Technology
Ranked: The Top 50 Most Visited Websites in the World
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Ranked: The Top 50 Most Visited Websites in the World
Estimates vary, but there are upwards of two billion websites in existence in 2023.
If we were to rank all of these websites according to their traffic numbers, we would see a classic power law distribution. At the low end, the vast majority of these websites would be inactive, receiving little to no traffic. On the upper end of the ranking though, a handful of websites receive the lion’s share of internet traffic.
This visualization, using data from SimilarWeb, takes a look at the 50 websites that currently sit at the top of the ranking.
Which Websites Get the Most Traffic?
Topping the list of most-visited websites in the world is, of course, Google. With over 3.5 billion searches per day, Google has cemented its position as the go-to source for information on the internet. But Google’s dominance doesn’t stop there. The company also owns YouTube, the second-most popular website in the world. Together, Google and YouTube have more traffic than the next 48 websites combined.
The power of YouTube, in particular, is sometimes not fully understood. The video platform is the second largest search engine in the world after Google. As well, YouTube has the second highest duration-of-visit numbers in this top 50 ranking. (First place goes to the Chinese video sharing website, Bilibili.)
But Google and YouTube aren’t the only big players on the internet. Other websites in the top 50 ranking include social media giants Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. In particular, TikTok has seen a surge in popularity in recent years and is now one of the most popular social media platforms in the world.
Here’s the full top 50 ranking table form:
| Rank | Website | Monthly Traffic | Category | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | google.com | 85.1B | Search Engines | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #2 | youtube.com | 33.0B | Streaming & Online TV | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #3 | facebook.com | 17.8B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #4 | twitter.com | 6.8B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #5 | instagram.com | 6.1B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #6 | baidu.com | 5.0B | Search Engines | 🇨🇳 China |
| #7 | wikipedia.org | 4.8B | Dictionaries & Encyclopedias | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #8 | yandex.ru | 3.4B | Search Engines | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| #9 | yahoo.com | 3.3B | News & Media Publishers | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #10 | whatsapp.com | 2.9B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #11 | xvideo.com | 2.8B | Adult | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
| #12 | amazon.com | 2.6B | Marketplace | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #13 | pornhub.com | 2.5B | Adult | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| #14 | xnxx.com | 2.3B | Adult | 🇫🇷 France |
| #15 | live.com | 2.1B | 🇺🇸 U.S. | |
| #16 | yahoo.co.jp | 2.1B | News & Media Publishers | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| #17 | netflix.com | 2.0B | Streaming & Online TV | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #18 | tiktok.com | 1.8B | Social Media Networks | 🇨🇳 China |
| #19 | docomo.ne.jp | 1.8B | Telecommunications | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| #20 | reddit.com | 1.7B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #21 | office.com | 1.6B | Prog. & Developer Software | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #22 | linkedin.com | 1.6B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #23 | dzen.ru | 1.4B | Faith & Beliefs | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| #24 | samsung.com | 1.4B | Consumer Electronics | 🇰🇷 S. Korea |
| #25 | vk.com | 1.4B | Social Media Networks | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| #26 | xhamster.com | 1.3B | Adult | 🇨🇾 Cyprus |
| #27 | turbopages.org | 1.3B | News & Media Publishers | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| #28 | mail.ru | 1.2B | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| #29 | naver.com | 1.2B | News & Media Publishers | 🇰🇷 S. Korea |
| #30 | bing.com | 1.2B | Search Engines | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #31 | microsoftonline.com | 1.1B | Prog. & Developer Software | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #32 | discord.com | 1.1B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #33 | twitch.tv | 1.1B | Gaming & Accessories | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #34 | bilibili.com | 1.0B | Animations & Comics | 🇨🇳 China |
| #35 | pinterest.com | 1.0B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #36 | zoom.us | 985.9M | Computers Electronics & Tech | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #37 | weather.com | 985.7M | Weather | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #38 | qq.com | 907.1M | News & Media Publishers | 🇨🇳 China |
| #39 | microsoft.com | 902.3M | Prog. & Developer Software | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #40 | msn.com | 870.8M | News & Media Publishers | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #41 | globo.com | 840.1M | News & Media Publishers | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| #42 | duckduckgo.com | 839.0M | Search Engines | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #43 | roblox.com | 795.7M | Gaming & Accessories | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #44 | quora.com | 775.9M | Dictionaries & Encyclopedias | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #45 | news.yahoo.co.jp | 749.1M | News & Media Publishers | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| #46 | ebay.com | 728.0M | Marketplace | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #47 | aajtak.in | 724.1M | News & Media Publishers | 🇮🇳 India |
| #48 | nytimes.com | 702.2M | News & Media Publishers | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #49 | realsrv.com | 688.0M | Adult | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| #50 | cnn.com | 684.9M | News & Media Publishers | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
Notable companies that have fallen out of the top 50 since our last version of this visualization are Walmart and PayPal. Notable entrants into the top 50 are Samsung and the New York Times.
The Geography of the 50 Most-Visited Websites
The United States is still home base for many of the world’s biggest websites, taking up 30 spots on this ranking. Of these 30 websites, half are operated by Big Tech companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Netflix.
Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea round out the top five.
Things get interesting in the “other” category, which includes six websites. Two spots are taken up by Aaj Tak and Globo, which are large media publications in India and Brazil, respectively.
The remaining four websites—XVideos, PornHub, XHamster, and XNXX—specialize in adult content, and are located in a variety of countries. These are often referred to as “tube sites” since they are built on the YouTube model.
Realsrv, the only adult-oriented site in the top 50 located in the U.S., is interesting to delve into as well, since it’s far from a household name. The website essentially supports advertising efforts by redirecting users away from the content they were viewing over to another page (generally premium adult content). This is one of the key ways that adult websites earn revenue.
Where does this data come from?
Source: SimilarWeb
Notes: Websites listed include “all meaningful subdomains”, and categories in the graphic follow SimilarWeb’s categorization system. This is the third version of this graphic. As with previous versions, we aim to use data from November for the sake of consistency and to avoid seasonal fluctuations in traffic. One important detail to point out is that website traffic does not include app traffic, which is why popular platforms like WeChat don’t appear in this ranking.
Technology
Charting the Next Generation of Internet
In this graphic, Visual Capitalist has partnered with MSCI to explore the potential of satellite internet as the next generation of internet innovation.
Could Tomorrow’s Internet be Streamed from Space?
In 2023, 2.6 billion people could not access the internet. Today, companies worldwide are looking to innovative technology to ensure more people are online at the speed of today’s technology.
Could satellite internet provide the solution?
In collaboration with MSCI, we embarked on a journey to explore whether tomorrow’s internet could be streamed from space.
Satellite Internet’s Potential Customer Base
Millions of people live in rural communities or mobile homes, and many spend much of their lives at sea or have no fixed abode. So, they cannot access the internet simply because the technology is unavailable.
Satellite internet gives these communities access to the internet without requiring a fixed location. Consequently, the volume of people who could get online using satellite internet is significant:
| Area | Potential Subscribers |
|---|---|
| Households Without Internet Access | 600,000,000 |
| RVs | 11,000,000 |
| Recreational Boats | 8,500,000 |
| Ships | 100,000 |
| Commercial Aircraft | 25,000 |
Advances in Satellite Technology
Satellite internet is not a new concept. However, it has only recently been that roadblocks around cost and long turnaround times have been overcome.
NASA’s space shuttle, until it was retired in 2011, was the only reusable means of transporting crew and cargo into orbit. It cost over $1.5 billion and took an average of 252 days to launch and refurbish.
In stark contrast, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 can now launch objects into orbit and maintain them at a fraction of the time and cost, less than 1% of the space shuttle’s cost.
| Average Rocket Turnaround Time | Average Launch/Refurbishment Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Falcon 9* | 21 days | < $1,000,000 |
| Space Shuttle | 252 days | $1,500,000,000 (approximately) |
Satellites are now deployed 300 miles in low Earth orbit (LEO) rather than 22,000 miles above Earth in Geostationary Orbit (GEO), previously the typical satellite deployment altitude.
What this means for the consumer is that satellite internet streamed from LEO has a latency of 40 ms, which is an optimal internet connection. Especially when compared to the 700 ms stream latency experienced with satellite internet streamed from GEO.
What Would it Take to Build a Satellite Internet?
SpaceX, the private company that operates Starlink, currently has 4,500 satellites. However, the company believes it will require 10 times this number to provide comprehensive satellite internet coverage.
Charting the number of active satellites reveals that, despite the increasing number of active satellites, many more must be launched to create a comprehensive satellite internet.
| Year | Number of Active Satellites |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 6,905 |
| 2021 | 4,800 |
| 2020 | 3,256 |
| 2019 | 2,272 |
| 2018 | 2,027 |
| 2017 | 1,778 |
| 2016 | 1,462 |
| 2015 | 1,364 |
| 2014 | 1,262 |
| 2013 | 1,187 |
Next-Generation Internet Innovation
Innovation is at the heart of the internet’s next generation, and the MSCI Next Generation Innovation Index exposes investors to companies that can take advantage of potentially disruptive technologies like satellite internet.
You can gain exposure to companies advancing access to the internet with four indexes:
- MSCI ACWI IMI Next Generation Internet Innovation Index
- MSCI World IMI Next Generation Internet Innovation 30 Index
- MSCI China All Shares IMI Next Generation Internet Innovation Index
- MSCI China A Onshore IMI Next Generation Internet Innovation Index
MSCI thematic indexes are objective, rules-based, and regularly updated to focus on specific emerging trends that could evolve.
Click here to explore the MSCI thematic indexes
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