In terms of popularity, torrent sites have been surpassed by streaming sites in recent years. However, they remain very popular.
As we enter a new year we see that The Pirate Bay has taken the lead once again, moving up from the third spot last year.
After a turbulent time, the site has been relatively stable over the past twelve months, although it still doesn’t allow new users to sign up.
Looking more broadly we see that the entire list has remained relatively intact this year. A few sites have switched places but none of the major sites disappeared, which by itself is already quite an achievement.
This year’s overview includes two newcomers. The game-oriented ‘Fitgirl Repacks’ enters in ninth place and the Indian site Tamil Rockers closes the list in tenth place. These two replace TorrentDownloads and Zooqle, which both saw a significant traffic dip and dropped outside the top 10.
We traditionally limit our overview to torrent sites that are targeted primarily at an English or international audience. This means that RuTracker, TorrentWal, Rutor, Dytt8, and Etoland aren’t included even though they would qualify in terms of traffic.
Below is the full list of the ten most-visited torrent sites at the start of the new year. The list is based on various traffic reports and we display the Alexa rank for each. In addition, we include last year’s ranking. Please note that this list is created to keep track of the popularity of these sites over time. Some are known to link to malicious ads, at least incidentally.
Most Popular Torrent Sites (domains) at the start of 2020
1. The Pirate Bay
After more than 16 years, The Pirate Bay remains afloat. After suffering substantial downtime in 2018, last year went relatively smoothly. The site closed registrations a few months ago but remains open to the public. It’s also still operating from its .org domain but it’s uncertain if that will remain the case in the future.
Alexa Rank: 169/ Last year #3
2. YTS.lt
YTS.lt is the unofficial successor of the defunct YTS or YIFY group. The site focuses on movie releases which are popular around the globe. YTS has been the target of three lawsuits in the US recently. While the operator signed a consent judgment to pay damages to one filmmaker, the site itself remains online.
Alexa Rank: 244 / Last year #1
2. 1337x
1337x keeps its spot in the top three. Unlike some other sites, it has a loyal group of uploaders that provide fresh content on a daily basis.
Alexa Rank: 307 / Last year #2
4. RARBG
RARBG has remained steady over the past year. The site operates from several popular domain names, but only the one with the most traffic is taken into account for this list. RARBG was founded in 2008 and specializes in high-quality video releases.
Alexa Rank: 428 / Last year #4
5. NYAA.si
NYAA.si is a popular resurrection of the anime torrent site NYAA. While there is fierce competition from alternative pirate streaming sites, the torrent portal continues to do well, climbing one position compared to last year.
Alexa Rank: 861 / Last year #6
6. Torrentz2
Torrentz2 launched as a replacement for the original Torrentz.eu site, which voluntarily closed its doors in 2016. The site doesn’t host any torrent files but remains a popular meta-search engine.
Alexa Rank: 1,090 / Last year #5
7. EZTV.io
The original TV-torrent distribution group EZTV shut down after a hostile takeover in 2015, with new owners claiming ownership of the brand. The group switched to a new domain last year and was inadvertently blocked in the Netherlands because it shared an IP-address with The Pirate Bay.
Alexa Rank: 1.186 / Last year #9
8. LimeTorrents
LimeTorrents has been around for more than ten years. Like many other entries in this list it is blocked by ISPs in countries around the world, which seems to hurt overall traffic somewhat.
Alexa Rank: 1,581 / Last year #7
10. Fitgirl Repacks
Fitgirl Repacks is by no means a traditional torrent site. It is the home of a popular group that releases slimmed down cracked versions of popular games, which keeps download times to a minimum. They publish torrents on other sites but also offer magnet links of their own, which is why we included the site here.
Alexa Rank: 1,883 / Last year #NA
10. Tamil Rockers
The torrent site TamilRockers is infamous in India, where it has its homebase. However, as it’s available in English, the site is used worldwide. Despite several enforcement actions and arrests of alleged admins and operators, the site is thriving.
Alexa Rank: 2,035 / Last year #NA
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Disclaimer: Yes, we know that Alexa isn’t perfect, but it helps to compare sites that operate in a similar niche. We also use other traffic metrics to compile the top ten. Please keep in mind that many sites have mirrors or alternative domains, which are not taken into account here. We don’t encourage the use of any of these sites, the yearly list is published as an informational / news resource.