By Nick Routley
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 Email
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.
NB: Nick Routley graduated from Emily Carr University and the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and cofounded a successful marketing agency before becoming the first member of the Visual Capitalist team.
