The remainder of the games are easily right up there, maybe more in the caffeine or nicotine level addiction, but still highly additive. Looks like King seems to be the literal King of the list too with two titles. Sadly no Angry Birds titles made the cut. Sorry Rovio, maybe next year.
A fun fact there in the left hand corner points out that Play Games users unlocked 3.5 billion achievements. I can put my hat in on about 5 of those, maybe 6. That is some serious medals guys.
Lets move onto the Movies & TV category. What were you all buying, downloading and streaming the most in 2014? Well, Frozen of course. Yup, Frozen took movie of the year. TV show wise goes to the Walking Dead with the biggest comeback movie being Toy Store.
Unsurprisingly Robin Williams became the most searched actor after his untimely death in August. I am surprised none of his movies made the lists though. I bet combined they dominated. So many great ones. We just watch the Night at the Museum 1 & 2 and Patch Adams this last week.
Off to music we go. Google Play Music has probably dominated a lot of your device’s battery, your carriers data (unless you are on the right T-Mobile plan), and kept you going forward this year. Seems Frozen’s sound track did the most damage this year. Song of the year goes to Dark Horse by Katy Perry and song fo the summer falls to Fancy by Iggy Azalea.
Another surprise to me is that the fastest growing genre this year was soundtracks. However, if you look at the sound tracks that fueled its growth being Frozen, Guardians of the Galaxy (which was free for a short time for everyone wasn’t it), Despicable Me 2 and the Lego Movie then it makes more sense, because, you know, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! Got it stuck in your head now didn’t I?
Now we have the most read articles and top news sources of the year. I am almost ashamed to admit that I have not read a single one of the most read articles of the year. I say almost because a couple of them fall outside my own personal taste, like 15 ’90s Teen Hearthrobs Who’ve Resurfaced on TV. I bet it was a great article too. Darn it. Good thing everything on the internet stays forever so I can catch up on what I missed last year. Gotta stay in the know, ya know?
As for news sources of the year, ya we aren’t there. My heart is shattered. Not really. Props go to Android Central for making the cut though. I am still a little mystified that TMZ is #2. Give the people what they want and they will gobble it up.
Google finishes off the Year in Entertainment with your relaxing book reading habits. This is easily one area I need to start improving on. The top books just so happen to be the written versions of a couple of blockbuster movies from this year with two from upcoming movies for next year. How much are you willing to bet they make the cut in 2015 too? Well, at least the ones from the movies for next year anyways.
There you have it folks. The first Year in Entertainment infographic from the Google Play data team. Does it make us look smarter, appear healthier and show a visual list of what is on your device right now? Here are links to all the content in the Play Store so you can check some of it out yourself and see what all the hullabaloo was in 2014. You are on your own for the top articles of the year though. Sorry, just couldn’t do it.
Tops Apps
 Top Games
Movies
Music
Newsstand News Sources
- The New York Times
- TMZ
- Forbes Now
- The Verge
- The Huffington Post
- The Daily Beast
- The Wallstreet Journal
- Gizmodo
- Android Central
Books
If you want to see the infographic in all its entirety I have placed it below to do so.
