Apple Shares the 'Best of 2019' Highlighting Top Apps and Games, Plus First Apple Music Awards

Apple today hosted an event in New York City where the company announced its annual "best of" lists, highlighting the best apps and games of the year, along with sharing details on the musical artist of the year and the top song through the new Apple Music Awards.

Apple Best of 2019 Best Apps Games 120219 big
After sharing details with members of the media, Apple released all of its top picks in a new article available on its Apple Newsroom site.

This year, Apple is recognizing its favorite apps and games for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac, and there's a new Apple Arcade category.

- Apple Arcade Game of the Year - Sayonara Wild Hearts by Simogo (Apple Arcade)
- iPhone App of the Year - Spectre Camera by Lux Optics ($2.99)
- iPhone Game of the Year - Sky: Children of the Light by thatgamecompany (Free)
- iPad App of the Year - Flow by Moleskine (Free)
- iPad Game of the Year - Hyper Light Drifter by Abylight S.L. ($4.99)
- Mac App of the Year - Affinity Publisher by Serif Labs ($49.99)
- Mac Game of the Year - GRIS by Devolver / Nomada Studio ($4.99)
- Apple TV App of the Year - The Explorers by The Explorers Network ($4.99)
- Apple TV Game of the Year - Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap by DotEmu ($7.99)

Apple has also announced the first ever ‌Apple Music‌ Awards, likely meant to be similar to other music awards like the VMAs and and AMAs. Apple has named Billie Eilish its Global Artist of the Year and the Songwriter of the Year along with her brother Finneas. Lizzo is Apple's breakthrough Artist of the Year, and the Song of the Year is "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X. All of the winning artists are receiving a special Apple-designed award.

Apple plans to hold a live awards ceremony at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park Campus on Wednesday, December 4 at 6:30 p.m. The event will include a live performance by Billie Eilish, and it will be live streamed so Apple customers can watch.

Apple Music will celebrate the inaugural Apple Music Awards with a bespoke performance from Billie Eilish at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park. The show will be unlike anything ever seen from this unanimously crowned Artist of the Year. This exclusive event will be streamed live around the world on December 4 at 6:30 p.m. PST.

Apple's full article has a more complete list of details on all of the apps and games that were highlighted, along with more information on the Apple Music Awards.

Popular Stories

ios 26 1 slide to stop

iOS 26.1 Brings Back 2007 Feature in New Way

Friday October 31, 2025 1:40 pm PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a small but helpful change for iPhones, and it could prevent you from running late to something important. Specifically, when an alarm goes off in the Clock app, there is a new "slide to stop" control on the screen for turning off the alarm. On previous iOS 26 versions, there is simply a large "stop" button, which could be accidentally tapped. The new ...
iOS 26

6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1

Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below. Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
M5 MacBook Pro

Waiting for New Macs? Apple Just Shared Bad News

Friday October 31, 2025 7:32 am PDT by
Apple has just given a strong indication that it will not be releasing any additional new Macs for the remainder of the year. Apple's CFO Kevan Parekh dropped the hint during the company's earnings call on Thursday:On Mac, keep in mind, we expect to face a very difficult compare against the M4 MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac launches in the year-ago quarter.Parekh essentially gave a heads up ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

8 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
maxresdefault

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors. ...
Coffee Burgundy and Purple iPhone 18 Pro Mock 1

Leaker Outlines Potential New Colors for iPhone 18 Pro

Friday October 31, 2025 8:28 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro models could be available in new rich and warm color option, according to a known leaker. The Weibo user known as "Instant Digital" today suggested that next-year's iPhone 18 Pro models will be available in at least one of the following color options: Coffee, purple, and burgundy. The iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Pro were all available in ...
ipad mini 7 feature blue

OLED iPad Mini: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Wednesday October 29, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out. Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to...
apple tv hd

Apple Launched Its Big New Vision for TV 10 Years Ago Today

Thursday October 30, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple launched the Apple TV HD, the Siri Remote, tvOS, and their accompanying App Store a decade ago today, marking a major overhaul of the device. The new vision for the Apple TV was unveiled on September 9, 2015 during Apple's "Hey Siri" event in San Francisco, where CEO Tim Cook introduced the device with the statement, "The future of TV is apps." The announcement represented a major...

Top Rated Comments

Eric5h5 Avatar
77 months ago

iPhone‌ Game of the Year is “Sky: Children of the Light by thatgamecompany” ?????? I laughed so hard, these are such cherry picked awards. It’s definitely not the most popular game. I call foul.
Why would you think it has anything at all to do with being "the most popular"? Did you somehow skip right over this part: "This year, Apple is recognizing its favorite apps and games"? You may note it does not say "This year, Apple listed the most downloaded apps and games", since that'd be uninteresting. As for "cherry picked"...er, yes, that's kind of the entire point of awards. I suppose you yell at the Oscars if they pick movies that weren't the highest grossing?

--Eric
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tapiture Avatar
77 months ago
Now they’re trying to do awards shows. Apple really wants to be Hollywood all of the sudden.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Peace Avatar
77 months ago
Billie Eilish songwriter of the year ? Of the year ?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME ?

/shakes head...

?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
martyjmclean Avatar
77 months ago
The Affinity apps really are amazing!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mejsric Avatar
77 months ago

Billie Eilish songwriter of the year ? Of the year ?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME ?

/shakes head...

?
lets me guess your age, 50+?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sickoagb Avatar
77 months ago
Billie is really deserving after this massive year she’s had and her musical output
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)