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These are the best Android apps, games and more this year, as picked by Google Lilly Rum/Unsplash

December is upon us and Google has revealed its annual list of top Android apps of the year, some of which may come off as surprising picks. The tech giant's Best of 2017 list featured its best and most popular apps, games, music, movies, TV shows and books that came out this year.

Nintendo's "Super Mario Run" topped the list as the most downloaded new game of year followed by Bubble Witch 3 Saga. While Google did not specify how many downloads the game garnered, Nintendo said separately that the game has racked up over 200 million downloads across iOS and Android since launch in December 2016.

Google's pick for the best game of the year was CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars, a complex, but addictive game from the creators of the hit games "Cut the Rope" and "King of Thieves."

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"Photo Editor - Beauty Camera & Photo Filters" topped Google's list of the top five most popular new apps this year, followed by "What the Forecast?!!" and "Boomerang."

This year, Google's editors have named some of their favourite apps and titles of 2017 that may not have ranked among this year's most popular titles.

For 2017, Google named homework helper "Socratic" as the best app for the year. The artificial intelligence-powered app helps guide students through their homework problems across various subjects including maths, history, English, chemistry, biology and economics.

Users simply have to take a photo of their homework and upload it to the app. The app then analyses the problem, provides you with a step-by-step guide to solve it, offers educational video and can crowdsource help from other users.

"Socratic" also snagged Google's "Best Hidden Gem" award this year too.

"The app that blew us away this year — cleverly conceived, beautifully designed, and wonderfully useful," Google said.

In other categories, Moana was the most popular movie, Game of Thrones took top prize for the most popular TV show and Mark Manson's "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k" was the most popular book.

Here's Google's full list of the best and most popular titles on the Play Store this year:

Most popular apps in the US:

Most popular apps in the UK:

Most popular games of 2017:

Top five streamed songs of 2017:

Top five movies of 2017:

Top five TV shows of 2017:

  • Game of Thrones
  • Rick and Morty
  • The Walking Dead
  • The Big Bang Theory
  • Doctor Who

Top five books of 2017:

Other app awards bestowed by Google:

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