Most people default to .COM as their choice for top-level domain. But there are also hundreds of other top level domains. None of them rival .COM in terms of popularity, yet there’s a vast range in registrations for each domain.
Looking at the Data
Verisign aggregates data sources to rank the top ten most-registered domains in its Domain Name Industry Brief. Here’s what it calculated as of Q3 2021:
.COM – 158.6 million
.TK – 24.7 million (Tokelau)
.DE – 17.0 million (Germany)
.CN – 15.3 million (China)
.NET – 13.5 million
.UK – 11 million (United Kingdom)
.ORG – 10.4 million
.NL – 6.2 million (Netherlands)
.RU – 5.7 million (Russia)
.BR – 4.9 million (Brazil)
The top level domain .COM is not only in the front of the pack but also by a huge amount. Seven of the top ten domain names are country code domains.
One country code domain sticks out like a sore thumb, though: .TK is the country code for Tokelau, a tiny New Zealand territory of about 1,500 people. How do 1,500 people register 24.7 million domains? Well, a company worked with the island to give .TK domains away for free. That means that lots of people all over the world have registered .TK domain names for various purposes. It’s hard to beat free!
This shows how registration data can be misleading. The domain extension .TK is #2 on the list because it’s free, not because it’s a desirable top level domain.
New Top Level Domains
As of April 2022, here are the top 10 new top level domains in terms of registrations:
.XYZ – 4.6 million
.ONLINE – 2.1 million
.TOP – 1.7 million
.SITE – 1.2 million
.SHOP – 1.1 million
.ICU – 1 million
.CLUB – 0.9 million
.STORE – 0.8 million
.CYOU – 0.7 million
.VIP – 0.6 million
Again, the data is misleading. A significant factor in registration numbers is price. Some of these top-level domains have given away registrations like .TK has. Others are very, very inexpensive domains that can be registered for less than a dollar.
What’s Best for You?
Nobody disputes that .COM is the most popular top-level domain. But, as this article demonstrates, numbers don’t mean everything. At the end of the day, you should choose the top-level domain that makes the most sense for your particular use and business.