Today’s (2026-09-11) biggest takeaway is the simultaneous multi-country expansion of “security/VPN and vertical short dramas”: Proton VPN debuted on the same day in android-tools at DE #4, JP #12, and HR #17, while android-entertainment had the highest churn of all 35 categories with a 90% top-10 retention rate, and new drama apps such as FreeDrama (US #3) and Coin Drama (HR #8) broke into the top ranks.

1. New Entrants

The most important development is same-day entry across multiple countries. Proton VPN entered android-tools/free simultaneously in three markets—DE #4, JP #12, and HR #17—and immediately reached #4 in Germany. In maps, GPS Satellite Earth Map View appeared in JP #15, US #19, and GB #42; in weather, Drone App: Forecast for UAV appeared in HR #17, DE #19, and US #26; and AI chat app PolyBuzz appeared in JP #18, US #26, and GB #35—each across three markets on the same day. Single-country entries also stood out for jumping straight into the top 10, including FreeDrama #3 in the US, GlobalComix #3 in GB, Beauty Camera #5 in DE, and Guardio #5 in the US.

2. Sharp Monthly Rises

The reference date is 2026-08-26 (16 days ago), the oldest date available in the archive. Note that there is not yet a full month of data, so “monthly” is only a nominal label. The biggest gain was Pixel Tamerz at #1 in KR (+42), followed by Splitwise in HR (grossing #5, +38) and TradingView (grossing #1, +36). Among apps absent on the reference date but now within the top 20, finance stood out: PhonePe (HR #1), MOUM (KR #1), and Polymarket (US #1) all simultaneously claimed the top spot.

3. Trends by Rank Tier

top (ranks 1–10, 3,972 slots) was extremely static: held 96% / new 1% / average movement 0.5. mid (ranks 11–30, 7,159 slots) was held 94% / new 3% / 0.8, while bottom (ranks 31–45, 5,035 slots) was held 91% / new 5% / 1.0. New entries almost always come in at the lower end, while top-ranked positions do not move from the previous day. Developer information is missing for 97,055 records, so concentration among developers occupying top slots cannot be measured today.

4. Trends by Country

The US had the most new entries at 118 (90 charts), followed by HR with 98 (63 charts), while JP was the calmest at 50 (76 charts). Top-10 retention was broadly even: 96% in DE/GB/US and 95% in HR/JP/KR. Common patterns include Canva and Spotify (music) at #1 in all six countries, while WhatsApp, Duolingo, Uber, Findmykids, and others were also top-10 in all six. On the other hand, Trenitalia #17 (+25) in DE, AEON Shopping #3 (+27) in JP, and Ryanair #1 (+19) in GB were locally specific movements.

5. Trends by Category

The most active categories were android-maps-and-navigation (37 new entries across 13 charts), android-entertainment (26, with the lowest top-10 retention at 90%), android-health-and-fitness (26), android-photography (24, held 93%), and android-personalization (23). In contrast, android-watch-face was effectively frozen at 100% held with just one new entry; android-libraries-and-demo also had only one new entry; and android-android-wear was 99% held.

Key Findings

1. Proton VPN enters three markets on the same day, with security/VPN dominating the android-tools entry point

Proton VPN debuted in android-tools/free on the same day in DE #4, JP #12, and HR #17. That same day, Guardio - Mobile Security entered at #5 in the US, VPN - Super Unlimited Proxy at #8 in GB, and Privacy Display: Screen Filter at #11 in HR and #24 in the US. With 20 new entries and 94% top-10 retention, android-tools is turning over quickly. This is the strongest signal that privacy- and protection-focused messaging is emerging simultaneously across markets.

Confidence: High

2. Vertical short dramas are seeing both new entrants and rising monetization; entertainment has the lowest category-wide top-10 retention at 90%

android-entertainment saw the greatest disruption of all 35 categories, with 26 new entries and 90% top-10 retention. New entries included FreeDrama: Watch Free & Earn at US #3, Coin Drama at HR #8, and BlinkDrama at HR #10. Day-over-day, DramaWave rose to DE #3 (+24); versus the reference date, BlinkDrama reached grossing #11 in GB (+33), while VibeShort reached JP #12 (+26). Free-chart entry and grossing-chart growth are happening at the same time, suggesting this is more than one day of noise.

Confidence: High

3. android-maps-and-navigation has the highest turnover with 37 new entries, driven by “driver-side” apps

With 37 new entries across 13 charts, this category saw by far the highest turnover (94% top-10 retention). Driver: Driving & Dash Cam App entered in GB #14 and US #15, while Bolt Driver entered in HR #14 and DE #43 across two markets; Yango Pro (Taximeter) reached #10 in HR. The distinctive pattern is the simultaneous rise of ride-hailing and operations-side apps rather than consumer navigation apps. GPS Satellite Earth Map View also entered on the same day in JP #15, US #19, and GB #42.

Confidence: High

4. Finance apps absent on the reference date (2026-08-26, 16 days ago) simultaneously took #1 in three markets

Finance dominates the top of the list of apps absent on the reference date but now within the top 20. PhonePe (HR android-finance/free #1), MOUM (KR #1), and Polymarket (US #1) each took first place; in HR, Paytm #2 and Airtel #3 followed, while Finanzguru #2 and Investing.com #3 also ranked highly in grossing. Splitwise in HR (grossing #5, +38) and TradingView (grossing #1, +36) also posted some of the largest gains in the period. The reference date is only 16 days ago, not a full month ago.

Confidence: High

5. Korean games show the largest period gains: Pixel Tamerz reaches #1 with +42

com.returnpixel.pixelsummoners (Pixel Tamerz) reached #1 in KR android-game/free, up +42 versus the reference date. This is the largest increase across the full ranking movement list. Also in KR, Bunker TapTap Defense rose +34 day-over-day to #3, Wild Water World entered at #2 after being absent on the reference date, and Top Lords entered at #11. In paid charts, Brotato: Premium also gained in both markets at KR #6 (+28) and US #8 (+26), making Korean games today’s most active area.

Confidence: High

6. Top ranks barely move day-over-day: top is held 96% / new 1% / average movement 0.5

top (ranks 1–10, 3,972 slots) was held 96% / new 1% / |Δ| 0.5; mid (ranks 11–30, 7,159 slots) was 94% / 3% / 0.8; and bottom (ranks 31–45, 5,035 slots) was 91% / 5% / 1.0. New entries almost invariably arrive at the bottom, while top positions do not swap out from the previous day. Therefore, a new app entering today’s top 10 is inherently rare, making cases such as Proton VPN at DE #4 and FreeDrama at US #3 statistically strong.

Confidence: High

7. By market, the US (118) and HR (98) are the main sources of new inflow, while JP (50) is the quietest

New-entry counts were US 118 (90 charts), HR 98 (63 charts), GB 72 (79 charts), DE 64 (64 charts), KR 53 (70 charts), and JP 50 (76 charts). HR has the highest density of new entries relative to chart count, while JP has the lowest. However, top-10 retention is nearly identical across markets at 95–96%, meaning inflow is occurring in the middle and lower ranks rather than at the top. HR and the US are better suited to testing initial traction for new initiatives, while JP is better for testing sustained adoption.

Confidence: High

8. Fifteen global mainstays are top-10 in all six countries; Canva and Spotify are #1 in every market

Canva is #1 in android-art-and-design/free across DE, GB, HR, JP, KR, and US, while Spotify is #1 in android-music-and-audio/free in all six countries. WhatsApp is #1 in communication in five countries (JP #5), Duolingo is #1 in education in five countries (GB #2), and Uber is #1 in maps in three countries. ReelShort and DramaBox also rank in the top 10 in all six countries, showing that short dramas are not only attracting new entrants but are already established mainstays in every market.

Confidence: High

9. A Korean “earn by walking” app enters at #7 in both JP and KR on the same day, with reward-based apps crossing borders

kr.bitbyte.moneypig (돈이돼지) entered android-health-and-fitness/free at JP #7 and KR #7 on the same day. It is unusual for an app with a Korean title to rank in the single digits of the Japanese chart without localization. As part of the same reward-based trend, Freecash - 돈버는앱 reached #14 in JP android-finance/free, up +30 versus the reference date. health-and-fitness had 26 new entries, among the highest category turnover levels, suggesting reward incentives may be serving as the entry point.

Confidence: Medium

10. AI photo and video editing is gaining traction in both photography and video-players

android-photography had 24 new entries and 93% top-10 retention, among the lowest levels overall. New entrants included EPIK - AI Photo & Video Editor at KR #6 and AI Photo Studio: Editor Pro at DE #8 (also GB #35 on the same day), while ID Photo application in KR rose +36 day-over-day to #5. On the video side, AI Video Editor: ShotCut AI reached DE #13 (+27), VN: Photo & Video Editor reached GB #5 (+28), and vivago.ai in KR reached #2 after being absent on the reference date. Generative and editing tools are growing simultaneously across countries.

Confidence: Medium

11. Frozen categories: android-watch-face has 100% retention and one new entry; wear and libraries barely move as well

android-watch-face had 100% top-10 retention across nine charts, with only one new entry. android-libraries-and-demo also had one new entry across six charts, while android-android-wear had 99% retention across 13 charts (all 10 new entries were outside the top ranks). The fact that “nothing happened today” in these categories is itself meaningful: they offer limited short-term opportunity for launches. Conversely, they may offer stable positions once an app gets in.

Confidence: High

12. The US saw a cluster of new brand and brick-and-mortar app entries: MLB Ballpark #7, United Airlines #7, Trulia #7, Pizza Hut #8

In the US, established brands returned to single-digit ranks in a cluster: MLB Ballpark #7 in android-sports (also HR #33 on the same day), United Airlines #7 in android-travel-and-local, Trulia #7 in android-house-and-home, Pizza Hut #8 in android-food-and-drink, and The Roku App #11 in android-entertainment (GB #42). Day-over-day, Depop rose +39 to #3 in android-shopping. The US also has the highest inflow volume at 118 new entries, suggesting that seasonal and event-linked initiatives are especially likely to work there.

Confidence: Medium

Recommended Actions

• Prioritize planning for the security/privacy segment. Proton VPN’s same-day entry at DE #4, JP #12, and HR #17 overlaps with Guardio #5 in the US, VPN - Super Unlimited Proxy #8 in GB, and Privacy Display in HR/US, so this is not noise from a single market. First verify in tomorrow’s data whether DE #4 holds.
• Track vertical short dramas as a combined pattern of “free-chart entry × grossing growth.” Follow free-chart newcomers (FreeDrama US #3, Coin Drama HR #8) together with grossing growth (BlinkDrama GB #11, +33). entertainment has the lowest top-10 retention at 90%, so assume today’s entrants may disappear within days and act early.
• Add ride-hailing and operations apps for drivers as an independent monitoring topic. Driver (GB #14 / US #15), Bolt Driver (HR #14 / DE #43), and Yango Pro (HR #10) all appeared on the same day, accounting for the category-leading 37 new entries in maps-and-navigation.
• For now, explicitly label TOP_GROSSING observations as “reference values.” Data collection is degraded across 19 categories in DE and broad areas of GB and KR, so do not make definitive conclusions based on monetization rankings until free-chart evidence corroborates them.
• Send the 97,055 missing developer and ratingCount records back to the collection team. Developer concentration is normally a key indicator for interpreting the quality of top-tier ranks; currently, the corresponding fields in the tier table remain blank.
• Stop calling the reference date of 2026-08-26 “monthly”; until the archive reaches 30 days, change the heading to explicitly say “16-day change.” This prevents readers from confusing seasonal effects with short-term fluctuations.
• Use HR and the US as initial-traction test markets for new initiatives, and JP as a market for testing sustained adoption. New entries are HR 98 across 63 charts and US 118 across 90 charts, versus JP’s 50 across 76 charts, so the same initiative can produce very different signals.
• Individually track 돈이돼지, which entered JP #7 while retaining its Korean title, in the days ahead. It is an example of a reward-based app crossing borders and, if sustained, could support a new entry-point design for the Japanese market.

Data Quality Notes

Of 470 target charts, the analysis covered 442 charts and 16,166 rows after excluding 160 charts that the source does not publish (28 charts were not retrieved). Of the 442 charts, 388 could be compared with the previous day, 2026-09-10; the other 54 were not compared because no prior-day retrieval exists. Rows from charts without prior-day data are not counted as “new entrants,” so the new-entry counts in this report may be understated. Of recent runs, six completed partially and 34 retrievals failed. Failures are heavily concentrated in TOP_GROSSING: DE is affected in 19 categories, GB has degradation in GROSSING and PAID across many categories, and KR has degradation in both GROSSING and PAID. Therefore, statements about grossing and paid charts are less reliable than those about free charts. The reference date, 2026-08-26, is 16 days ago and is the archive’s oldest retrieval date; there is not yet a full month of data (“monthly” is only a nominal label). Missing fields include developer in 97,055 records, ratingCount in 97,055 records, and rating in 6,118 records. As a result, “developers holding many top-ranked slots” cannot be calculated today, and the corresponding fields in the tier table are blank.