Apple Shares the 'Best of 2018' Highlighting Top Apps, Games, Music, TV Shows, Movies and More

Apple today presented its best of 2018 lists, highlighting the apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, books, and audiobooks that "shaped entertainment and culture around the world this year."

Apple shares its top lists for the App Store, iTunes Store, and more each and every year, and this year's lists are available via the Apple Newsroom.

applebestapps2018
According to Apple, the App Trend of the Year is "Self-Care," featuring wellness apps like Fabulous, Shine, and Calm. The Game Trend of the Year was, unsurprisingly, "Battle Royale-style gaming" so named because of the popularity of apps like Fortnite and PUBG.

Apple's other top app and game lists are below, with Apple offering up separate winners for the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac.

  • iPhone App of the Year - Procreate Pocket
  • iPhone Game of the Year - Donut County
  • iPad App of the Year - Froggipedia
  • iPad Game of the Year - Gorogoa
  • Mac App of the Year - Pixelmator Pro
  • Mac Game of the Year - The Gardens Between
  • Apple TV App of the Year - Sweat
  • Apple TV Game of the Year - Alto's Odyssey

Apple named Drake as the top artist of the year, while "I Like It" from Cardi B was named the song of the year. Kacey Musgraves' "Golden Hour" album was named album of then year, while Juice WRLD took the breakout artist of the year title.

As for movies, Apple named "Annihilation," "Black Panther," "Crazy Rich Asians," and "Eighth Grade" as some of the best movies of the year, while "The Americans," "Atlanta," "The Good Place," and "The Handmaid's Tale" were named some of the best TV shows.

Apple's full Newsroom article has a complete list of the winners for each of its services, along with top charts and other data that's worth checking out if you're looking for music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, books, and apps you might have missed in 2018.

Popular Stories

iOS 26 on iPhone Feature

Here's When iOS 26 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: Out Now!]

Monday September 15, 2025 12:00 am PDT by
Update 10:06 a.m.: iOS 26 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Today's the day! Apple is about to release iOS 26, which will deliver the biggest redesign since iOS 7 and bring a range of new features and improvements to iPhones worldwide. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at last week's iPhone event that...
Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple Reportedly Plans to Launch These 10 Products in 'Coming Months'

Sunday September 14, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple's annual September event is now in the rearview mirror, with the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air, Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, Apple Watch SE 3, and AirPods Pro 3 set to launch this Friday, September 19. As always, there is more to come. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple plans to release many products in the...
iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

Apple Says Installing iOS 26 Might Impact Battery Life

Monday September 15, 2025 10:56 am PDT by
In the iOS 26 release notes, Apple is warning iPhone users that installing the new software might have a temporary impact on battery life, which is normal. A new support document explains that major iOS updates require background setup like indexing data and files for search, downloading new assets, and updating apps. Further, Apple says that new features could require more resources,...
apple n1 chip

Apple's New N1 Chip in iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Has a Wi-Fi 7 Limitation

Saturday September 13, 2025 10:01 am PDT by
The latest iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air models are equipped with Apple's all-new N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity. However, the chip has a Wi-Fi 7 bandwidth limitation. According to FCC documents reviewed by MacRumors, the N1 chip in all of the new iPhone models supports up to 160 MHz channel bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7, short of the...
iphone 17 lineup

iPhone 17 Models Launch on September 19 With These New Features

Friday September 12, 2025 7:58 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 lineup and ultra-thin iPhone Air in stores on Friday, September 19, and the company has already shown off the new devices at its fall event, which ran with the the tagline "Awe dropping." The iPhone 17 series brings a host of new features and enhancements. Here's a rundown of the biggest upgrades and changes: iPhone 17 Display Changes The iPhone...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 Get iOS 26 Features With New Firmware Update

Monday September 15, 2025 10:50 am PDT by
Apple today released updated firmware for the AirPods Pro 2 and the AirPods 4, introducing support for the new AirPods features that are included in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe. The firmware has a build number of 8A356, and it replaces the current 7E93 firmware. With Apple's new software updates, the AirPods Pro 2 and the AirPods 4 support better audio quality for phone calls and...
iPhone 17 Pro Air Boxes

iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Boxes Revealed

Sunday September 14, 2025 1:36 pm PDT by
T-Mobile President Jon Freier today shared real-world photos of Apple's boxes for the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 models, which launch on Friday. Image Credit: Jon Freier Apple has typically included iPhone box renders in its product environmental reports, but it did not do so for the latest models. However, Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program page does offer some images of the boxes, ...

Top Rated Comments

deeddawg Avatar
89 months ago
Procreate Pocket sounds like a fertility tracking app.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KPandian1 Avatar
89 months ago
The "Good Place" is a very deep show, well portrayed by seemingly shallow characters. The one NBC show worth its time.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lunarworks Avatar
89 months ago
The "Good Place" is a very deep show, well portrayed by seemingly shallow characters. The one NBC show worth its time.
My wife and I started watching The Good Place on Netflix last month, after seeing a few GIFs of it (I know), and now we're almost caught up with the current season.

I can't say enough good things about it. Such a fresh concept, compared to all the standard sitcoms out there.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MakeAppleAwesomeAgain Avatar
89 months ago
Ladies and gentleman, iPad app of the year:


Froggipedia, an engaging, interactive, powerful constructive learning Apple AR which helps explore and discover the unique life cycle and intricate anatomical details of a frog.
What’s a computer?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R10k Avatar
89 months ago
Pixelmator Pro isn’t worthy of much attention...

But Annihilation is an amazing movie.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
charleswhalley Avatar
89 months ago
Bit of a snooze fest on the Mac this year, then?

Pixelmator Pro is hardly any different to Pixelmator, which itself is an old app now.
Snoozefest - that is an understatement. Looking forward to the highlights of hardware - oh silly me - there aren't any!!!!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)