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Candy Crush Saga tops iTunes app download list for 2013

The puzzle game tops download charts for the year, while Beyonce's week-old release skyrockets to No. 2 best-selling album.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Candy Crush Saga Level 181. Task: Bring down all the ingredients. Screenshot/Jennifer Van Grove/CNET

Mobile gamers were pretty sweet on Candy Crush Saga this year.

The puzzle game was the No. 1 most downloaded free app for the iPhone and iPad in 2013, according to Apple's Best of iTunes list. It was also the No. 1 paid app for the iPad, while Minecraft was the No. 1 paid app for the iPhone.

Apple's list, released Monday evening, also includes year-end top 10 charts for most downloaded or purchased songs, albums, books, movies, TV shows, and podcasts, as well as Apple's picks of best of the year for each category.

Surprisingly, Beyonce's new "Beyonce" album, which was released on iTunes less than a week ago, was second behind Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience." Macklemore & Ryan Lewis had the top-selling song with "Thrift Shop."

"Skyfall" was the year's top-selling movie, and "Breaking Bad" was the best-selling TV show. Dan Brown's "Inferno" was the best-selling book in fiction, while Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In," encouraging women to achieve leadership positions, was the No. 1 nonfiction title in 2013.