Leading Chinese mobile application publishers have witnessed rising growth opportunities overseas during coronavirus-stricken 2020, with 15 domestic companies earning places on a new list of the top 52 app publishers around the globe.

While the United States continues to dominate the list with 16 US-headquartered top publishers, China has overtaken Japan for the first time to have the second-highest number of top publishers on the list, according to App Annie's annual Top 52 Publisher list.

Publishers headquartered in Asia Pacific dominated the list and make up more than half of The Top 52.

China's top gaming and social media operator Tencent Holdings Ltd retained its top spot in App Annie's Top 52 Publishers list, followed by Chinese leading gaming outfit NetEase remaining at second in the ranking. Ireland-headquartered gaming powerhouse Playrix jumped four positions to No 3.

Chinese app publishers such as Lilith, FunPlus, ByteDance, Alibaba Group and Baidu also made the list.

The company said Chinese app publishers have made considerable progress in overseas expansion, gaining a competitive edge in several fields, including games, videos, online reading and photos.

According to App Annie, while Chinese app publishers have made most of their revenues from games, non-gaming Chinese apps have gained a huge following in the global market.

App Annie said Tik Tok has seen sharp growth in active users, nearly tripling in size since 2018 leading its owner, ByteDance, to earn the No 24 place in the Top 52 publishers list. App Annie estimated the number may exceed 1.2 billion in 2021.

App Annie said consumers relied more on their personal devices to connect and play in 2020, and Chinese internet companies will see more growth opportunities ahead.

The company said the list is composed of the Top 52 mobile publishers by combined iOS and Google Play revenue estimates in 2020. Rankings do not include revenue earned from in-app advertising, commerce, or payments outside of the app stores.