What does "Top Grossing" on the Apple App Store mean exactly?...

What does "Top Grossing" on the Apple App Store mean exactly?

The Top Grossing Rank lists the apps that are generating the biggest revenues. It uses an unknown algorithm to favor more recent revenue than older revenues - in a similar way that the Top rank favor more recent downloads.

This rank wasn't created by Apple to share with every user and game developer the biggest studios and games. It was created to fix the Top Paid ranking.

The Top Paid ranking lists the most downloaded/bought apps that are paid. Therefore, the cheaper apps ($0.99) would be more downloaded (and get higher rankings) than more expensive ones ($5.99+).

Because of that, Apple created the Top Grossing to promote expensive but high quality apps. Using the numbers from the previous example, the cheaper app would need to sell 6 times more to rank as well as the more expensive one.

It worked really well before in-app purchases. Now, the list is full of free games/apps that up sell/crosssell paid virtual goods.

https://www.quora.com/What-does-Top-Grossing-on-the-Apple-App-Store-mean-exactly