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TikTok dethrones Google as this year's most popular domain

The power of Gen Z.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter
Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET analyzing tech trends while also writing news, reviews and commentaries across mobile, streaming and online culture. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has three times been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
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Abrar Al-Heeti
001-tiktok-app-logo-on-phone-2021

Long live the king.

 Sarah Tew/CNET

Google's  domain is a powerful force thanks to the company's range of services, from Maps to Photos to Flights. But the search giant has just been humbled by new kid on the block TikTok , which nabbed the spot for No. 1 most popular domain of late 2021, according to tech-security company Cloudflare.

Google.com closed out 2020 as the most popular domain of the year, with TikTok.com ranking at No. 7. But things took a turn this year as TikTok climbed to the top spot, knocking Google into second place. This comes as the ByteDance-owned social video app has exploded in popularity during the pandemic, hitting 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 reprieve.  

TikTok landed the top spot for a few days spread between February, March and May of this year, but after Aug. 10, it "took the lead on most days," CloudFlare said in a blog post.

"There were some days when Google was #1, but October and November were mostly TikTok's days, including on Thanksgiving (November 25) and Black Friday (November 26)," the post says.

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

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


Read more: 20 viral TikTok products to add to your shopping list

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