Barbie apps, powered by Barbenheimer fever, have exploded on Google Play and the Apple App Store. So, we analyzed the top iOS and Android apps for Barbie fans.

On July 21, 2023, Barbenheimer fever took over the Internet, launching both films to record ticket sales in an era where theatergoing is on the decline. However, the phenomenon extended beyond the box office. Indeed, according to our data, downloads for Barbie-themed apps jumped 93% in the month of July.

In this article, we analyze the impact the Barbenheimer boom had on global app stores. We dig into the numbers from Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Here’s what we cover (click the links to jump to the corresponding section):

• Barbenheimer Boom: Barbie App Downloads up 93%
• The Top Barbie Apps for iOS
• The Top Barbie Apps for Android
  

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Barbenheimer Boom: Barbie App Downloads up 93%

To begin, let’s look at how Barbenheimer impacted global downloads for Barbie-themed apps. In particular, let’s focus on the top three iOS apps and the top four Android apps. Here are the daily counts for the “Barbenheimer Boomers” in the period between July 1st and August 1st:

As you can see, while downloads had been ticking up in anticipation of the movie’s release, they exploded on July 21st when it finally hit theaters.

The biggest winner was Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, which combined for 3,420,888 downloads across both app stores in the month of July.

However, collectively, these apps had a stellar July outing. They tallied up a total of 5,266,299 downloads and daily counts jumped 92.7%. Indeed, on July 1st, 2023, they combined for 122,711 downloads, while on July 26th, they peaked at 236,489.

Of course, Barbenheimer fever is bound to break. Downloads are already receding to pre-July levels and there’s no indication that the phenomenon will have much staying power.

In any case, let’s look at the top apps a little more closely.

The Top Barbie Apps for iOS

Here, we looked at the top performing Barbie-themed iOS apps over the last 30 days. This means we looked at the period between July 8th and August 8th.

As noted in the previous section, Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures was the big winner. It notched 1,364,663 global downloads on the Apple App Store and beat the competition by a fairly wide margin. Check it out, here’s how the other apps performed:

• Barbie Magical Fashion: 411,825 downloads
• Barbie™ Fashion Closet: 228,518 downloads
  

To be clear, while Dreamhouse Adventures took the lion’s share of downloads, 400k and 200k are nothing to sneeze at. Especially when one considers that the target audiences for these apps don’t overlap completely with the movie’s audience, which skews older.

The Top Barbie Apps for Android

As for Google Play, Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures took the prize with 1,062,534 downloads between July 9th and August 8th. Here’s how the rest performed:

• Barbie Magical Fashion: 415,488 downloads
• Barbie™ Fashion Closet: 286,750 downloads
• Barbie, Princess Coloring Book: 266,425 downloads
  

Note that Barbie, Princess Coloring Book is not available for iOS. Otherwise, there’s remarkable consistency between the two platforms, with both versions of Dreamhouse Adventures breaking the one million mark, both versions of Magical Fashion cracking 400k, and both versions of Fashion Closet notching 200k.

Final Thoughts

As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats, and the Barbie marketing team helped raise one heckuva tide. Not only did the movie do record numbers at the box office, it sold a boatload of Barbie dolls, caused a global shortage of pink paint, and triggered an immensely memeable co-marketing phenomenon.

On top of that, it led to a record month for Barbie-themed apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Downloads spiked 93% in July, with the top seven apps raking in a whopping 5,266,299 total downloads.

So, the bottom line is this: Life in plastic is indeed fantastic.