Top 20 Grossing Apps on the US App Store: Which Apps Earn the Most in August 2026?

The typical coverage of top charts data in app stores shows a single day’s ranking and moves on. We tracked the US grossing chart for a year instead – 350 daily snapshots between August 2025 and August 2026, pulled through App Radar data, with ratings history and Apple Ads intelligence layered on top of the current top 20.

One app held the #1 spot for 310 of those 350 days. 14 of the current top 20 earners appear nowhere in the top 50 by downloads, and 4 of the 6 apps that fell out of the top 20 this year are mid-core games.

Below is the full top 20, a profile of each top 10 app, and what a year of movement shows about where App Store revenue is going.

TL;DR

What are the top grossing apps on the App Store right now?

ChatGPT is the top grossing app on the US App Store in August 2026, ahead of YouTube and TikTok. The table below shows the full top 20 as of August 19, 2026, with each app’s category, how it monetizes, and its number of days in the top 10 during the last 12 months.

A few things stand out in the table:

• 15 of the 20 apps monetize primarily through a subscription. The 5 that run on in-app purchases are TikTok and 4 casual games.
• Streaming holds the largest block. Peacock, Paramount+, HBO Max, Disney+, Crunchyroll, and YouTube Music take 6 of the 20 spots.
• 9 apps spent more than 230 of the 350 tracked days in the top 10. They are the permanent core of the chart.
• YouTube Music, CapCut, Duolingo, and Life360 hold top 20 positions with 5 or fewer top-10 days between them. YouTube Music spent 267 days in the 11-20 range this year without once reaching the top 10.

Profiles of the top 10 apps in the top grossing chart

The profiles below cover each of the top 10 apps: how they monetize, how long they held their position, and where their ratings moved over the year.

1. ChatGPT

ChatGPT held the #1 grossing spot for 310 of the 350 tracked days, and no other app managed more than 20. Its subscription tiers drive the revenue, and its US ratings base grew faster than any other app in the top 10.

• Days in the top 10 during the last 12 months: 332 of 350
• Total number of US ratings: 9.45M
• Average US rating: 4.83, down from 4.90 in August 2025
• Number of ratings added in the last 12 months: about 6M, the largest gain in the top 10

2. YouTube

YouTube took the #1 spot on 20 of the 40 days ChatGPT gave up. Premium subscriptions carry its chart position, backed by the largest ratings base of any app on this list.

• Days in the top 10 during the last 12 months: 324 of 350
• Total number of US ratings: 48.6M
• Average US rating: 4.67
• Number of ratings added in the last 12 months: about 5.3M

3. TikTok

TikTok is the only non-game app in the top 10 that earns primarily through in-app purchases – coins spent on live gifting. It reached #1 on 17 days during the year.

• Days in the top 10 during the last 12 months: 319 of 350
• Total number of US ratings: 18.3M
• Average US rating: 4.73, up from 4.70 in August 2025

4. Snapchat

Snapchat is the only top 10 app whose average rating fell over the year, from 4.70 to 4.51, while its grossing position held. Snapchat+ subscriptions drive the revenue.

• Days in the top 10 during the last 12 months: 232 of 350
• Total number of US ratings: 5.9M
• Average US rating: 4.51, down from 4.70 in August 2025

5. MONOPOLY GO!

MONOPOLY GO! is the highest-earning game on the US App Store in August 2026, and the only game that reached #1 overall during the year – for 2 days.

• Days in the top 10 during the last 12 months: 304 of 350
• Total number of US ratings: 3.8M
• Average US rating: 4.80, unchanged over the year

6. Peacock TV

Peacock TV spent more days in the top 10 than 3 of the apps ranked above it. NBCUniversal’s streaming subscriptions keep it there through the whole year.

• Days in the top 10 during the last 12 months: 306 of 350
• Total number of US ratings: 3.6M
• Average US rating: 4.66

7. Paramount+

Paramount+ held a top 10 position on 267 of 350 days with a US ratings base of under 1M – the second-smallest on this list.

• Days in the top 10 during the last 12 months: 267 of 350
• Total number of US ratings: 906K
• Average US rating: 4.63

8. Gossip Harbor

Gossip Harbor sat in the top 20 all year but reached the top 10 for the first time on March 30, 2026. Its merge-game in-app purchases have kept it coming back since – 19 of its 23 top-10 days fall in June, July, and August.

• Days in the top 10 during the last 12 months: 23 of 350
• Total number of US ratings: 197K
• Average US rating: 4.62

9. Royal Match

Royal Match is the steadiest game on the chart after MONOPOLY GO!, with 282 top-10 days across the year on match-3 in-app purchases.

• Days in the top 10 during the last 12 months: 282 of 350
• Total number of US ratings: 3.8M
• Average US rating: 4.69

10. Claude by Anthropic

Claude first entered the grossing top 20 on April 1, 2026, and now holds a top 10 revenue position with 236K US ratings, the smallest audience of the 10. 10 of its 25 top-10 days landed in the first 18 days of August, so the climb is still in progress.

• Days in the top 10 during the last 12 months: 25 of 350
• Total number of US ratings: 236K
• Average US rating: 4.72

Which apps earn money without ranking for downloads?

14 of the 20 top grossing apps on the US App Store appear nowhere in the free top 50. We call them quiet earners – apps that hold a top revenue position without a matching position in the download charts.

The 14 quiet earners fall into 3 groups:

• Streaming services – Peacock TV, Paramount+, HBO Max, Disney+, Crunchyroll, and YouTube Music.
• Games – MONOPOLY GO!, Gossip Harbor, Royal Match, and Candy Crush Saga.
• Subscription apps outside media – Snapchat, LinkedIn, Duolingo, and Tinder.

These apps earn from users who installed them months or years ago. A streaming service or a dating app charges the subscribers it already has every month, so revenue holds even in weeks when few new users download the app. Candy Crush Saga is the clearest example – the game launched in 2012, spent 46 days in the grossing top 10 this year, and sits outside the free top 50 today.

Only ChatGPT, Claude, and CapCut hold positions in both the grossing top 20 and the free top 20. All 3 charge a subscription for a tool people search for directly, and all 3 convert enough of that download volume into paid plans to rank for revenue at the same time.

For an app marketer sizing up a competitor, the 2 charts answer different questions. The free chart shows who acquires users at volume, and the grossing chart shows who turns an audience into revenue. A competitor that looks quiet in the download rankings can still hold a revenue position your category has to compete against.

6 of these top 20 positions went to new apps over the past year. The next section covers who entered, who left, and how long the leaders have held their spots.

How did the top grossing chart change over the last 12 months?

6 apps entered the US grossing top 20 between August 2025 and August 2026, and 6 left it. The other 14 positions held through the whole year.

The 6 apps that entered the top grossing chart during the year were:

• Claude – first appeared in the top 20 on April 1, 2026, and reached the top 10 in May.
• CapCut – video editing subscriptions, 1 top-10 day so far.
• Crunchyroll – anime streaming, 38 days in the top 10.
• YouTube Music – in the top 20 without a single top-10 day yet.
• Duolingo – 5 top-10 days.
• Life360 – family location subscriptions, entered the top 20 without reaching the top 10.

The 6 apps that left the top grossing chart were Pokémon GO, Clash Royale, Last War: Survival, Kingshot, Whiteout Survival, and Hinge. 5 of the 6 are games, and 4 of those are mid-core strategy or war titles.

That exchange changed the shape of the chart. In August 2025, games held 9 of the 20 spots. In August 2026 they hold 4, and subscription apps took every position the games gave up.

The #1 position was a different matter – it changed hands on only 40 of the 350 tracked days. 5 different apps held the #1 grossing spot at some point during the year:

The table shows two things:

• ChatGPT was #1 on 310 of the 350 days. YouTube, TikTok, MONOPOLY GO!, and Dropbox shared the remaining 40 days between them.
• Dropbox is the odd entry. It held #1 for a single day, on October 18, 2025, and does not appear in the current top 20 at all – a one-day revenue spike can put an app at the top of the chart without keeping it anywhere near it.

Holding a chart position is one part of the picture. The other is what these apps pay to stay visible in App Store search, and that is where the Apple Ads data comes in.

Do the top grossing apps run Apple Ads?

9 of the 10 top grossing apps on the US App Store run Apple Ads. Snapchat is the exception – the #4 earner has no paid keywords found in the US market (SplitMetrics Acquire Market Intelligence, August 2026).

The table shows a split in how the 9 advertisers manage their brand visibility in App Store search:

• ChatGPT, MONOPOLY GO!, Royal Match, and Gossip Harbor hold 89-100% first-position share of voice on their own names. A user who searches for these apps almost always sees their ad first.
• Peacock, Paramount+, and Claude defend their names at only 23-35%, which leaves most of their own brand searches open to competitors’ ads.
• YouTube runs the opposite play. Its top paid keywords are all competitor brands – soundcloud, amazon prime video, reddit, spotify, apple music – with no brand terms in its top 10.
• The streaming services bid on each other. Paramount+ appears on netflix, disney, hbo max, hulu, and peacock searches, while Peacock bids back on netflix, hulu, and espn. Claude runs the same pattern inside AI – gemini, grok, copilot, and deepseek.

Across the accounts we manage at SplitMetrics, brand defense is usually the first campaign a new advertiser sets up. The top of the grossing chart runs on the same logic – the revenue leaders pay to hold their own names, and several of them pay to appear on everyone else’s.

A quick roundup of questions and answers about top grossing apps in the US App Store

What is the number one top grossing app on the App Store right now?

ChatGPT is the top grossing app on the US App Store in August 2026, and it held the #1 revenue position for 310 of the 350 days between August 2025 and August 2026. The free download chart changes more often, and its #1 is usually a different app than the grossing leader.

Which app has the highest revenue on the App Store?

ChatGPT earns the most revenue on the US App Store as of August 2026, based on Apple’s own top grossing chart. Apple does not publish exact revenue figures – the grossing chart shows rank order without dollar amounts.

What is the difference between top grossing and most downloaded apps?

Top grossing ranks apps by recent revenue from subscriptions, in-app purchases, and paid downloads, while most downloaded ranks them by number of installs. The 2 lists overlap less than the names suggest – 14 of the 20 top grossing apps on the US App Store are outside the free top 50.

Which apps have over 1 billion downloads?

Apple does not publish download counts, so no official 1-billion list exists for the App Store. Google Play shows public install brackets, and our guide to the most downloaded apps in Google Play covers the apps above 1 billion installs.

How often does the App Store top grossing chart update?

Apple refreshes the top grossing chart daily, and rankings follow recent revenue rather than all-time totals. A single strong revenue day can move an app up the chart – Dropbox reached #1 for exactly 1 day in October 2025.

Chart data comes from App Radar and covers the US App Store storefront across all categories. Chart history covers 350 daily snapshots between August 19, 2025 and August 18, 2026. Ratings totals and averages are US App Store values. Apple Ads competitive intelligence – paid keywords and share of voice – comes from SplitMetrics Acquire Market Intelligence (US market). Game subcategories such as Family and Casual are normalized to Games in the tables. All data was pulled in August 2026.