Domain range

TikTok dethrones Google as this year’s most popular domain

Long live the king.

Sarah Tew / CNET

Google’s domain is a powerful force with the company’s range of services, from maps to photos to flights. But the search giant was just humbled by a newcomer to the TikTok block, which landed the No. 1 most popular domain spot at the end of 2021, according to tech security firm Cloudflare.

Google.com closed 2020 as the most popular domain of the year, with TikTok.com ranked No. 7. But things took a turn this year as TikTok rose to number one, placing Google in second place. It comes as the social video app owned by ByteDance exploded in popularity during the pandemic, reaching 1 billion monthly active users in September. As people spent more time at home to help curb the spread of COVID-19, many turned to TikTok for entertainment and rest.

TikTok clinched the top spot for a few days, split between February, March, and May of this year, but after August 10 it “took the lead most days,” CloudFlare said in a blog post.

“There were days when Google was # 1, but October and November were mostly TikTok days, including Thanksgiving (November 25) and Black Friday (November 26),” the post said.

Here’s the full list of this year’s 10 most popular domains:

  1. TikTok.com
  2. Google FR
  3. Facebook.com
  4. Microsoft.com
  5. Apple.com
  6. Amazon.com
  7. Netflix.com
  8. YouTube.com
  9. Twitter.com
  10. Whatsapp.com