Apple today posted a comprehensive list of the top iTunes sellers in 2012, ranging from e-books and podcasts to television shows and movies to apps and songs. The charts representing the best iTunes content in 2012 list the top sellers for every iTunes category. Paid and free apps are listed separately, and then again for the iPhone and iPad. Go past the fold to see if your favorite apps made it on the list…
The full list is available via thisiTunes linkand covers Apple editors’ picks as well as the best-selling free and paid Mac and iOS apps, Music, Movies, TV Shows, Books and Podcasts.
As you can see for yourself, Apple’s iPhone App Of The Year isAction Movie FX, an awesome movie effects app fromBad Robot Interactive.
The program turns your iPhone into a bonafide action movie-maker, allowing you to add high-quality digital effects to your videos like explosions, car crashes and two dozen others.
As for the iPad App Of The Year, Apple chosePaper by FiftyThreee, a drawing and sketching software that many people think borrows a few clues from Microsoft’s never-released Courier tablet project.
The Disruptive Services category (one of many sub-categories available in the charts) lists several apps that have proved more than noteworthy, including Airbnb andSquare Wallet.
Other picks include Mini Motor Racing for “Casual Games”, Ski Safari for “Fun Runners”, Lili for “New Ways To Play” andClear to-do appfor “Intuitive Touch”, to name a few.
Apple’s iPhone Game Of The Year is Rayman Jungle Run and iPad Game Of The Year is The Room. YouTube, Instagram, Draw Something Free, Flashlight and Facebook are the top free iPhone apps of 2012.
As for paid iPhone apps, the top five are Angry Birds Space, WhatsApp Messenger, Draw Something, Camera+ and Where’s My Water.
The iPhone maker also picked Amplified its Best New Technology podcast of the year. The talk show features John Gruber and is quite different from the previous edition starring Dan Benjamin who kept the show focused.
Top free/paid iPhone/iPad apps
Top Free iPhone Apps
1 YouTube by Google, Inc.2 Instagram by Burbn, inc.3 Draw Something Free by OMGPOP, Inc.4 Flashlight byiHandy Inc.5 Facebook by Facebook, Inc.6 Pandora Radio by Pandora Media, Inc.7 Temple Run by Imangi Studios, LLC8 Pinterest by Pinterest, Inc.9 Twitter by Twitter Inc.10 Skype by Skype
Top Paid iPhone Apps
1 Angry Birds Space by Rovio Entertainment Ltd2 WhatsApp Messenger by WhatsApp Inc.3 Draw Something by OMGPOP, Inc.4 Camera+ by tap tap tap LLC5 Where’s My Water? by Walt Disney6 Angry Birds Star Wars by Rovio Entertainment Ltd7 Fruit Ninja by Halfbrick8 Angry Birds by Rovio Entertainment Ltd9 Bejeweled by PopCap10 TETRIS by Electronic Arts Inc.
Top Free iPad Apps
1 Skype for iPad by Skype Communications S.a.r.l2 Temple Run by Imangi Studios, LLC3 Facebook by Facebook, Inc.4 Netflix by Netflix, Inc.5 The Weather Channel for iPad by The Weather Channel6 Draw Something Free by OMGPOP, Inc.7 Kindle – Read Books, eBooks, Magazines, Newspapers & Textbooks by AMZNMobile LLC8 Pandora Radio by Pandora Media Inc.9 Angry Birds HD Free by Rovio Entertainment10 Calculator Pro for iPad Free by MYW Productions
Top Paid iPad Apps
1 Angry Birds Space HD by Rovio Entertainment Ltd2 Where’s My Water? by Walt Disney3 Pages by Apple Inc.4 Draw Something by OMGPOP, Inc.5 Notability – Take Notes & Annotate PDFs with Dropbox & Google DriveSync by Ginger Labs, Inc.6 Angry Birds Star Wars HD by Rovio Entertainment Ltd7 iPhoto by Apple Inc.8 Minecraft – Pocket Edition by Mojang AB9 Where’s My Perry? by Walt Disney10 Words With Friends HD by Zynga Mobile
The full list of all iTunes top sellers in 2012 is right below.
Editor’s Choice iPhone
• Action Movie FX• Propellerhead• Rayman Jungle Run• Letterpress
Editor’s Choice iPad
• Paper by FiftyThree• Action Movie FX• The Room• Waking Mars
• Best Artist: Frank Ocean• Best Album: Shields by Grizzly Bear• Best Song: We are Young by Fun. and Janelle Monae• Breakthrough Album: The Lumineers
• Best Blockbuster: The Avengers• Best Director: Wes Anderson for Moonrise Kingdom• Best Discovery: Beasts of the Southern Wild• Best Star-Making Performance: Jennifer Lawrence in Hunger Games
• Best Show: Breaking Bad• Best Episode: Homeland – The Weekend• Best Debut: Girls• Best Cast: Happy Endings
• Best Novel: The Dog Stars by Peter Heller• Best Nonfiction: Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo• Best Young Adult Novel: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green• Best Multi-Touch Book: Fashion by DK Publishing
• Best New Audio Podcast: TED Radio Hour• Best Audio Podcast: The Adam Corolla Show• Best New Video Podcast: MinutePhysics• Best Video Podcast: Sesame Street
On the Mac side, the awesome journaling app Day One won the title of “2012 App of the Year”.
Seriously? Two completely different apps! “@dujkan: Evernote? Thanks, but no thanks. Day One FTW!itunes.apple.com/us/app/day-one…”
— Steven Eveleigh (@_SystemAddict) June 28, 2025
Apple writes:
Over the past year, the Mac App Store was packed with impressive new apps and games. Some were dazzling debuts, while others were existing apps updated to leverage new features in OS X Mountain Lion or to take advantage of the Retina display of the new MacBook Pro. Browse the apps and games we loved most in 2012.
Here’s your screenshot.
The Mac App Store Best of 2012 list is availableright here.
Any favorite apps of yours Apple hasn’t picked?
