Google Chrome Overtakes Internet Explorer As Top Browser - For One Whole Day!

Move over, Vanilla Ice. Google Chrome is the new one-day wonder. But not in the USA. So keep the jacket if you want.

Statcounter is reporting that Google Chrome overthrew Internet Explorer as the Internet’s top web browser – but just for a day. Yep, it turns out that on Sunday, March 18th, 2012, Google Chrome was the world’s top internet browser. Statcounter ranks the browsers based on data from 3 millions websites (with 15 billion pageviews per month), so I’d say their conclusion is legit to quite legit.

Nice work, Chrome. But how does that happen, exactly? Well, ZDNet has a great write-up on this recent Chrome milestone, basically saying that it has to do with Internet users’ browsing preferences at home vs their browsing preferences at work. It looks like when people go home, they prefer to use Google Chrome to browse the Internet, but when they go to work, they are required to use Internet Explorer. That makes sense.

The stats for 18-Mar-2012:

Google Chrome: 32.7%

Internet Explorer: 32.5%

Mozilla Firefox: 24.8%

Safari: 7.13%

Opera: 1.86%

Top Internet Browsers – Global (Statcounter, 18th-Mar-2012)

Luckily, my job requires me to get familiar with my clients’ websites on ALL THE BROWSERS! Over the past 18 months, my browsing preferences are split 60/40 between Chrome and Firefox, respectively. And then there are those very rare times when I open Internet Explorer, just so I can make sure a new site feature is loading correctly.

BTW the stats listed above are ‘global’ stats. If we filter for United States, Internet Explorer still dominated on March 18th:

Top Internet Browsers – United States (Statcounter, 18th-Mar-2012)

In the United States, we are still seeing Internet Explorer with a commanding lead at 38% and Google Chrome at 23%. But don’t feel bad for Google Chrome. It’s only been around for 3 years. If anything, you should be amazed at how Chrome has managed to overtake Firefox in such a short amount of time. Remember, it was just a few months ago that Chrome took 2nd place from Firefox.

When Chrome first came out, I never would have guessed that it would catch up to and overtake Firefox. That is crazy, especially when you think about how many Google products don’t work out. BTW did you hear about Google patenting background noise? Yep. It’s true. Now they can advertise to you based on your environment. Welp, back to work!