Technology
Ranked: The World’s Top 25 Websites in 2023
The World’s Top 25 Websites in 2023
In the vast realm of the internet, a handful of websites have emerged as global giants. Mainstays like YouTube and Facebook capture billions of users and shape our online experiences. But occasionally, new waves of innovation can shake up this list, which is exactly what’s happening now with generative AI.
Using data from web analytics firm SimilarWeb, we delve into the top 25 websites based on their most recent traffic numbers.
Ranking Internet Heavyweights
In 2023, web properties owned by Alphabet and Facebook dominate the top 25 list as they have for many years now. In fact, when Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are combined, they make up three-quarters of the top 25 list’s total traffic.
Here’s the complete top 25 websites list as of April 2023:
Rank | Website | Monthly Traffic (billions) | Category |
---|---|---|---|
1 | google.com | 83.9 | Search Engines |
2 | youtube.com | 32.7 | Streaming & Online TV |
3 | facebook.com | 16.8 | Social Media Networks |
4 | twitter.com | 6.4 | Social Media Networks |
5 | instagram.com | 6.3 | Social Media Networks |
6 | baidu.com | 4.7 | Search Engines |
7 | wikipedia.org | 4.5 | Dictionaries and Encyclopedias |
8 | yandex.ru | 3.3 | Search Engines |
9 | yahoo.com | 3.2 | News & Media Publishers |
10 | xvideos.com | 2.9 | Adult |
11 | whatsapp.com | 2.8 | Social Media Networks |
12 | pornhub.com | 2.6 | Adult |
13 | xnxx.com | 2.3 | Adult |
14 | amazon.com | 2.2 | Marketplace |
15 | tiktok.com | 2.0 | Social Media Networks |
16 | live.com | 2.0 | |
17 | openai.com | 1.8 | Technology - Other |
18 | reddit.com | 1.7 | Social Media Networks |
19 | docomo.ne.jp | 1.6 | Telecommunications |
20 | linkedin.com | 1.6 | Social Media Networks |
21 | netflix.com | 1.4 | Streaming & Online TV |
22 | office.com | 1.4 | Prog. and Developer Software |
23 | yahoo.co.jp | 1.3 | News & Media Publishers |
24 | dzen.ru | 1.3 | Community and Society |
25 | bing.com | 1.3 | Search Engines |
The 25 websites above combine for a staggering 192 billion monthly visits.
Most of the websites on this list are based in the U.S., but a few such as Baidu (China) and Yandex (Russia), also make the cut. Interestingly, the three adult websites on this list–XVideos, PornHub, and XNXX–are based outside the U.S.
The Allure of Generative AI
A year ago, Bing ranking as one of the world’s top websites wasn’t on many people’s bingo cards. But, Microsoft’s also-ran search engine has benefitted immensely from the generative AI boom taking place—making it a legitimate contender in the search engine category that has been firmly dominated by Google for years.
Of course, the most remarkable story this year is the meteoric rise of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. OpenAI’s web traffic has shot up over the course of the year, rising from about 20 million per month in the fall of last year to 1.8 billion in April 2023.
In fact, OpenAI’s website traffic is growing so fast, that it may soon surpass giants like TikTok and Amazon.
The rise of OpenAI and ChatGPT shows just how quickly a company can rise to prominence if their tech offering is compelling enough. Whether that popularity can be sustained over the long term remains to be seen.
Technology
Visualizing AI Patents by Country
See which countries have been granted the most AI patents each year, from 2012 to 2022.
Visualizing AI Patents by Country
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
This infographic shows the number of AI-related patents granted each year from 2010 to 2022 (latest data available). These figures come from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), accessed via Stanford University’s 2024 AI Index Report.
From this data, we can see that China first overtook the U.S. in 2013. Since then, the country has seen enormous growth in the number of AI patents granted each year.
Year | China | EU and UK | U.S. | RoW | Global Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | 307 | 137 | 984 | 571 | 1,999 |
2011 | 516 | 129 | 980 | 581 | 2,206 |
2012 | 926 | 112 | 950 | 660 | 2,648 |
2013 | 1,035 | 91 | 970 | 627 | 2,723 |
2014 | 1,278 | 97 | 1,078 | 667 | 3,120 |
2015 | 1,721 | 110 | 1,135 | 539 | 3,505 |
2016 | 1,621 | 128 | 1,298 | 714 | 3,761 |
2017 | 2,428 | 144 | 1,489 | 1,075 | 5,136 |
2018 | 4,741 | 155 | 1,674 | 1,574 | 8,144 |
2019 | 9,530 | 322 | 3,211 | 2,720 | 15,783 |
2020 | 13,071 | 406 | 5,441 | 4,455 | 23,373 |
2021 | 21,907 | 623 | 8,219 | 7,519 | 38,268 |
2022 | 35,315 | 1,173 | 12,077 | 13,699 | 62,264 |
In 2022, China was granted more patents than every other country combined.
While this suggests that the country is very active in researching the field of artificial intelligence, it doesn’t necessarily mean that China is the farthest in terms of capability.
Key Facts About AI Patents
According to CSET, AI patents relate to mathematical relationships and algorithms, which are considered abstract ideas under patent law. They can also have different meaning, depending on where they are filed.
In the U.S., AI patenting is concentrated amongst large companies including IBM, Microsoft, and Google. On the other hand, AI patenting in China is more distributed across government organizations, universities, and tech firms (e.g. Tencent).
In terms of focus area, China’s patents are typically related to computer vision, a field of AI that enables computers and systems to interpret visual data and inputs. Meanwhile America’s efforts are more evenly distributed across research fields.
Learn More About AI From Visual Capitalist
If you want to see more data visualizations on artificial intelligence, check out this graphic that shows which job departments will be impacted by AI the most.
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