hololive Dreams launched on 1.5M pre-registrations but the US free-games chart parked it at #17

The first official hololive mobile game hit #1 free games in several countries on pre-download day yet sits 13 spots below its US pre-order peak this morning, as ChatGPT held #1 a third straight morning, Depop climbed to #3 to overtake Netflix Game Controller, ColdTrace cooled to #14, and X re-entered the top 25 as social apps drifted back into the slots the World Cup and short-drama apps vacated.

hololive Dreams went live, hit #1 in several countries, and stalled at #17 US free games

COVER and QualiArts (the CyberAgent subsidiary behind Gakuen The Idolmaster) launched hololive Dreams, the first official hololive mobile game, on July 23. It is a rhythm-and-RPG gacha with 150+ songs, 50+ hololive talents, a theme-park hub, and a player-made "Original Chart" mode, free-to-play on iOS, Android, and Steam with cross-progression.

• Pre-registrations topped 1.5 million (up from 1.3M a day earlier), unlocking the full milestone reward track including 2,500 diamonds, a guaranteed 4-star ticket, and "Kawaii Hairpins" for all 54 talents. Pre-download opened July 22, and the game reached #1 in the App Store free-games ranking across multiple countries that day.
• On the US free-games chart the picture is different: it peaked at #4 as a pre-order on July 22, then sat at #17 this launch morning (Apple US chart, July 23). The US top four are hypercasual puzzles, Block Out #1, Meowdoku #2, Smash Fest #3, Magic Sort #4, with Grand Games holding two of them.
• The mechanic: pre-orders chart in a thinner pre-order pool, so a fanbase of 1.5M can park a game near the top before launch. Once live it competes against everything, and the US free-games chart rewards the paid-UA velocity of Istanbul's puzzle studios more than a VTuber fanbase concentrated in Japan and Asia. The demand is real and global, but the US chart surface is not where it shows up.

ChatGPT held #1 a third morning as the post-World-Cup chart locked into its new shape

ChatGPT held #1 on Apple's US free chart for a third straight morning (July 21-23), with TikTok Pro - Events locked at #2, Claude at #8, and Gemini at #9. Three AI assistants sit in the top 10, and the top 10 barely moved overnight, mostly one-spot holds.

• The World Cup reversion that began July 21 is now finished. The chart has settled into an equilibrium where the AI floor the tournament suppressed all month is the chart surface: ChatGPT on top, Claude and Gemini holding the #8-#9 band, and the events companion (TikTok Pro) and resale-fashion cohort filling the middle.
• The fourth AI assistant is knocking but not in. Grok 4.5 launched July 16 on the API and reached the consumer Grok app around July 21 (its store update reads "Grok 4.5 is here"), but Grok sat at #39 overall this morning, outside the top 25. The open question is whether a fresh model pull lifts a fourth assistant into the charted cohort, or whether ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini continue to absorb the AI demand alone.

Depop climbed to #3, its highest rank in this feed, overtaking Netflix Game Controller

Depop rose #4 to #3 on Apple's US free chart, sliding Netflix Game Controller down to #4 in the swap. Vinted held at #7, putting two resale-fashion apps in the top 10 for a third straight day, with Whatnot hovering at #11-#12 to give the live-shopping and resale cohort three of the top dozen slots.

• This is back-to-school demand filling the space the World Cup apps vacated. Depop, which eBay acquired for $1.2B in February, runs a 10% seller fee plus an AI listing tool, while Vinted (Europe's largest, $12B in 2025 GMV) charges the buyer and lets sellers list free. Vinted flipped its monthly US downloads ahead of Depop in April and was the most-downloaded US shopping app by late June.
• The chart question is whether the resale cohort holds a top-10 floor through August or reverts in September once the back-to-school window (midsummer through Labor Day) closes. So far the floor is holding, not slipping.

ColdTrace cooled to #14 as the detective game's 908-spot climb finds its level

ColdTrace: Cold Case Mystery slid #12 to #14 on Apple's US free chart, the first pullback after its debut in the top 25. The simulated-phone detective game from indie Saclic Studio climbed from #920 on July 4 to #68 on July 17 to #12 on July 22, a 908-spot run in 18 days driven by a v1.1.0 "New Case and New Design" update and no visible paid-UA spend.

• The genre, navigate a stranger's phone (messages, photos, voicemails, deleted files) to solve a cold case, targets the true-crime-podcast and crime-doc audience and lives in the Entertainment category, so it competes on the main apps chart rather than games. ColdTrace Premium unlocks the full experience for $17.99.
• A debut surge cooling to #12-#14 is a normal settling pattern, not a collapse. The test now is whether the indie holds a top-25 floor on organic momentum alone, or whether the next case update is needed to re-energize the climb.

X re-entered the top 25 as social apps drifted back into the vacated slots

X re-entered Apple's US top 25 at #15 this morning after falling out on July 22, and WhatsApp climbed to #11-#13. The chart's lower half is churning as the World Cup cohort (gone since July 22) and the short-drama cohort drain out: StoryReel slid toward the edge (#15 to the high teens), VibeShort fell out, and SHEIN slipped.

• An overnight snapshot captured a broader social surge that mostly reverted by morning, with the main TikTok app, Instagram, and Facebook each jumping back into the top 25 before settling. The lower half is volatile precisely because the single-event apps that inflated it are gone and perennial social and utility apps (Gmail, Walmart, DoorDash) are drifting in to fill the space.
• This is the same retail-and-utility vacuum-fill pattern from earlier this week, now extending to social apps. It is not a demand surge for any one app, it is the chart re-equilibrating around its baseline after a month of tournament distortion.

Tracking

• Apple/Epic: No ruling since Apple's July 17 notice filing citing a paused securities-fraud case (9to5Mac). Judge Gonzalez Rogers is still weighing Apple's stay request. Status quo holds: 0% commission on external-link purchases, Apple forgoing its 27%. If the stay is denied, Apple files a commission proposal within 24 hours; if granted, the case sits on ice through SCOTUS (arguments October 2026, ruling around June 2027).
• Freecash held #5, still bouncing in the #4-#13 band since its June 17 reinstatement, sustained by a $100M+ rewards-UA spend.
• Block Out held #1 free games for a third day, with Grand Games keeping two of the top four free-game slots on its paid-UA engine (~$300K/day, 1,000+ creatives) over Meowdoku's organic lead.
• Fortnite climbed to #14 free games (from #16), the Epic title still rising on Apple's chart while Apple and Epic fight in court over the external-link commissions that let Fortnite route payments outside Apple's IAP.