Each year, Apple rounds up its favorite apps, games, music and video content from the past 12 months. Each year, the list includes some fantastic stuff. 2014 is no different — Apple has today unveiled the content it deems the Best of 2014.
Below are this year’s worthy winners:
Apps
iPhone App of the Year: Elevate – Brain Training
iPhone Game of the Year: Threes!
iPad App of the Year: Pixelmator
iPad Game of the Year: Monument Valley
Music
Best Artist: Beyoncé
Best New Artist: Sam Smith
Best Album: 1989 by Taylor Swift
Best Song: Fancy by Iggy Azalea
Movies
Best Blockbuster: Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Family Movie: The LEGO Movie
Best Director: Richard Linklater
Best Discovery: Obvious Child
TV
TV Show of the Year: Fargo
Best Performances: True Detective, Season 1
Best Discovery: The Honorable Woman
Best Breakthrough: Key & Peele, Volume 4
Books
Best Fiction: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Best Non-Fiction: The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jef Hobbs
While the above are the category winners, Apple is also pointing to many other apps, games and media within the App and iTunes Stores as best in class so it’s well worth checking out the complete lists on your iPhone or iPad.
Interestingly, Apple has made alternative choices outside of the US. In the UK store, and other European countries, video editing app Replay takes the iPhone App of the Year title with Peak Brain Training securing second spot.
It’s different in movies and music too with examples including X-Men: Days of Future Past grabbing Best Blockbuster film, Sam Smith grabbing Best Artist with Royal Blood as Best New Artist and Paolo Nutini’s Caustic Love claiming the Best Album crown.
Apple has also revealed its end of year charts for the most popular and top grossing apps. For iPhone, Heads Up!, Facebook Messenger and Clash of Clans were the top paid, top free and top grossing apps, respectively.
On the iPad, Minecraft – Pocket Edition, YouTube and Clash of Clans took the top spots for paid, free and top grossing apps, respectively.
Here at Today’s iPhone, we’re putting together our Best Apps of 2014 lists for a number of app categories. We kicked off the series with Games – stay tuned for more
