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Google unveils 'Best of 2016' Google Play winners

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Google’s giving presents a little early this year — the company announced the best apps, books, movies, and shows of 2016 on Google Play.

The winners represent global top-trending content and they span six categories.

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Deadpool gets a special nod for coming first in two categories — the 2016 film is the best in the Movies category, and Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe is number one in Books. There are a few unsurprising winners, though. Pokémon Go, for example, was the top-trending game of 2016. The top movies of 2016 include such box office heavy hitters as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Captain America: Civil War, and Zootopia. Game of Thrones gets the crown for being the number one TV show, beating out The Walking Dead.

Three out of the top five apps happen to revolve around selfies, and another is an emoji keyboard. Take a look at the top five winners in each category:

The top trending apps of 2016:

  1. Face Changer 2
  2. Lumyer – Photo & Selfie Editor
  3. Castbox – Podcast Radio Music
  4. Emoji Keyboard Pro
  5. MSQRD

The five most streamed songs of 2016:

  1. Stressed Out, Twenty One Pilots
  2. Sorry, Justin Bieber
  3. One Dance (featuring WizKid & Kyla), Drake
  4. Don’t Let Me Down (featuring Daya), The Chainsmokers
  5. Me, Myself & I, G-Eazy

The top trending games of 2016: 

  1. Pokémon Go
  2. Clash Royale
  3. Traffic Rider
  4. slither.io
  5. Dream League Soccer

The top five movies of 2016: 

  1. Deadpool
  2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
  3. Zootopia
  4. Captain America: Civil War
  5. Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice

The top five TV shows of 2016:

  1. Game of Thrones
  2. The Walking Dead
  3. The Big Bang Theory
  4. Mr. Robot
  5. The Flash

The top five books of 2016:

  1. Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe by Cullen Bunn
  2. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, Jack Thorne
  3. The Girl on the Train: A Novel by Paula Hawkins
  4. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
  5. Me Before You: A Novel by Jojo Moyes

For a more expansive list of winners, head over to the Google Play Store.

Julian Chokkattu
Former Mobile and Wearables Editor
Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…
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