Does the star rating separate first place from tenth?

Across 1,368 keywords Google Play itself suggests, the median rating is 4.57 in first place, 4.57 in second and third, and 4.56 in fourth to tenth. The rating looks like a threshold every place clears, not what orders the list.

What we measured

For each keyword, the latest crawl of Google Play's top ten, and for each app in it the most recent star rating and rating count we have read. Only terms Play itself suggests in autocomplete are counted, the same set as in our post on where the first app writes the term: 1,368 keywords, each measured within the previous seven days. Of their 13,605 top-ten places, 11,506 (85%) belong to an app whose rating we know; the rest are left out, not counted as zero.

Two readings. First, the distribution of ratings by place: first, second and third, fourth to tenth. Second, keyword by keyword: is the first app's rating above the median rating of the apps in places two to ten? That one only counts keywords where we know the first app's rating and at least five of the others: 1,176 keywords.

The rating barely changes with the place

The middle of the distribution is the same at every place, and so are its ends: one first-place app in eight is rated below 4.0, about the same share as in places four to ten. The rating count is a different story, and our post on ratings count and rank covers it: there the first app is clearly heavier than the rest of the top ten.

Keyword by keyword

On 56.9% of the 1,176 keywords, the first app is rated above the median of places two to ten; on 41.9% it is rated below, and on 1.2% exactly the same. If the rating did not matter at all, the split would be close to half and half, so this is a small lean, not a rule. On the same keywords the first app has more ratings than the median of the others on 63.4%, the same direction the earlier post found.

What it does not say

This is a cross-section, not an experiment. Ratings are read as of the latest record we have for each app, not on the day of the crawl. And the keywords are the ones our users follow, not a sample of Google Play: the result is about these terms.

Nor does it say the rating is irrelevant. Every place, first included, sits on a narrow band of good ratings; what it suggests is that inside that band the rating is not what orders the list. A rating well below the band may still cost installs from people who see the listing.

What to do with it

• Treat the rating as something to keep inside the band, not something to climb on. In these results first place is no better rated than tenth.
• Do not read a competitor's higher rating as the reason it ranks above you. Look at the title and at how well known the app is for the query first.
• A falling rating is still worth watching: ersASO notifies you when your own rating drops by a tenth of a point within a week.

Where the numbers come from

ersASO's production database on 19 October 2026: the latest measurement of 1,368 keywords that our users track or discovered and that Google Play suggests in autocomplete, each measured within the previous seven days, almost all of them in a single store and language. The numbers describe these keywords, not Google Play as a whole.

Related guide: How Google Play search ranks apps, as far as it can be observed