These are the most popular websites right now – and they might just surprise you (August 2024 edition)

We have updated this article to reflect the ever evolving state of play online. The website traffic rankings are largely predictable, dominated by the world’s search, the best ecommerce platforms and social media giants. However, there are a few notable (and even taboo) exceptions, new data suggests. The original article can be found further down the page.

August 2024

The biggest worldwide traffic driver was news about severe weather in Japan during August, a month of typhoons, earthquake, and tsunami warnings, as well as record heat.

The fastest growing website, by a change in unique visitors, was jma.go.jp, the website of the Japanese Meteorological Association, up 112.5% month-over-month (MoM), according to Similarweb estimates The #2 site was weathernews.jp, the website of the Japanese weather channel, up 65.6%. Five of the top 10 were Japanese news and TV websites.

The fastest-growing website from outside of Japan was rutube.ru, a Russian streaming video platform, followed by the official website of the Olympic games, olympics.com.

Here is the full list, ranked by month-over-month (MoM) growth and showing year-over-year (YoY) change and total unique visitors for August.

Most popular websites according to Similarweb

Although the weather story may have been local to Japan, the surge in unique visitors was enough to set the pattern worldwide.

The dominant trend in the US: back to school

If we narrow our focus to just the US, we see a different trend but one that’s even stronger. In the US, seven of the top 10 fastest growing websites are related to education – particularly education technology – reflecting the fact that children were going back to school from late August to early September.

The #1 fastest growing website, cherrycreekschools.org, was for a school district that was asking citizens to vote to approve a bond measure in August to support capital improvements.

July 2024

For the second month in a row, sports websites are at the top of our fastest-growing websites list for July, produced in cooperation with Similarweb. US politics also spurred big gains.

The official website of the Paris Olympics, olympics.com, attracted 86.7 million (M) unique visitors in July, a 407% increase from the previous month, according to Similarweb estimates. The Olympic games ran from late July through August 11.

A Japanese sports website, sportsbull.jp, grew even faster, up 611.6% to 12.4 million unique visitors.

The audience for the official website of the Tour de France, letour.fr, grew 286.8% to 11.2M unique visitors, while the sports betting site betnacional.com grew 107.4% to 22.9M visitors. The website peacocktv.com, the streaming service of the NBC television network, saw visitor growth of 79.5% at least partly because of its Olympics coverage.

On the political front, visitors to actblue.com, which raises money for candidates in the US Democratic Party, were up 193.3% during the month that Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the party’s presidential candidate. The audiences for Democratic-leaning news websites also increased, with rawstory.com up 119.9% and msnbc.com up 85.9%.

Meanwhile, unique visitors to fivethirtyeight.com were up 97.6% – the site’s compilation and analysis of polling results is addictive for political news junkies.

Only two of the top 10 fastest-growing websites fell outside of the pattern of sports and politics: ideal.nl, a payment network, and hoyolab.com, a digital gaming community website.

Click on the links associated with any of these web domains to get more information about them. This report is based on an analysis of the top 2,000 websites tracked by Similarweb, ranked by month-over-month growth in desktop and mobile web visitors. The results have been filtered to eliminate domains that don’t represent real business growth.

Most popular websites according to Similarweb

June 2024

Excitement about sports drove the most growth across the web in June, with tons of traffic related to football (or soccer) – but with the website for the Cricket World Cup icc-cricket.com at the top of the list.

Traffic to icc-cricket.com was up 284.4% from May to June and up 504.7% compared with last June. Cricket’s T20 World Cup 2024 concluded in June with a victory for India.

Outside of sports, all the other sites that ranked were also devoted to news and entertainment – three offering video streaming and one devoted to gaming.

Produced by Similarweb in partnership with Tech Radar Pro, this ranking is based on the month-over-month (MoM) increase in unique visitors to the top 2,000 websites, worldwide. For context, we’ve also shared the year-over-year (YoY) change and totals. The list has been filtered to exclude porn sites and spam sites, as well as sites we couldn’t access when we tried to verify them.

While these sites may have experienced a particularly good month for traffic in June, all of them also demonstrated a more lasting YoY gain. Traffic to the German sports betting site Kicktipp (kicktipp.de) was up 1,301.2% YoY.

Most popular websites according to Similarweb

May 2024

The world’s fastest-growing website in May was a Hindi news site, lalluram.com, up more than 800% to 24 million (M) unique visitors, according to Similarweb estimates. The increase is probably temporary, a result of the national elections that concluded on June 1, with traffic peaking in the middle of the month.

The ranking produced in partnership with TechRadar Pro is based on the month-over-month (MoM) increase in unique visitors, although for context we’ve also shared the year-over-year (YoY) change and totals.

Half of the top 10 are news or sports news websites, led by the US sports news site Althon Sports (athlonsports.com), up 92% MoM and 476% YoY to 16.2M unique visitors.

The popularity surge for the website of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, noaa.gov, up 80%, was also likely driven by the search for news about the coming hurricane season in the US and other severe weather events.

Not all of the sites were news-related, however – #2 was kindred.co, the Kindred for Business website promoting the company’s loyalty programs, with unique visitors up 116.5% to 74.3 million. Betting site stake.us was up 72.6% and walmart.com.mx was up 68.7%.

Election season surge

The lalluram.com website benefitted from a surge of interest around the coming election that peaked in mid-May and faded after the results were announced.

Most popular websites according to Similarweb

April 2024

Last month, cryptocurrency websites saw a surge in visitors due to Bitcoin’s re-found popularity in the news. This month, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in user interest in Web3 – the blockchain-based 3.0 version of the internet, which is decentralized and emphasizes token-based economies.

The fastest-growing website worldwide in April 2024 was walletconnect.com, an open-source protocol that allows users to connect their crypto wallet to decentralized applications (dApps). The site saw an 1815.1% increase in unique visitors month-over-month (MoM), growing to 11.3 million individuals, according to Similarweb estimates. Year-over-year (YoY) there was a whopping 4571.1% increase.

Traffic to walletconnect.com increased by 2931.7% from March to April with 99.0 million monthly visits, 99% of which came from mobile web. A related domain, walletconnect.org, saw a traffic boost of more than 2000% MoM, but we left it off the list because that most or all of that traffic is being forwarded to walletconnect.com.

The runner-up was chocozap.jp, with a 321.7% increase in unique visitors MoM. While our analysis usually only features English-language websites, Chocozap’s impressive growth was 5x higher than the rest of the websites in the top 10. The Japanese-based company, which offers a low-cost micro-gym for beginners and people with tight schedules who want a convenient workout on their own time, saw a 1093.7% increase in traffic in April, with 57.4 million web visits worldwide (across both desktop and mobile web).

These are just a few of the highlights from our new monthly report on the fastest-growing websites, produced in cooperation with the digital intelligence company Similarweb. The rankings are based on an analysis of growth in unique visitors to the top 2,000 websites worldwide, sorted by MoM growth. The analysis is limited to English-language websites (with the exception of Chocozap this month) and excludes those promoting pornographic content or obvious scams.

Sixth on the fastest-growing list is dexscreener.com, a crypto trading platform, which was featured last month as well. This month the website saw a 32% increase in MoM, with 4.8 million unique visitors in April 2024.

Stake.com was another repeat winner. The online casino and sports betting website is growing in popularity, albeit a bit slower than last month. In April, the site had 29.9 million unique visitors, a 59.6% increase in MoM, compared to +77.9% in March. The slight decline could be attributed to the end of March Madness, which undoubtedly spiked interest in sports betting. Similarweb found that sports betting was up 20% during the college basketball championship.

News sites were predominantly featured, including US-based cbsnews.com, which grew 27.6% from March to April (50.9 million unique visitors). The two other digital publications on the winners list were indianexpress.com (+34.0%, 58.1 million unique visitors) and aljazeera.com (+24.7%, 20.8 million unique visitors).

Thanks to tax season in the US, irs.gov had 40.0 million unique visitors, a 23.3% increase in MoM. Most of the site’s traffic can be attributed to the months leading up to the tax deadline as Americans prepare to file. In the last six months (November 2023-April 2024) there were 537.7 million total web visits, a 112.5% increase compared to the previous period.

Sephora.com was the only ecommerce site to make it onto the list this month with 26.1 million individuals visiting it (+26.8% MoM). The beauty giant held a major Savings Event from April 9-15, which attracted more people to the site. And AnimeSurge, which offers free and fast streaming of anime videos, saw growth of 54.5% (7.6 million unique visitors) to its website (animesurge.to).

Most popular websites according to Similarweb

March 2024

Cryptocurrency was thrust into the headlines again in March as Bitcoin prices dropped to their lowest value since November 2022. The dip presented a rare buying opportunity for new and seasoned investors alike, and cryptocurrency websites saw a surge in web visitors because of it.

Four of the top ten fastest-growing websites worldwide in March 2024 were crypto trading platforms providing information and data on prices, trade volumes, market capitalization, and more. Unique visitors to coinmarketcap.com increased by nearly 86.5% from February to March 2024, growing to 19.1 million individuals, according to Similarweb estimates. Traffic increased by about 85% to 314.6 million visits. Other crypto sites that saw impressive growth include dexscreener.com, coingecko.com, and coinbase.com.

The winning site, however, was zaloapp.com, with a 126.8% increase in unique visitors month-over-month (MoM), The messaging application offering fast, stable, convenient, and private connections had 35.5 million unique visitors in March 2024 and 101.2 million web visits worldwide (across both desktop and mobile web).

These are just two highlights from our new monthly report on the fastest-growing websites, produced in cooperation with the digital intelligence company Similarweb. The rankings are based on an analysis of growth in unique visitors to the top 2,000 websites worldwide, sorted by MoM growth. The analysis is limited to English-language websites and excludes those promoting pornographic content or obvious scams.

The site with the second biggest gain was jiocinema.com, an Indian media streaming service owned by Viacom18. It offers videos on-demand and live-streaming content and is growing in popularity with 30.6 million unique visitors in March 2024, a 90.4% increase MoM.

Two e-commerce websites made it into the top ten, including retail trailblazer temu.com. Although Temu was in tenth place on our list, with 160.3 million unique visitors, a 33% increase MoM, the site experienced massive growth year-over-year, growing 564.5%. Temu.com saw 479.0 million web visits in March 2024. Gap.com is the other e-commerce site on our list (+35.3% unique visitors), likely due to an increased demand for apparel from one of their subsidiaries, Old Navy.

Grammarly, which uses AI to offer content guidance, text generation, and grammar and spelling assistance, saw audience growth to its website (grammarly.com) by 36% in March. This is likely due to a growing interest and user demand for AI-supported technology.

Fourth on the list is stake.com, (+77.9%), is an online casino and sports betting website. The site likely benefited from March Madness and the influx of betting associated with the college basketball championships.

Most popular websites according to Similarweb

February 2024

The former US Fox News Channel TV anchor Tucker Carlson attracted plenty of criticism for the video interview he streamed with Russian President Vladamir Putin, but it also attracted a ton of traffic to tuckercarlson.com.

Unique visitors to Carlson’s website increased by more than 1,000% from January to February to 9.9 million individuals, according to Similarweb estimates. Traffic increased by about 800% to 26 million visits.

That is one of the highlights from our new monthly report on the fastest-growing websites, produced in cooperation with the digital intelligence company Similarweb.

The rankings are based on an analysis of growth in unique visitors to the top 2,000 websites worldwide, sorted by month-over-month growth. The analysis is limited to English-language websites and excludes those promoting pornographic content or obvious scams.

The site with the second biggest gain was yeezy.com, the apparel sales ecommerce site by American rapper Kanye West, which in recent weeks has been running a sale with all items priced at $20. Yeezy was previously the name of a collaboration between West and Adidas. However, the partnership was canceled in October 2023 due to the controversy over anti-semitic comments by West.

Unique visitors to yeezy.com increased by 643% in February to 7.7 million people.

In third place, neal.fun grew unique visits by 321% to 9.7 million people. The site is a collection of meme-worthy projects by the web coder Neal Agarwal, including Internet Artifacts and The Password Game.

Websites that got a boost from interest in sports were also in the top 10, including car racing (nascar.com +167% and formula1.com +130%) and the Super Bowl championship (kmbc.com, the hometown TV station of the champion Kansas City Chiefs, up 92%, and cbs.com, the US TV network that carried the game, up 58%). The start of tax season in the US propelled tax preparation sites to the top of the list: freetaxusa.com +83% and taxslayer.com +79%.

Bluesky, the alternative to Elon Musk’s X backed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, saw audience growth to its website (bsky.app) by 81% in February after removing the requirement that users present an invite code before enrolling.

Bluesky can be accessed by either the website or a mobile app, although the app is probably more important for ongoing engagement. Similarweb estimates that in the US monthly active users for the iOS and Android apps combined rose 30% month-over-month in February. However, the Bluesky app has less than 1 million US monthly active users for iOS and Android, compared with 7.2 million for Threads and 75 million for X.

Most popular websites according to Similarweb

October 2023

The growing popularity of platforms like Ozbargain.com.au, reflecting data from sources like Similarweb, underlines a significant trend – consumers are actively seeking value-driven shopping experiences. Deals, discounts, and cost-effective solutions are now at the forefront of consumers’ priorities, as both SEMrush and Similarweb data suggest, reflecting a discerning and budget-conscious approach to spending.

Moreover, we witness a noticeable surge in traffic to news and finance websites, a clear indication of consumers’ insatiable thirst for information. In today’s ever-changing world, where uncertainty often looms, the need for reliable news and financial updates has become more pronounced than ever before. Both SEMrush and Similarweb data point to consumers actively seeking to stay informed, driving the growth of these websites.

Most popular websites according to SEMrush

SEMrush data for October unveils a diverse array of websites experiencing rapid growth. Notably, e-commerce giants like Amazon.it and Amazon.in showcase growth rates of 30.1% and 15.2%, respectively, reflecting the surging demand for online shopping. The telecommunications sector is also on the rise, with Airtel.in witnessing a 22.3% growth rate, driven by increased digital connectivity needs. Additionally, the news industry shines through websites like Hurriyet.com.tr and TheSun.co.uk, indicating a heightened demand for credible information sources. This digital migration across various sectors underscores the shift in consumer behaviour, emphasizing convenience, connectivity, and access to reliable content as key drivers in today’s digital landscape.

The surge in these websites’ growth is a testament to the evolving online preferences of users, who now prioritize efficient e-commerce, secure communication, and immediate access to news and information.

Most popular websites according to Similarweb

Similarweb’s data unveils a different set of thriving websites, with recruit.co.jp leading the way with a staggering traffic MoM increase of 5220.3%. This Japanese job portal’s remarkable growth can be attributed to the dynamic job market and increasing online job-seeking trends.

Other websites like realestate.com.au, sharechat.com, ozbargain.com.au, and more are experiencing substantial growth according to Similarweb. These websites cater to real estate, social networking, and deal-hunting, respectively. Their growth is closely tied to the increasing demand for their services in the digital age.

The original article continues below

According to Similarweb analysis, adult websites Xvideos and Pornhub are among the most trafficked in the United States, receiving an average of 693.5 million and 639.6 million monthly visitors respectively.

The two pornography giants outrank a number of major services, including Netflix (541 million), Zoom (629.5 million) and Twitch (255.3 million).

What’s more, these sites are expanding at a faster rate than almost all other high-traffic domains. While the Xvideos user base has grown by 2.63% month-on-month, sites like Wikipedia saw page views drop by a similar proportion and only Amazon achieved a greater rate of traffic growth, at 7.49%.

Of the top 20 websites, four are classified as pornographic: Xvideos (#11), Pornhub (#13), Xnxx (#16) and Jerkmate (#20).

Most popular websites

Google is by far the busiest website in the world, attracting 19.5 billion US visitors per month, which is more than three times the number of any other site. YouTube (also owned by Google) takes second spot on the list with 6.5 billion monthly visitors, followed by Facebook with 4.0 billion.

Predictably, Amazon is the largest online retailer in the US, attracting 2.0 billion monthly visitors, tailed by eBay and Walmart. Similarweb data suggests ecommerce websites like these have enjoyed some of the fastest rates of growth in recent months.

The publisher to receive the most US traffic is Yahoo, in 5th position overall with 1.8 billion monthly visitors, ahead of CNN, ESPN, MSN and, a little further down the list, the New York Times.

Although Google dominates the global search market, privacy-focused service DuckDuckGo has risen to an impressive 18th place. The comparatively niche search engine even outranks Microsoft Bing, attracting roughly 50 million more visitors per month, suggesting US web users are taking their data security increasingly seriously.

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