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Apple announces 'Best of 2013' iTunes list, 'Duolingo' and 'Disney Animated' take top app honors

Apple late Monday published its "Best of iTunes" charts for 2013, revealing this year's top downloads and editors' choice picks for music, movies, TV shows, apps, books and podcasts.

In Apple's annual Best of iTunes rankings, the company reveals the most-downloaded digital media in all arms of its iTunes Store, which includes the App Store and iBookstore. In addition, editors' choice selections are offered for a number of categories like musical artist of the year and best iPhone app, among others.

For the iOS App Store, two games were the most-downloaded apps this year, with Candy Crush Saga and Minecraft - Pocket Edition racking up the most downloads in the free and paid app categories, respectively. Apple's iPhone App of the Year went to language learning title Duolingo, while Ridiculous Fishing nabbed iPhone Game of the Year honors.

On the iPad, Disney's Disney Animated won App of the Year, as Frogmind's BADLAND was named Game of the Year.

In the music department, Beyonce's eponymous album, which debuted just last last week, managed to come in second to Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience" as 2013's most-downloaded album. Timberlake was chosen as Artist of the Year, while Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' "The Heist" won Album of the Year.

James Bond installment "Skyfall" was 2013's best-selling movie and critically acclaimed "Breaking Bad" was the top-selling television show on iTunes.

Finally, Dan Brown's "Inferno" came away as the top fiction novel in the iBookstore while Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" was this year's non-fiction best-seller.

The full "Best of 2013" list can be found in the OS X and iOS iTunes Stores.