HR's android-sports absorbed 27 new entries in a single day, with top-10 retention dropping to 87% (the lowest across all categories), while the overall market remained exceptionally quiet with 97% top-tier retention and an average movement of 0.3. Today's areas to build around are Croatia's soccer/betting app cluster and mass-produced PDF, VPN, and AI chat apps that simultaneously landed in the bottom tier across five countries.

1. New entries

HR's android-sports stands out. HNS Ulaznice debuted at #1 and HNS SEMAFOR at #2 simultaneously, while Sporti by SuperSport at #6, Sportify at #7, and Admiral HR at #9 brought the upper ranks close to a complete reshuffle. In the US, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.US debuted at #2. There were five simultaneous multi-country entries, all in the #30–#45 bottom tier (Pillow Chase Home App at US #44 / DE #45 / GB #45, Key VPN at GB and US #43, Open Chat - AI bot app at US #43 / JP #45). This looks like coordinated distribution of template-based mass-produced apps, fundamentally different from a one-off breakout.

2. Sharp rises over the period

The reference date, 2026-08-26, was 26 days ago and is the oldest archived collection date. Note that there is not yet a full month of data. The largest rises were Splitwise at HR/finance/grossing #5 (+38) and TradingView at #1 (+36). Gambonanza rose simultaneously to US paid #5 (+37) and GB paid #4 (+33). Absent on the reference date but now ranked highly are Muse from Meta at US/productivity/free #1, DAVE THE DIVER at KR paid #1 and GB paid #2, and Air Wallet at JP/finance/free #1.

3. By tier

top (1–10) had 97% retention, 1% new entries, and average movement of 0.3; mid had 95% / 1% / 0.9; only bottom (31–45) had 89% retention, 7% new entries, and movement of 1.3. All movement is happening at the tail. The developer column is blank across all tiers, so today's data cannot identify developers dominating the top ranks.

4. By country

HR was the most fluid, with 69 new entries and 94% top-10 retention. The US had the most charts at 78 but retained 98%. JP and GB were also quiet at 98%. Shared across markets are global staples such as Canva at #1 in all six countries, ChatGPT, Google One, Spotify, Expo Go, and WhatsApp; the room for movement lies on the local side.

5. By category

android-sports saw the greatest churn, with 87% retention and 27 new entries, followed by android-personalization and android-lifestyle at 94%. android-tools had 18 new entries but 99% retention, while android-video-players had 12 new entries and 100% retention — all new entries landed in the tail. android-medical had 95% retention and 11 new entries, with notable specialist medical grossing entries including NYSORA Nerve Blocks at US #10 and Uptodate Lexidrug at #16.

Key findings

1. HR android-sports saw a near-total upper-rank reshuffle in one day — HNS Ulaznice #1 and HNS SEMAFOR #2 debuted simultaneously

HNS Ulaznice debuted at #1 and HNS SEMAFOR at #2 in HR/android-sports/TOP_FREE. Sporti by SuperSport at #6, Sportify at #7, Admiral HR at #9, Fishing Points at #10, GymAdmin at #11, Favbet kladionica at #12, Zepp at #14, and Sporty.plus at #15 also entered the chart that day. Across the category, there were 27 new entries and 87% top-10 retention, the lowest among all 35 categories. Demand for Croatia national-team-match content (HNS = Croatian Football Federation), such as tickets and live updates, appears to have surged at once. This is the clearest signal for timing sports-event-linked content production.

Confidence: High

2. Five simultaneous multi-country new entries, all in the #30–#45 tail — a coordinated mass-distribution pattern for template-based apps

The apps entering multiple markets on the same day were Pillow Chase Home App (personalization/free, US #44, DE #45, GB #45), My Health: BP & HR Log (health-and-fitness/free, HR #30, GB #39), Key VPN–Secure VPN (communication/free, GB #43, US #43), Open Chat - AI bot app (productivity/free, US #43, JP #45), and WFP 105 Retro watch face (watch-face/free, US #43, HR #44). All landed in the bottom tier, consistent with the 7% rate of new entries in the bottom tier. Rather than single-country hits, this is horizontal rollout in the same genres (PDF, VPN, AI chat, and watch faces), so it should be read as a move to gain exposure in mass-production categories.

Confidence: High

3. PDF reader apps rose across markets over 26 days — KR #10 (+33), US #3 (+22), KR grossing #18 (+26)

PDF Reader & Viewer: Edit PDF reached KR/productivity/free #10 (+33), PDF Reader, PDF Viewer reached US #3 (+22), and PDF Reader: Edit HWP, DOC, PPT reached KR/productivity/grossing #18 (+26). In addition, PDF Reader, PDF Viewer is in the top 10 across all six markets: KR #1, GB #2, HR #2, US #3, DE #4, and JP #7. This is not an isolated domestic hit but a shift in demand across the category, suggesting that there is still room at the top for free PDF/document apps.

Confidence: High

4. The reference date, 2026-08-26, was only 26 days ago — the biggest rise was Splitwise +38 in HR/finance/grossing

The reference date used for the comparison called “monthly,” 2026-08-26, is the oldest archived collection date and was actually 26 days ago. Given that premise, the largest rises were Splitwise at HR/finance/grossing #5 (+38) and TradingView at #1 (+36). Finance grossing charts are being lifted wholesale in HR. Gambonanza followed, rising simultaneously in two markets to US paid #5 (+37) and GB paid #4 (+33), an unusual synchronization for a paid game. Since the period is only 26 days, it should not be generalized as a “monthly trend.”

Confidence: High

5. Absent on the reference date, now #1 — Muse from Meta (US productivity) and DAVE THE DIVER (KR paid #1 / GB paid #2)

Several apps were absent from the chart on 2026-08-26 but entered at top rank this time. Muse from Meta reached US/productivity/free #1; DAVE THE DIVER reached KR/game/paid #1 and GB/game/paid #2; Air Wallet reached JP/finance/free #1; and Torneko's Great Adventure reached JP/game/paid #1. Going from 0 to #1 within a short 26-day window likely reflects either a release or the direct impact of a major campaign. DAVE THE DIVER's simultaneous rise in two markets points to a global campaign.

Confidence: High

6. Movement is only in the tail — bottom retention/new-entry/movement is 89%/7%/1.3 versus 97%/1%/0.3 at the top

top (ranks 1–10, 3,337 slots) had 97% retention, 1% new entries, and an average movement range of 0.3; mid (ranks 11–30, 6,062 slots) had 95%, 1%, and 0.9; bottom (ranks 31–45, 4,172 slots) had 89%, 7%, and 1.3. The head is effectively frozen, and every opportunity observable today lies below rank 31. The developer column is blank for all three tiers (84182 developer values are missing), so today's data cannot determine whether a small number of developers dominate the upper ranks — this means “not measured,” not “not concentrated.”

Confidence: High

7. HR is the most fluid (69 new entries, 94% top-10 retention), while US/GB/JP are static at 98% retention

By market, HR was the most active, with 63 charts, 69 new entries, and 94% top-10 retention, followed by DE at 97%, KR at 96%, and US, GB, and JP at 98%. The US is the largest market with 78 charts, but had only 42 new entries. Smaller markets can see upper ranks move in response to a single local event, making HR suitable for testing new entries and US/JP useful for measuring the strength of established apps.

Confidence: High

8. Canva is the only #1 in all six countries — global staples are fixed, while the room for movement is local

Canva: AI Photo & Video Editor is #1 in art-and-design/free across DE, GB, HR, JP, KR, and US. ChatGPT is #1 in productivity/free in DE, GB, HR, and JP, and #2 in KR and US; in the same grossing chart, it is #1 in KR and #2 in all other markets. Google One is #1 in grossing in five markets. This layer does not move, so concepts targeting the top spot in these categories are not realistic. Put differently, the changes worth capturing today are always found below these apps.

Confidence: High

9. Specialist medical apps entered US medical grossing in succession — NYSORA #10, Uptodate Lexidrug #16

android-medical had 95% retention and 11 new entries. In US/medical/grossing, NYSORA Nerve Blocks at #10, Uptodate Lexidrug at #16, and Noxogy Sleep Tracker & Snore at #26 were new entries; Anatomy Learning - 3D Anatomy also entered at DE #6. Rather than consumer health apps, paid tools for medical professionals are appearing together in the top grossing ranks, signaling movement in high-priced specialist niches. However, US/DE medical/TOP_GROSSING is included among degraded sources, so the precision of the ranks themselves should be discounted.

Confidence: Medium

10. Categories where many new entries do not move the top — tools (18 new / 99% retention) and video-players (12 new / 100% retention)

android-tools had 18 new entries but 99% top-10 retention, while android-video-players had 12 new entries and 100% retention. All new entries landed in the tail (File Orbit #37, Nora VPN #40, Video Lite #40, and others), creating a structure where entry is easy but upward movement is difficult. Meanwhile, android-house-and-home, android-beauty, and android-auto-and-vehicles had 100% retention and were completely static. In contrast, android-personalization had 16 new entries and 94% retention, while android-lifestyle had 12 new entries and 94% retention, leaving room for reshuffling even near the top.

Confidence: High

11. JP is nearly static (98% retention) but moves in local-only areas — CHARGESPOT #7 (+34) and Square Enix legacy paid titles

JP had 52 charts, 37 new entries, and 98% top-10 retention, making it the quietest of the six markets. Yet only domestically specific themes saw large 26-day gains: CHARGESPOT at lifestyle/free #7 (+34), Bus Fever Party! at game/free #17 (+28), CHRONO TRIGGER (Upgrade Ver.) at game/paid #11 (+27), and Dragon Quest Monsters 2 SP at #7 (+22). For JP-focused concepts, it is more rational to lean into domestic context — mobile batteries and retro RPGs — rather than broadly rolling out new apps.

Confidence: High

12. DE TOP_GROSSING is degraded almost across the board — recheck DE-originating paid new entries

Degraded sources include TOP_GROSSING for 21 DE categories, including game, entertainment, social, productivity, and photography, meaning DE's paid charts have suffered broadly degraded quality today. New DE/grossing entries such as BrickSearch Minifigure Scanner #4, Nothing Inspired 2A Watch Face #8, getquin #9, CineSpark AI #12, and WG-Gesucht #15 are still listed, but may be derived from degraded sources. They should not be used alone as the basis for a concept; confirm them with the next day's collection.

Confidence: Medium

Recommended actions

• Track the 10 new HR/android-sports apps tomorrow as well (including HNS Ulaznice #1 and HNS SEMAFOR #2) to determine whether this is a temporary event-driven peak or a sustained trend. If it persists, it may be worth templating sports-event-linked concepts for smaller markets.
• Follow the five simultaneous multi-country entries (Pillow Chase, Key VPN, Open Chat - AI bot, My Health: BP & HR Log, WFP 105) for three days from their #30–#45 positions to see whether they disappear in the bottom tier or rise into mid. If even one rises, that is evidence that a mass-production template in its genre is currently effective.
• PDF/document apps (KR #10 +33, US #3 +22, KR grossing #18 +26, and top-10 placement in all six markets) are currently the most reproducible rising genre. Give content concepts around free PDF viewers high priority.
• Because 21 DE TOP_GROSSING categories are degraded, validate DE paid new entries (BrickSearch #4, getquin #9, and others) with tomorrow's collection before using them for concept decisions.
• The developer field is missing 84182 values, making developer-level concentration analysis impossible. Create a ticket to fix developer extraction in the collection pipeline (until it is fixed, conclusions such as “a small number of companies control the top ranks” cannot be drawn).
• Identify the 43 charts that could not be compared with the previous day, and check whether missingness is biased toward particular countries or chart types. If it is, the new-entry counts themselves will have systematic bias.
• Since the reference date is only 26 days ago, rerun the monthly analysis on or after 2026-09-26 (once 30 days have elapsed). Until then, label it “changes over 26 days” in internal sharing.

Data quality notes

For the target date 2026-09-21, 372 charts / 13571 rows were collected. The collection target was 403 charts (excluding 227 that stores do not publish from the configured schedule), and 31 charts were not collected. Of the 372 charts, 329 could be compared with the previous run on 2026-09-20; the remaining 43 had no prior-day data, so even the determination of “new entry” cannot be made. Rows from charts without a comparison target were not counted as new entries, so this report's new-entry counts may be lower than the actual figures. Of recent runs, 6 completed partially and 36 fetches failed. There are more than 100 degraded sources; in particular, DE TOP_GROSSING covers 21 categories, while GB TOP_GROSSING/TOP_PAID, US TOP_GROSSING/TOP_PAID, and HR TOP_GROSSING are also broadly affected. Statements about grossing and paid charts are less precise than those about free charts. Missing fields include developer in 84182 records, ratingCount in 84182 records, and rating in 2299 records. Because developer is missing throughout, “developers holding many top slots” cannot be calculated by tier today, and the relevant table column is blank. The reference date 2026-08-26 is the oldest archived collection date and was 26 days ago, so there is not yet a full month of history. Read “monthly rises” as changes over 26 days.