The Top 100 Most Visited Websites in the USA (May 2026)

May 2026 was shaped by two overlapping forces: the return of the NBA to NBC for the first time in almost 25 years, and the unofficial start of summer. Memorial Day weekend sent Americans online to plan, shop, and research home improvement projects, while Peacock streamed Conference Semifinals and Western Conference Finals to tens of millions. Similarweb U.S. web traffic data shows the results clearly. Home improvement retailers, mass-market retailers, and streaming platforms all posted double-digit month-over-month gains, while legacy news sites continued to lose ground.

What is the #1 most visited website in the USA?

Google held the top spot in May 2026 with 16.61 billion visits, up 1.2% from April. That volume, roughly 10 times the traffic of the second-ranked site, reflects how deeply Google remains embedded in how Americans start any online task. YouTube ranked second with 5.65 billion visits, and Facebook ranked third with 2.49 billion.

Top 100 most visited websites in the USA (May 2026)

The table below ranks the 100 most popular websites in the US by total visits in May 2026, based on Similarweb data.

Highlights from the top U.S. websites (May 2026)

Pinterest.com

#26 in the USA

🌸 309.1M | +10.22% MoM

• Desktop: 192.7M (+6.95%)
• Mobile web: 116.3M (+16.09%)

Insight: Pinterest picked up 28.6 million more visits in May, its strongest month-over-month gain since January, driven by peak spring planning activity.

Why it matters: May is Pinterest’s seasonal sweet spot. According to Pinterest’s own Spring 2026 Trend Report, searches for garden inspiration ideas surged 940% and balcony makeover searches rose 165% as users planned outdoor upgrades and warm-weather entertaining. These categories, including home, garden, and seasonal gatherings, are among Pinterest’s highest-intent search areas, pulling users back repeatedly as they plan and shop.

CNN.com

#34 in the USA

📉 227.3M | -19.24% MoM

• Desktop: 84.94M (-7.8%)
• Mobile Web: 142.3M (-24.81%)

Insight: CNN lost more than 54 million visits in a single month, its sharpest month-over-month drop among the top 100 most visited websites in the US.

Why it matters: The decline mirrors what happened to CNN’s cable ratings in May. According to Adweek’s cable news ratings report for May 2026, CNN lost 30% of its total primetime audience and 37% of its key demo compared to April. Total day figures showed similar declines. The web traffic drop tracks directly with that audience erosion.

The mobile web channel took the larger hit, down 24.81% versus a 7.8% decline on desktop. That gap suggests CNN is losing its more casual, scroll-driven audience faster than its dedicated desktop readers.

Year-over-year, CNN is down 19.7%, placing it among the steeper annual decliners in the news category. Fox News (#41) also fell in May, dropping 5.4% MoM and 4.6% year-over-year, suggesting broader headwinds for the cable news category online.

Target.com

#35 in the USA

🛍️ 225.6M | +12.1% MoM

• Desktop: 56.74M (+11.22%)
• Mobile Web: 168.8M (+12.4%)

Insight: Target’s nine-day Hello Summer Sale, which ran from May 17 through May 26, pulled significant online traffic ahead of Memorial Day.

Why it matters: According to Target’s official Memorial Day sale announcement covered by Today, the retailer ran promotions across outdoor toys, swimwear, sandals, and grilling supplies throughout the final two weeks of May. A batch of exclusive deals dropped on May 22 for the four-day holiday weekend.

Mobile web drove the visit volume, accounting for 168.8 million of the 225.6 million total visits. Year-over-year, target.com is up 39%, a signal that its online presence continues to scale. Walmart (#14, up 7.2% MoM) and Costco (#91, up 9.3% MoM) also saw holiday-related lift, confirming Memorial Day as a broad retail traffic event.

Claude.ai

#36 in the USA

🤖 225.2M | +4.08% MoM

• Desktop: 212.1M (+4.39%)
• Mobile Web: 13.03M (-0.83%)

Insight: Claude.ai reached 225.2 million visits in May, a year-over-year gain of 443%, making it the fastest-growing website in the top 100 most visited websites in the USA by annual rate.

Why it matters: Several product announcements contributed to continued momentum in May. Anthropic released new Claude Managed Agents features on May 7, including a “dreaming” capability that allows agents to self-improve between sessions. On May 14, Anthropic announced an expanded partnership with PwC, committing to train 30,000 PwC professionals on Claude and deploy Claude Code and Cowork across the firm’s global workforce.

Claude.ai is a desktop-first product, running at roughly a 94% desktop share, the highest desktop concentration of any AI tool in the top 100. That reflects a user base primarily engaged in professional and technical work rather than casual mobile browsing.

HomeDepot.com

#40 in the USA

🔨 216.8M | +14.56% MoM

• Desktop: 83.18M (+10.97%)
• Mobile Web: 133.6M (+16.91%)

Insight: Home Depot reached its highest monthly visit count of 2026 in May, driven by a stacked promotional calendar that covered the entire second half of the month.

Why it matters: Home Depot ran multiple back-to-back campaigns in May. Its Spring Backyard Days promotion ran through early May with discounts on outdoor lighting and patio sets, followed by a Mother’s Day sale, and then a Memorial Day sale from May 23 through 27 featuring up to 60% off lawn mowers, grills, patio furniture, and flooring. That uninterrupted promotional stretch gave shoppers multiple reasons to return throughout the month. Lowe’s (#63) posted a nearly identical story, growing 15.56% MoM on the back of the same Memorial Day period.

Shop.app

#42 in the USA

📦 205.9M | +10.41% MoM

• Desktop: 48.52M (+14.38%)
• Mobile Web: 157.3M (+9.24%)

Insight: Shop crossed 205 million visits in May, continuing a growth trajectory that has nearly doubled its traffic year-over-year.

Why it matters: Shopify’s Q1 2026 earnings, reported on May 5, confirmed the platform’s broader growth. According to Shopify’s official Q1 results, Shop app GMV grew 70% year-over-year, and unique buyers purchasing directly through Shop grew more than 50% compared to Q1 2025. Monthly active users on the app grew over 40% year-over-year.

The Memorial Day shopping period provided a direct traffic boost. Shop serves as both a package tracking tool and a shopping discovery surface, meaning the volume of orders placed across Memorial Day sales events translated into more users checking their deliveries and browsing merchant storefronts.

PeacockTV.com

#62 in the USA

🏀 147.0M | +20.89% MoM

• Desktop: 96.72M (+16.22%)
• Mobile Web: 50.35M (+31.01%)

Insight: Peacock posted the largest month-over-month percentage gain of any site in the top 100, adding over 25 million visits as the NBA Playoffs reached their peak.

Why it matters: The 2026 NBA Playoffs marked the NBA’s return to NBC for the first time since 2002, with Peacock streaming select First Round games, Conference Semifinal matchups, and all Western Conference Finals games. The results were significant. According to NBC Sports’ viewership report, NBC Sports averaged 7.2 million viewers across 28 playoff games on NBC and Peacock, up 72% versus comparable coverage the prior season.

May contained the bulk of the postseason action, including Conference Semifinals and the full Western Conference Finals. The Spurs-Thunder Game 7 on May 30 alone drew 15.9 million total viewers, the most-watched Conference Finals game since 2016.

Peacock’s original programming in May was relatively light by comparison: new crime thriller M.I.A. launched May 7, Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair arrived as a Peacock exclusive on May 22, and NBC season finales for Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Law & Order, and SNL all aired during the month. The NBA was clearly the dominant traffic engine.

Lowes.com

#63 in the USA

🌱 146.7M | +15.56% MoM

• Desktop: 48.31M (+11.55%)
• Mobile Web: 98.46M (+17.63%)

Insight: Lowe’s May traffic reached its highest point in the last 12 months, driven by the same Memorial Day seasonal pattern that lifted Home Depot.

Why it matters: Lowe’s ran its Memorial Day sale from May 14 through May 27, a two-week event that is its biggest gardening and home improvement promotional moment of the year, alongside SpringFest.

According to a comparison of the two retailers’ Memorial Day events, both stores ran overlapping sales windows, competing directly for the same pool of shoppers planning outdoor and home projects ahead of summer. Year-over-year, lowes.com is up 11.4%.

DisneyPlus.com

#81 in the USA

🎬 112.1M | +11.66% MoM

• Desktop: 76.83M (+11.59%)
• Mobile Web: 35.31M (+11.82%)

Insight: Disney+ gained over 11.6 million visits in May, with desktop and mobile web growing at nearly identical rates.

Why it matters: May brought a strong content slate to Disney+, anchored by two major franchise finales arriving in the same week. Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, which had been released weekly since April 6, wrapped with its two-episode finale on May 4, Star Wars Day. The same week, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 delivered its season finale after a weekly episode run across April and May.

According to Disney+’s official May 2026 release roundup, the platform also premiered The Punisher: One Last Kill, a Marvel Television special co-written by star Jon Bernthal, on May 12.

Having two major franchise conclusions and a Marvel special all within the same two-week window gave Disney+ a concentrated burst of high-intent traffic as subscribers visited to watch and catch up. Year-over-year, disneyplus.com is up 17%.

BestBuy.com

#94 in the USA

💻 95.48M | +18.19% MoM

• Desktop: 34.56M (+15.54%)
• Mobile Web: 60.92M (+19.74%)

Insight: Best Buy posted its highest traffic month since the holiday shopping season, climbing back into the top 100 on the strength of a Memorial Day electronics sale that launched ahead of schedule.

Why it matters: Best Buy launched its 2026 Memorial Day sale with discounts of up to 50% on laptops, televisions, headphones, and major appliances. According to TechRadar’s coverage of the event, the appliance sale went live by mid-May, giving the retailer nearly two weeks of promotional traffic rather than just a single weekend. The MacRumors Apple deals roundup noted record-low prices on Samsung Frame TVs and M5 MacBook Airs at Best Buy during this window.

Trends across the top US websites

Home improvement surges into summer

May is the single best month of the year for home improvement traffic, and 2026 was no exception. Home Depot (#40) grew 14.56% MoM and Lowe’s (#63) grew 15.56%, with both Memorial Day sales running from May 14 through May 27. Wayfair (#78) added 13.6% MoM, consistent with the same seasonal push into outdoor furniture and summer home refreshes.

Together, these three sites reflect what happens when consumers start spending time outdoors and begin addressing projects that sat on the list all winter.

Streaming battles for May’s attention

Peacock’s 20.89% MoM gain was the standout in streaming, powered directly by NBA Playoffs exclusives. But the broader streaming category held up across the board. Netflix (#27) gained 9.7% MoM, Disney+ (#81) grew 11.66%, and Hulu (#67) added 4.4%. Twitch (#32) also grew 8.3% as gaming viewership picked up alongside the sports calendar.

The one notable outlier was Peacock, whose growth rate was three to four times that of its streaming peers, a direct reflection of how much live sports events still move the needle for streaming platforms.

Memorial Day retail lifts the entire ecommerce category

The holiday shopping effect extended well beyond the home improvement sector. Target (#35) gained 12.1%, Best Buy (#94) gained 18.19%, and Shop.app (#42) grew 10.41%. Retailers further down the list showed the same pattern: Gap (#95) was up 9.6% MoM, Macy’s (#97) gained 7.1%, and Shein (#96) added 11.2%.

The breadth of the retail lift in May, touching fast fashion, electronics, mass market, and home, points to Memorial Day as one of the most significant traffic events in the retail calendar.

AI tools maintain strong year-over-year momentum

The AI category continued its long-run growth in May. Claude.ai (#36) reached 225.2 million visits, up 443% year-over-year, while ChatGPT (#10) held 981.8 million visits despite a modest 3.9% MoM dip. Gemini (#22) recorded 324.8 million visits, up 124.8% year-over-year.

Combined, the three leading AI chat platforms drew over 1.5 billion monthly visits, a category that barely registered in the top 100 two years ago.

The news media continues its structural decline

CNN (#34) fell 19.24% MoM and is down 19.7% year-over-year. Fox News (#41) dropped 5.4% MoM and 4.6% year-over-year. The New York Times (#19) fell 7.8% MoM. BBC (#99) declined 11.7% MoM.

Eight of the thirteen US news sites in Press Gazette’s global top 50 ranking recorded declines both month-over-month and year-over-year in May, according to their global news traffic report, with AI-generated summaries and declining social referral traffic cited as contributing factors.

Explore the full data

To dig deeper into any site on this list, use Similarweb’s Web Intelligence platform to analyze traffic sources, audience demographics, and keyword data. You can also explore the full monthly rankings directly through Similarweb’s free top websites ranking tool.

FAQs

What types of websites get the most traffic in the US?

Search engines dominate by volume, with Google alone recording 16.61 billion visits in May 2026. Social media and video platforms follow, including YouTube (5.65B), Facebook (2.49B), Instagram (1.15B), and TikTok (476.5M). Ecommerce sites like Amazon (2.32B) and Walmart (491.9M) rank in the top 15, while AI tools, streaming services, and news sites fill out the remainder of the top 100.

How does seasonal timing affect traffic for US websites?

May shows the pattern clearly: home improvement, retail, and streaming sites all benefit from Memorial Day, while education platforms like Instructure (#29) drop sharply as the academic year ends. Weather sites like weather.com (#17) and accuweather.com (#75) see softer traffic compared to peak winter or storm-season months. Tracking how sites move month over month across an entire calendar year reveals which are genuinely growing and which are riding seasonal cycles.

Why did so many retail sites spike in May 2026 specifically?

Memorial Day is one of the biggest promotional moments in the US retail calendar, and in 2026, it fell on May 25. Most major retailers launched sales a week or two before the holiday, meaning the entire second half of May was saturated with active promotions. Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Best Buy, and Wayfair all ran multi-week events, pulling shoppers online repeatedly to browse, compare, and purchase. The result was a broad retail traffic lift that touched everything from home improvement to fast fashion.

How do live sports rights affect a streaming platform’s traffic?

May 2026 is a direct example. Peacock grew 20.89% MoM, three to four times the rate of every other major streaming platform, because it held exclusive streaming rights to the NBA Conference Semifinals and Western Conference Finals. Live sports generate repeat daily visits across a multi-week window, something on-demand content rarely produces. A subscriber who watches three games a week visits the platform far more often than one who watches a new episode once a week. Exclusive live rights are among the most reliable traffic multipliers in streaming.

What does the growth of AI tools in the top 100 tell us about how people use the web?

Three AI chat platforms, ChatGPT (#10), Gemini (#22), and Claude.ai (#36), combined for over 1.5 billion visits in May 2026. Two years ago, none of them appeared in the top 100. Their rise reflects a structural shift in how people find information: rather than running a search and clicking through results, a growing share of users now put their question directly into a conversational AI. For search engines and content publishers, that shift is part of why organic traffic to news and reference sites has been under sustained pressure.