• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, January 1, 2016

According to data from Nielsen, as 2015 comes to a close, a new study looks at some of the top trends in digital, including the top U.S. smartphone apps and operating systems. With videos from music to maps, digital was at the forefront of consumers’ and marketers’ minds this year.

Facebook again took the lead as the top smartphone app in 2015. The social networking app had more than 126 million average unique users each month, a growth of 8% from last year, says the report. YouTube came in second with over 97 million average unique users each month, followed by Facebook Messenger with more than 96 million average unique users each month.

The apps with highest year-over-year change were Facebook Messenger with a 31% increase in users from 2014, and Apple Music, with a 26% growth.

Smartphone penetration grew to 80% of U.S. mobile subscribers at the end of September 2015 from 78% at the start of the year. In the third-quarter of 2015, 52.6% of subscribers used Android, and 42.7% used Apple iOS devices to access their apps. 2.8% of U.S. smartphone owners used a phone that operated on Windows, followed by 0.7% on a BlackBerry.

Nielsen’s Electronic Mobile Measurement is from approximately 9,000 English speaking panelists ages 18+ with Android and iOS Smartphones. The panelists include Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American, Native American and Alaskan Native and other mixed racial background consumer representation.

Data is based on Nielsen’s monthly survey of 30,000-plus mobile subscribers aged 13 and up in the U.S. Mobile owners identified their primary mobile handset and are weighted to be demographically representative of mobile subscribers in the U.S.

For more information from Nielsen, please visit here.