These are the most popular Google Play apps, movies and songs of 2016

As 2016 turns into 2017 expect to see a deluge of 'best of' lists, and Google has been quick off the mark with news of what we've all been watching, downloading, listening to and reading over the past 12 (or 11) months in the UK.

Rihanna and Drake take the most-streamed song with Work, which is followed in the top five by This Is What You Came For (Calvin Harris featuring Rihanna), One Dance (Drake featuring WizKid and Kyla), Work From Home (Fifth Harmony featuring Ty Dolla $ign) and Girls Like (Tinie Tempah featuring Zara Larsson).

So if you've not got a "feat" credit on your song, forget about it for 2016.

Over in the films section, Star Wars: The Force Awakens - the latest in the well-known Western-in-space franchise - claimed the top spot, with Deadpool, The Martian, newest Bond flick Spectre and Captain America: Civil War rounding out the top five.

For TV shows, if you think the dragon-filled fantasy epic almost everyone is watching came out on top, you'd be absolutely right. The runners-up to Game of Thrones were The Walking Dead, Suits, Peppa Pig and Family Guy.

Books, apps and games

Paula Hawkins' The Girl On The Train topped the book charts as well as making it to cinemas as a feature film, while One with You (Sylvia Day), Me Before You (Jojo Moyes), and the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play (J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, Jack Thorne) were also in the top five.

In fifth place for books was Lean In 15: 15 Minute Meals And Workouts To Keep You Lean And Healthy by Joe Wicks, so it would seem a lot of us were still too busy to stay healthy in 2016. There's always next year, hey?

That leaves us with apps. Video caller Google Duo, video filter tool MSQRD, Camera 360 Lite Version, Google Keyboard and 30 Day Fit Challenge Workout were the top trending apps of the year, according to Google's calculations.

As for games, Pokémon Go predictably topped the charts, followed by Clash Royale, Ultimate Ninja Blazing, Dream League Soccer and Slither.io, the fiendish, modern variation on the classic Snake game.

Google says more than 65 billion apps were downloaded by users from 190 countries throughout the course of 2016, so it's reassuring to know that many people are still obsessed with long-running movie franchises, vintage games and fantasy worlds.

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.