Apple’s Best of 2014

Apple on Monday released its list of the best and most downloaded music, apps, TV shows, movies and books from its stores. There are certainly some great apps and music in this year’s, along with some surprises, like the top selling album being “Frozen.”

“When we were first working on Frozen in our little Brooklyn studio, never in a million years would we have believed these songs would be embraced like this, by so many people all around the world. Musical theater songwriters dare not dream of achievements like iTunes’ #1 album of 2014. We are so grateful to all our collaborators at Walt Disney Animation Studios who allowed us to be a part of the film and helped us realize every song, and to Christophe Beck for his wonderful film score. And we are so thankful to Idina, Kristen, Josh, Santino, Jonathan, and everyone else who performed them so beautifully.” – Bobby and Kristen Lopez

Winning the award for best new artist this year is Sam Smith, which isn’t that much of a surprise—Sam had a pretty incredible year.

“I’m very, very thankful and owe so much to iTunes. For their incredible support with In The Lonely Hour. It’s an honor to be named Artist of the Year,” said Smith. “I’m going to have a drink now…”

samsmith

Here are the top ten products from Apple’s stores:

Music Best of picks:

  • Best Album: Taylor Swift, 1989
  • Best New Artist: Sam Smith
  • Best overall Artist: Beyonce
  • Best Song: Iggy Azalea “Fancy”

Best selling songs:

  • Happy (From “Despicable Me 2”), Pharrell Williams
  • All of Me, John Legend
  • Dark Horse (feat. Juicy J), Katy Perry
  • Talk Dirty (feat. 2 Chainz), Jason Derulo
  • Fancy (feat. Charli XCX), Iggy Azalea
  • Problem (feat. Iggy Azalea), Ariana Grande
  • All About That Bass, Meghan Trainor
  • Let It Go, Idina Menzel
  • Turn Down For What, DJ Snake & Lil Jon
  • Rude, MAGIC!

Top selling albums:

  • Frozen, Various Artists
  • 1989, Taylor Swift
  • Ghost Stories, Coldplay
  • In the Lonely Hour , Sam Smith
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix, Vol. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Various Artists
  • BEYONCÉ, Beyoncé
  • Pure Heroine, Lorde
  • x (Deluxe Edition), Ed Sheeran
  • The Outsiders, Eric Church
  • 5 Seconds of Summer (Bonus Track Version), 5 Seconds of Summer

Movies:

Most Downloaded Films:

  • Frozen
  • The Lego Movie
  • The Wolf of Wall Street
  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
  • Neighbors
  • Thor: The Dark World
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  • Lone Survivor
  • Divergent
  • The Guardians of the Galaxy

Most Downloaded Indie Movies:

  • Dallas Buyers Club
  • 12 Years a Slave
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel
  • Snowpiercer
  • Chef
  • Blue Jasmine
  • Her
  • Enough Said
  • August: Osage County
  • Bad Words

Apps:

iPad Top Paid:

  • Minecraft – Pocket Edition, Mojang
  • Cut the Rope 2, ZeptoLab UK Limited
  • Heads Up!, Warner Bros.
  • The Room Two, Fireproof Games
  • Survivalcraft, Igor Kalicinski
  • Notability, Ginger Labs
  • Terraria, 505 Games (US), Inc.
  • Plants vs. Zombies HD, PopCap
  • Hide N Seek : Mini Game With Worldwide Multiplayer, wang wei
  • Card Wars – Adventure Time, Cartoon Network

iPad Top Free:

  • YouTube, Google, Inc.
  • Netflix, Netflix, Inc.
  • Calculator for iPad Free, International Travel Weather Calculator
  • Skype for iPad, Skype Communications S.a.r.l
  • Microsoft Word for iPad, Microsoft Corporation
  • Facebook Messenger, Facebook, Inc.
  • Facebook, Facebook, Inc.
  • Candy Crush Saga, King.com Limited
  • Chrome – web browser by Google, Google, Inc.
  • Clash of Clans, Supercell

iPhone Top Paid:

  • Heads Up!, Warner Bros.
  • Minecraft – Pocket Edition, Mojang
  • Afterlight, Afterlight Collective, Inc
  • Plague Inc., Ndemic Creations
  • Sleep Cycle alarm clock, Northcube AB
  • Facetune, Lightricks Ltd.
  • Cut the Rope 2, ZeptoLab UK Limited
  • Bloons TD 5, Ninja Kiwi
  • A Dark Room, Amirali Rajan
  • 7 Minute Workout Challenge, Fitness Guide Inc

iPhone Top Free:

  • Facebook Messenger, Facebook, Inc.
  • Snapchat, Snapchat, Inc.
  • YouTube, Google, Inc.
  • Facebook, Facebook, Inc.
  • Instagram, Instagram, Inc.
  • Pandora Radio, Pandora Media, Inc.
  • Google Maps, Google, Inc.
  • Flipagram, Cheerful, Inc.
  • Spotify Music, Spotify Ltd.
  • 2048, Ketchapp

Television

Most Downloaded Shows:

  • Game of Thrones (S3)
  • The Walking Dead (S5)
  • Downton Abbey (S4)
  • Breaking Bad (Deluxe Edition: The Final Season)
  • Scandal (S4)
  • Sons of Anarchy (S7)
  • The Big Bang Theory (S8)
  • Mad Men (The Final Season)
  • Homeland (S3)
  • Modern Family (S6)

Books: Fiction

  • The Fault in Our Stars, John Green (Children & Teens)
  • Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (Mysteries & Thrillers)
  • Insurgent, Veronica Roth (Children & Teens)
  • Allegiant, Veronica Roth (Children & Teens)
  • Divergent, Veronica Roth (Children & Teens)
  • The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt (Fiction & Literature)
  • The Target, David Baldacci (Mysteries & Thrillers)
  • The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd (Fiction & Literature)
  • The Husband’s Secret, Liane Moriarty (Fiction & Literature)
  • Fifty Shades of Grey, E L James (Romance)

Books: Non fiction

  • Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt, Michael Lewis (Business & Personal Finance)
  • Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand (Biographies & Memoirs)
  • Lone Survivor, Patrick Robinson,Marcus Luttrell (Biographies & Memoirs)
  • Heaven is for Real, Todd Burpo,Lynn Vincent (Religion & Spirituality)
  • Duty, Robert M. Gates (Biographies & Memoirs)
  • Killing Patton, Martin Dugard,Bill O’Reilly (Biographies & Memoirs)
  • Killing Jesus, Martin Dugard,Bill O’Reilly (History)
  • Uganda Be Kidding Me, Chelsea Handler (Humor)
  • David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell (Health, Mind & Body)
  • The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown (Sports & Outdoors)

Books: Free

  • Private, Maxine Paetro,James Patterson (Mysteries & Thrillers)
  • Pretty Little Liars, Sara Shepard (Children & Teens)
  • Justice League: Origin, Jim Lee,Geoff Johns (Comics & Graphic Novels)
  • Lost in Shangri-La, Mitchell Zuckoff (History)
  • Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, Denise Grover Swank (Mysteries & Thrillers)
  • The Swift Programming Language, Apple Inc. (Computers & Internet)
  • Be My Love, Lucy Kevin (Romance)
  • 100 Quotations to Make You Think!, Wolfgang Riebe (Health, Mind & Body)
  • Best Jokes 2014, Various Authors (Humor)
  • iPhone User Guide For iOS 8.1, Apple Inc. (Computers & Internet)

Books: Audio books

  • Divergent (Unabridged), Veronica Roth (Kids & Young Adults)
  • Gone Girl: A Novel (Unabridged), Gillian Flynn (Mystery)
  • Insurgent: Divergent, Book 2 (Unabridged), Veronica Roth (Kids & Young Adults)
  • The Fault in Our Stars (Unabridged), John Green (Kids & Young Adults)
  • Allegiant: Divergent Trilogy, Book 3 (Unabridged), Veronica Roth (Kids & Young Adults)
  • Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy (Unabridged), E L James (Romance)
  • Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged), Laura Hillenbrand (History)
  • A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1 (Unabridged), George R. R. Martin (Sci Fi & Fantasy)
  • Mockingjay: The Final Book of the Hunger Games (Unabridged), Suzanne Collins (Kids & Young Adults)
  • Bossypants (Unabridged), Tina Fey (Comedy)

Most downloaded Podcasts:

  • NPR Programs: Fresh Air Podcast, NPR
  • Stuff You Should Know, HowStuffWorks.com
  • The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan
  • The Adam Carolla Show, Carolla Digital
  • This American Life, WBEZ
  • Radiolab from WNYC, WNYC
  • Freakonomics Radio, WNYC
  • The Nerdist, Nerdist Industries
  • NPR: Planet Money Podcast, NPR
  • NPR: Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Podcast, NPR

The entire list is available by opening iTunes and clicking on the “Best of 2014” banner.