Similarweb’s May 2026 data on the top 10 websites in the world just dropped. The numbers challenge almost every narrative about where the internet is heading — especially the “AI is eating everything” story.
YoY Growth — Top 10 Websites (May 2026 vs May 2025)
1. CHATGPT AT +1.3% — AI ISN’T EATING THE WEB (YET)
The “AI replaces everything” narrative meets the data. ChatGPT barely grew while TikTok grew 27x faster. At the consumer level, AI is a tool people use alongside the internet — not a replacement for it. The model layer’s growth is in API/enterprise, not in website visits.
Google at +4.42% should worry Googlers, not reassure them. This is the Supercycle’s BlackBerry signal: an incumbent hitting highs while the existential threat is already visible. BlackBerry’s best quarter was the quarter the iPhone shipped. Google’s traffic is growing while AI assistants are answering the queries that used to go to Search.
3. REDDIT +14.88% — THE ANTI-AI FLYWHEEL
Reddit is the winner of AI search. The more AI answers factual questions, the more people go to Reddit for human opinions, lived experiences, and social proof. LLMs cite Reddit threads. Users append “reddit” to Google searches. AI makes Reddit more valuable, not less.
4. X AT -4.19% — THE PLATFORM IS SHRINKING
X is losing traffic while TikTok grows 36%. The platform that used to be “where the conversation happens” is being replaced by short-form video (TikTok/Instagram) and community forums (Reddit). Posting on X is still valuable for reach among the tech/finance elite — but the mass audience has left.
The Barbelled Economy in action: The winners are at the extremes — TikTok (mass entertainment) and Reddit (niche community). The middle (Facebook, YouTube, X) is hollowing out. This is the same pattern the AI Supercycle predicts for software: value concentrates at the extremes, the middle dies.
Business Engineer
The AI Supercycle — The Barbelled Economy
Value at the extremes, hollowed middle. The framework that predicted this chart — and what it means for every company caught in between.
TikTok grew 36%. ChatGPT grew 1.3%. The AI revolution is real — but at the consumer level, it’s not replacing the internet. It’s reshaping who wins within it. Video entertainment and human communities are growing. Text-based platforms and legacy social are shrinking. And AI? It’s everywhere, but as infrastructure — not as destination.
Source: Similarweb — Top 10 Websites, May 2026 vs May 2025
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
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