Tiktok, the video sharing platform, took down Google to become the most popular website in the world, based on Cloudflare’s 2021 Internet traffic rating.
TikTok snuck into last year’s Cloudflare’s top 10 most popular sites list, ranking seventh, behind heavyweights such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Netflix and Amazon.
In 2021, the order of the list hasn’t changed much, except for TikTok’s rise to the top.
TikTok achieved first place in the global traffic ranking in February 17, 2021, followed by a few more days in March and June and finally settled more permanently at the top from the end of August.
It is very revealing that TikTok – a newcomer in 2020 – hIt has already surpassed Google.com and all of its ancillary services, including Google Maps, Google Translate, Google Photos, Google News and others. It’s also worth noting that TikTok – whose parent company ByteDance is based in China – is the only site outside the US to rank in the top ten.
The app’s popularity increased during the pandemic. Although it initially attracted teen audiences with dance and voice acting videos, it has since sparked the curiosity of users of all ages, who have turned to the app for its cooking tricks, memes and more.
TikTok’s rise in popularity has not gone unnoticed among advertisers. The New York Times claims the platform is considered a “marketing holy grail” among advertisers, reaching Generation Z amid the continuing decline in television’s popularity.