FarmVille has reportedly been unseated from its throne as the reigning top Facebook application by another app called Phrases, though that might depend on the data you examine.
According to a post on Gamasutra, Phrases is an app developed by Takeoff Monkey, which allows users to post a variety of content to their news feed, including quotes, pictures, and quizzes. Phrases' growth is due in part to the links attached to those posts. FarmVille has dropped off slightly after peaking with 84 million monthly users earlier this year, Gamasutra said.
Stats on AppData, however, show that Phrases has barely eclipsed FarmVille with around 54.4 million monthly average users. FarmVille's number of monthly players is about 53.9 million.
Gamasutra acknowledged that with 16 million daily average users, FarmVille is still the top dog for social games on Facebook. It's unlikely that Phrases will retain the overall top spot, as the app has been disabled in the U.S. without explanation.
Inside Facebook also notes that looking at monthly average users (MAU) can be deceiving. "The problem with Phrases' MAU count is that it's a trailing measurement of the past 30 days, so any drop in MAU takes that long to appear in the numbers. A more accurate day-to-day indicator is the daily active user count, in a graph of which we can see the effect of Phrases' recent suspension in the United States," the blog wrote.
Since that suspension, Phrases's daily average users has fallen by more than 3 million users, which will likely be reflected in monthly data down the road, Inside Facebook said.
FarmVille developer Zynga, meanwhile, has an impressive roster of popular games. Half of AppData's top 10 games are Zynga games, including Texas HoldEm Poker, FrontierVille, Maria Wars, and Café World. With an average of about 198 million people playing its games every month, Zynga remains the number one developer on AppData's list by a long shot.
The game developer shows no signs of stopping either. Last week, Zynga launched CityVille, its newest social game, which allows users to manage their dream metropolis and interact with friends. Available in five languages, CityVille is Zynga's first worldwide release.