The Apple App Store has paid out over $20 billion to developers in 2016, which is an increase of over 40% over 2015, according to Apple. They also said that January 1, 2017 had the highest dollar volume of app purchases of any single day in the Apple App Store’s history, with over $240 million in sales. Since the App Store launched in 2008, developers have earned over $60 billion.
“2016 was a record-shattering year for the App Store, generating $20 billion for developers, and 2017 is off to a great start with January 1 as the single biggest day ever on the App Store,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “We want to thank our entire developer community for the many innovative apps they have created — which together with our products — help to truly enrich people’s lives.”
Apple also noted that December 2016 was an amazing month for App purchases, hitting over $3 billion in sales.
Subscription billings, which became available just this Fall in all categories, are one of the fastest growing segments of app sales. There are over 20,000 apps that can be subscribed to for a monthly fee including popular services such as Netflix, HBO Now, Line, Tinder and MLB.com At Bat. Subscription based apps generated $2.7 billion in billings in 2016, up 74% over 2015.
Apple also recently announced a Best of 2016 Music list: