Apple: Record sales for apps over holidays up 16% to $1.42 billion

Apps are still alive and well, and when it comes to gaming, incredibly popular and still thriving.

Apple is reporting a record-setting holiday season for app sales, with some $1.42 billion spent on apps between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, up 16% over the prior year, and $386 million on New Year's Day alone.

That set a new single-day record, according to Apple, and was led by the games "Mario Kart Tour" and "Minecraft."

Eight of the top 10 paid apps for the first week of January were games, and also included "Heads Up," "Procreate Pocket" and "Monopoly." The top free app was Disney +, the streaming service that debuted in November, and the top 10 also included TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat.

The free apps were dominated by perennials like Netflix and YouTube, which have both been available for over a decade.

Meanwhile, Apple said its Apple News app, which is available for free and as a paid subscription service, now has over 100 million active monthly users and that Apple Podcasts now has a library of over 800,000 shows.

Here's Apple's top downloaded iOS apps of 2019:

Top Free iPhone Apps

• 1. YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream
• 2. Instagram
• 3. Snapchat
• 4. TikTok
• 5. Messenger
• 6. Gmail
• 7. Netflix
• 8. Facebook
• 9. Google Maps
• 10. Amazon

Top Paid iPhone Apps

• 1. Facetune
• 2. HotSchedules
• 3. Dark Sky Weather
• 4. The Wonder Weeks
• 5. AutoSleep Tracker for Watch
• 6. TouchRetouch
• 7. Procreate Pocket
• 8. Sky Guide
• 9. Toca Hair Salon 3
• 10. Scanner Pro: PDF Scanner App