Four freemium games made more money than Angry Birds on Apple's UK App Store in 2011, according to the company's annual Rewind charts.
The chart shows Tap Zoo as the top grossing app for 2011, with Poker by Zynga second, Smurfs' Village fourth, Tap Pet Hotel fifth and Angry Birds sixth.
TomTom's UK & Ireland and Western Europe navigation apps take third and seventh spots respectively, with iMobsters, Zombie Farm and World War rounding out the top 10.
That means seven of those 10 top grossing iOS apps are freemium games. In fact, half of the top 30 are free-to-play titles: and this is in a chart covering all apps, not just games.
There is a similar story in the US App Store's Rewind 2011 Top Grossing chart, where 16 of the top 30 apps are freemium games. Tap Zoo tops that chart too, followed by Angry Birds, Zombie Farm, Tap Pet Hotel and Poker by Zynga.
The chart confirms that 2011 was a lucrative year for free-to-play games on the App Store, although there are some premium successes to report too. TomTom's two apps cost £49.99 and £59.99 respectively, with its £79.99 Europe edition being the 18th top grossing iOS app in the UK this year. The £3.99 Infinity Blade takes 14th spot in the list.
Apple also named Instagram as its "App of the Year" in the UK – an editorial choice – with Momento and Nike+ GPS named as runners-up. Tiny Wings gets Apple's nod as "Game of the Year", with To-Fu 2 and Tiny Tower named as runners-up.
Instagram was also App of the Year in the US App Store, although the runners-up there were VidRhythm and Band Of The Day. Tiny Tower took the Game of the Year garland, with Tiny Wings and Touchgrind BMX named as runners-up.
