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The fastest-rising apps in Korea and Japan this week are sports and survival games and short-drama apps. HAEGIN’s 2026 Pro Baseball GO! went from outside Korea’s Google Play Top 30 on October 12 to #1 free on October 19, and Duck Survival, which launched in Korea first, reached #5 free on Japan’s Google Play three days after its October 16 Japan launch (Apptica, 2026). Short-drama apps ReelShort and DramaWave are now in the iOS Top 50 of Korea, Japan and the US at the same time (App Store, 2026).
Data: Google Play Top Free 30 and New Free via Apptica (KR/JP/US, October 12 vs. October 19, 2026) and Apple App Store Top Free 50 (KR/JP/US, October 14 vs. October 19, 2026). All categories combined. These are free download charts, not revenue rankings, and they change daily.
Which apps rose fastest in Korea and Japan this week?
| App | Market | Move | Publisher | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 2026 Pro Baseball GO! | Korea · Google Play | Out of Top 30 → #1 | HAEGIN | Idle baseball |
 Duck Survival (ダックサバイバー) | Japan · Google Play | New → #5 (#1 new free) | JOY MOBILE NETWORK | Survivor RPG |
 DramaBox | Korea · iOS | #47 → #6 | STORYMATRIX | Short drama |
 ReelShort | Japan · iOS | Out of Top 50 → #8 | NewLeaf Publishing | Short drama |
 Bump | Korea · iOS | Out of Top 50 → #40 | amo | Location sharing |
2026 Pro Baseball GO!: a seven-month-old baseball game takes #1 in Korea
2026 Pro Baseball GO!HAEGIN launched 2026 Pro Baseball GO!, an idle baseball game, on March 25, 2026 (App Store). It went from outside Korea’s Google Play Top 30 on October 12 to #1 free on October 19 (Apptica, 2026).
On October 14, HAEGIN rolled out an autumn update with postseason match predictions and a postseason board-game event (Inven Global, 2026).
Last week’s #1, Kakao Games’ Dokkaebi World, is now #10. The US Google Play Top 30 on October 19 has no sports game. Its games are puzzle and casual titles such as Meowdoku, Royal Smash! and Magic Sort!, plus Roblox.
Duck Survival: a hit in Korea, then #5 in Japan within three days
후더덕 서바이벌 (Korea)ダックサバイバー (Japan)Duck Survival (후더덕 서바이벌) launched in Korea on September 17, 2026 (App Store). It was #22 free on Korea’s Google Play on October 12 (Apptica, 2026).
The same publisher, JOY MOBILE NETWORK, launched it in Japan as ダックサバイバー 29 days later, on October 16. Pre-registrations in Japan passed 2 million (4Gamer, 2026).
Three days after launch, on October 19, it was #5 free and #1 new free on Japan’s Google Play (Apptica, 2026). That makes two weeks in a row that a game launched in Korea first is the #1 new free app in Japan, after Nexon’s Mabinogi Mobile last week.
Short dramas: ReelShort and DramaWave enter the iOS Top 50 in all three markets
NetShort
DramaWaveDramaBoxReelShort
PineDramaKorea iOS on October 19: NetShort #3, DramaWave #5 (new), DramaBox #6 (up from #47) and ReelShort #10 (up from #28) (App Store, 2026).
Japan iOS: ReelShort #8 and DramaWave #12, both new to the Top 50 this week (App Store, 2026).
US iOS: PineDrama #6, DramaWave #24 (up from #44), BlinkDrama #29, ReelShort #36 (new) and DramaBox #46 (new) (App Store, 2026).
The number of apps in the iOS Top 50 of all three countries rose from six on October 14 to nine on October 19. The three additions are ReelShort, DramaWave and TikTok (App Store, 2026).
Bump: Japan’s #2 app enters Korea’s Top 50
BumpBump is a location-sharing app for friends from amo, a startup founded by the team behind Zenly. It held #2 free on Japan’s iOS chart for a second week (App Store, 2026).
In Korea, it moved from outside the iOS Top 50 on October 14 to #40 on October 19 (App Store, 2026). It has been on Korea’s App Store since December 2023.
Korean apps in Japan: setlog holds #1, Rocket Now climbs, zeta slips
setlog
Rocket Now
zetasetlog (New Chat) is still the #1 free iOS app in Japan. On Google Play it moved from #15 to #19 (Apptica, 2026).
Coupang’s Rocket Now rose from #21 to #15 on Japan’s iOS chart (App Store, 2026).
zeta (Scatter Lab) slipped from #6 to #9 on Japan’s iOS chart and from #18 to #21 on Google Play (App Store and Apptica, 2026).
What do Korea and Japan share that the US doesn’t?
| Pattern | Korea | Japan | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short dramas (iOS) | NetShort 3 · DramaWave 5 · DramaBox 6 · ReelShort 10 | ReelShort 8 · DramaWave 12 | PineDrama 6 · DramaWave 24 · ReelShort 36 |
| Korea first, then Japan | Duck Survival, launched Sep 17 | Launched Oct 16, Google Play #5 | — |
| Japan hit reaching Korea | Bump iOS #40 | Bump iOS #2 | Not in Top 50 |
| Korean apps in Japan (iOS) | — | setlog #1zeta #9Rocket Now #15 | — |
| #1 new free (Google Play) |  Dokkaebi World (2nd week) | Duck Survival | MiniReels |
Apps move both ways between Korea and Japan. A game launched in Korea first reached Japan’s top five within three days, and Japan’s #2 app entered Korea’s chart.
Short drama is a three-market trend, but Korea has four short-drama apps in its iOS top 10.
Which apps are big in the US but missing in Korea and Japan?
| App | US | Korea | Japan |
|---|---|---|---|
 Muse from Meta | iOS #1 · Google Play #1 | Not ranked | Not ranked |
 Vinted | iOS #2 · Google Play #8 | Not ranked | Not ranked |
 Kalshi | iOS #7 · Google Play #19 | Not ranked | Not ranked |
 KICK | iOS #8 (new) | Not ranked | Not ranked |
Muse from Meta, #1 on both US charts, is not in Korea’s or Japan’s iOS Top 50 or Google Play Top 30 (App Store and Apptica, October 19, 2026). In the other direction, Korea’s #1, 2026 Pro Baseball GO!, and Japan’s #1 iOS app, setlog, don’t chart in the US.
Summary
Korea’s #1 free app on Google Play this week is 2026 Pro Baseball GO!, a seven-month-old game that climbed from outside the Top 30 in one week (Apptica, October 19, 2026).
Duck Survival, launched in Korea first, reached #5 on Japan’s Google Play three days after launch, the second week in a row that a Korea-first game is #1 new free in Japan.
Short-drama apps are rising in all three markets at once, and the number of apps in the iOS Top 50 of Korea, Japan and the US went from six to nine.
Rocket Ads by aix Inc. tracks the Korean and Japanese app charts every week. If you are planning to acquire users in Japan, we can help you read where your category stands before you launch.
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