The Trump-Musk Feud Boosts X’s App Store Ranking Significantly
The public spat between Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump appears to be indirectly benefiting X (formerly Twitter), with the platform experiencing a notable surge in engagement. Data from Sensor Tower indicates a significant climb in the U.S. App Store charts for X, reaching the 23rd overall position on June 5th. This marks a considerable increase from its average rank of 68 over the preceding 30 days.
Over the past six months, X has maintained an average ranking of 58. The recent spike suggests heightened user activity linked to the widely publicized Trump-Musk discord.
The app’s improved ranking likely stems from increased downloads and user engagement. Concurrent data reveals a parallel upward trend on Google Play in the U.S., with X’s ranking jumping approximately 20 spots compared to its seven-day average and 16 spots relative to its 30-day average.
Sensor Tower estimates a 6% increase in total U.S. mobile app active users on X on June 5th. This increase is heavily correlated with the Trump-Musk feud, which captured widespread attention across the internet.
Delving deeper, the firm’s analysis pinpoints a 54% surge in U.S. mobile app active users on X between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern time on June 5th, compared to the average of the previous seven days.
Trump’s own social media platform, Truth Social, also saw gains as the former president aired his views on Musk. According to Sensor Tower’s data, Truth Social experienced a more than 400% increase in U.S. mobile app active users compared to the preceding seven days.
Despite these gains, X remains significantly larger than Truth Social, boasting approximately 100 times more U.S. mobile app users, according to Sensor Tower.
Aggregated across both platforms, the total number of U.S. mobile app active users between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern reached a 90-day peak.
X continues to climb in the rankings. As of this writing, the app is the 19th top free iPhone app on the U.S. App Store. Truth Social holds the 14th position in the Social Networking category but is ranked below 150 overall on the free iPhone apps chart in the U.S. App Store.
