TikTok overtakes Google as most popular site in 2021

Google has been booted from the top spot, with a social media app taking out most popular website for 2021 in a shock upset.

TikTok just won’t stop.

The video-driven social media app is the most popular site in 2021 — beating out last year’s top favourite Google, according to a new tech report.

TikTok even beat out other well-known domains that outranked it in 2020, such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Netflix, data from web security company Cloudflare shows.

Cloudflare found that TikTok, which ranked seventh to No. 1 Google in 2020, got a little “help” from the pandemic, boosting the app to the top spot this year, NY Post reported.

TikTok and Google flipflopped for the top spot throughout the year — including in October and November, when Google reigned supreme, according to Cloudflare.

It has been a huge year for TikTok. Picture: Mario Tama / AFP

But eventually TikTok took over — and outranked Google.com, which includes Maps, Translate, Photos, Flights, Books and News, on days like Black Friday.

Overall in 2021, TikTok was closely followed by Google in second place and Facebook in third. Microsoft and Apple completed the top five spots. Ranked six was Amazon, followed by Netflix, (7) YouTube (8), Twitter (9) and WhatsApp in 10th.

Wildly popular among the younger generation, TikTok has inspired the launch of other platforms, like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and Triller. In September, the viral app said it hit 1 billion monthly active global users.

However, like other social media platforms, the Chinese-owned Tiktok also come under the government’s microscope.

Facebook was the third most popular site. Picture: Olivier Douliery / AFP

In October, a TikTok executive denied during a US congressional hearing that it has given information to the Chinese government and said that it has taken steps to safeguard US data.

Former President Donald Trump had sought to ban TikTok from US app stores, saying it collected data from American users that could be obtained by China’s government and posed a threat to US national security.

President Biden later revoked Trump’s plan, but sought a broader review of various foreign-controlled apps.

This article originally appeared on NY Post and has been reproduced with permission.