Google unveils 'Best of 2016' Google Play winners

By Julian Chokkattu Updated December 2, 2016

20th Century Fox

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.

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:

The five most streamed songs of 2016:

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

The top trending games of 2016:

The top five movies of 2016:

The top five TV shows of 2016:

The top five books of 2016:

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

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

Topics

Julian Chokkattu

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…

Entertainment

8 best sci-fi video games to play if you liked Apple TV+’s hit show Silo

The courier in his nuclear gear and holding his gun in Fallout: New Vegas key art.

Adapted from author Hugh Howey's series of books, showrunner Graham Yost's Silo wrapped up an impressive first season on Apple TV+. The Rebecca Ferguson-led sci-fi thriller brought to screen a captivating world filled with tantalizing mysteries, but there are plenty of video games for fans to get more of their dystopian fix.

These kinds of worlds and stories are ripe for immersion and deeply layered worldbuilding, as many talented developer studios have made their mark on the dystopian sci-fi subgenre. From Bethesda Game Studios' iconic Fallout series to 2K's (now Irrational Games) groundbreaking BioShock, these titles all have elements that fans of Apple TV+'s Silo should enjoy.
Fallout 3 (2008)

Mobile

Something strange is happening with my Google Pixel Fold

Google Pixel Fold in Obsidian open on Google News.

Google’s first foldable, the Google Pixel Fold, is now available for everyone. Even though Google is a few years late to the game compared to other brands like Samsung, it’s better late than never, right?

The Google Pixel Fold has received mostly positive reviews, including our own. But like any other foldable, it’s not without some issues. Since there are moving parts with foldable devices, there are more points of failure than a simple slab-style smartphone, especially as this category is still only in its infancy.

Mobile

Google Pixel Watch 2: rumored price, release date, news, and more

Google Pixel Watch with two different strap styles.

Google is a brand that we all know and either love or hate. Aside from being the company behind many web services, Google has done quite well with its Pixel smartphones — with the latest being the Google Pixel 7 family. In 2022, Google also released its first smartwatch, the Google Pixel Watch, though it received mixed reviews overall.

We’re expecting Google to release a follow-up to the Pixel Watch sometime this year in the form of the Pixel Watch 2 and, hopefully, it will improve upon what was already established with the original.