Top Mobile Games Worldwide for January 2021 by Downloads

The mobile gaming landscape in January 2021 saw a significant shift in leadership, as Join Clash 3D ascended to the top position for global downloads. With 27 million installs, the title experienced a dramatic surge, representing a more than 3,300-fold increase compared to January 2020. India served as the primary market for the game, accounting for 38.3 percent of its total downloads.

Among Us, which had dominated the rankings for several months, fell to second place with 26 million installs. Despite this decline from its peak in September 2020, the title maintained strong momentum with a 20-fold increase in year-over-year installs and a lifetime download total of 322.5 million by the end of January. Other notable performers in the top five included DOP 2, Sushi Roll 3D, and Project Makeover. The latter, a puzzle-fashion hybrid, demonstrated particularly strong growth, achieving 22.2 million downloads—a 57 percent increase over December—alongside record-breaking monthly revenue of $44.7 million.

These findings are derived from the Store Intelligence platform, which tracks unique installs across the Apple App Store and Google Play worldwide. The analysis covers the period of January 2021, excluding pre-installed applications and third-party Android stores. By providing a snapshot of global consumer behavior, the data highlights the continued volatility and rapid growth potential within the mobile gaming sector, particularly for titles that successfully blend established subgenres to capture broad audiences.