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We’re halfway through 2021, and it would be interesting to look at domain name registration trends. What top-level domains (TLDs) reign so far? To answer this question, we studied the domain registration counts for hundreds of TLDs from January 1, 2021 to June 9, 2021 using Whois Database Download and ccTLD Historic WHOIS Database Download. This includes three TLD types—generic TLDs (gTLDs), new gTLDs (ngTLDs), and country-code TLDs (ccTLDs).
Here are some key findings:
ccTLD Is the Reigning TLD Type
The trend in domain name registration may have shifted over the past years, with the introduction of more than 1,000 new gTLDs. The question is, given more choices, what would most people prefer?
Data shows that this year, the trend is leaning toward ccTLDs (66%), ngTLDs (21%), and lastly, gTLDs (13%). The following chart can help visualize these figures.
The month-to-month comparison among the three TLD types further emphasizes the difference in the volume of domain registration. January saw the highest number of registrations for all TLD types, with a total of about 84 million domain registrations. Around 66% or 55 million of them are ccTLD domains. Check out the chart below.
Top 5 TLDs for Each Type
We looked at the top 5 TLDs under gTLD, ngTLD, and ccTLD, respectively. The table below shows this.
One of the significant factors behind ccTLD’s lead could be that the .tk TLD registry provides free domain names.
Is .com Still King?
The .com gTLD is one of the oldest and most used TLDs. And for a long time, it has been the most popular and preferred TLD. With ccTLDs taking the bulk of domain registrations between January 1 and June 9, 2021, has .com lost its appeal?
The answer is no if we look at the gTLD space. .com still took the top spot and accounted for 82% of the domain registrations for the TLD type over the period studied. But how about when compared to other TLD types?
To answer this, we checked the volume of domain registrations for each top 1 TLD per type. The TLDs were .com (for gTLD), .tk (for ccTLD), and .info (for ngTLD).
As you can see in the graph above, the .com domain registration volume is not too far behind .tk. The number of .tk domains is only 6% more than the number of domains under the .com space.
Therefore, .com may still be king, but it shares the spot with .tk, at least according to the data.
Dominant Domain Names in 2021
Several domain names related to online shops and businesses can be seen throughout the period. That could be due to the growing shift toward e-commerce. Domain names containing the terms “crypto” and “bitcoin” were also prevalent, as expected since cryptocurrency has been making waves.
Moreover, coronavirus-related domains still pop up, along with domain names that use the word “vaccine.”
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As shown in this analysis, ccTLD domains were the most prominent in the Domain Name System (DNS), with .tk taking the lead. Domain name registration trends constantly change, so it’s essential to keep an eye out on new registrations.
Here are some key findings:
- More than 129 million domains were registered across all TLDs in the past six months.
- 66% of the newly registered domains found in the counts use ccTLDs, with January having the highest number of registrations at more than 55 million domains.
- Of the ccTLDs, most domain registrations fall under .tk and .cn.
- The ngTLDs .info and .xyz took the top 2 spots in terms of domain registration.
- Of the gTLDs, the majority of domains fall under .com.
ccTLD Is the Reigning TLD Type
The trend in domain name registration may have shifted over the past years, with the introduction of more than 1,000 new gTLDs. The question is, given more choices, what would most people prefer?
Data shows that this year, the trend is leaning toward ccTLDs (66%), ngTLDs (21%), and lastly, gTLDs (13%). The following chart can help visualize these figures.
The month-to-month comparison among the three TLD types further emphasizes the difference in the volume of domain registration. January saw the highest number of registrations for all TLD types, with a total of about 84 million domain registrations. Around 66% or 55 million of them are ccTLD domains. Check out the chart below.
Top 5 TLDs for Each Type
We looked at the top 5 TLDs under gTLD, ngTLD, and ccTLD, respectively. The table below shows this.
One of the significant factors behind ccTLD’s lead could be that the .tk TLD registry provides free domain names.
Is .com Still King?
The .com gTLD is one of the oldest and most used TLDs. And for a long time, it has been the most popular and preferred TLD. With ccTLDs taking the bulk of domain registrations between January 1 and June 9, 2021, has .com lost its appeal?
The answer is no if we look at the gTLD space. .com still took the top spot and accounted for 82% of the domain registrations for the TLD type over the period studied. But how about when compared to other TLD types?
To answer this, we checked the volume of domain registrations for each top 1 TLD per type. The TLDs were .com (for gTLD), .tk (for ccTLD), and .info (for ngTLD).
As you can see in the graph above, the .com domain registration volume is not too far behind .tk. The number of .tk domains is only 6% more than the number of domains under the .com space.
Therefore, .com may still be king, but it shares the spot with .tk, at least according to the data.
Dominant Domain Names in 2021
Several domain names related to online shops and businesses can be seen throughout the period. That could be due to the growing shift toward e-commerce. Domain names containing the terms “crypto” and “bitcoin” were also prevalent, as expected since cryptocurrency has been making waves.
Moreover, coronavirus-related domains still pop up, along with domain names that use the word “vaccine.”
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As shown in this analysis, ccTLD domains were the most prominent in the Domain Name System (DNS), with .tk taking the lead. Domain name registration trends constantly change, so it’s essential to keep an eye out on new registrations.
