.top domain

.top

Introduced	November 18, 2014 (general public)
TLD type	Generic top-level domain (gTLD)
Status	Active
Registry	.top registry (Bangning Group)
Website	www.nic.top

.top is a new gTLD (new generic top level domain).It was accredited by ICANN and was officially delegated in ICANN's New gTLD Program on August 4, 2014. The domain is managed and operated by the .top registry,^[1] which is affiliated with Jiangsu Bangning Group in Nanjing, China and can be registered by anyone as of November 18, 2014.

.top domain is now the No. 1 most registered new gTLDs, excluding those offered free of charge, and obtained around 1,000,000 registrations from 230 countries.^[2] Big brands registering their .top domains are Google, Apple, Chanel, Amazon, Citigroup, Manchester United, Yahoo, Casio, Baidu, etc. Users building website with .top extension are ALIBABA GROUP's hitao.top / 嗨淘全球, MIIT's cnmaker.top / 创客中国, BBZ ARENENBERG's arenenberg.top, TOPTOP's top.top, and more can be found also via the live site gallery from nic.top.

Development

• June 20, 2011, ICANN officially announced that the application for new gTLDs was to open in 2012.
• April 11, 2012, the application was submitted online. On June 9, 2012, it appeared on the ICANN public list.
• March 20, 2013, it passed initial evaluation.
• March 20, 2014, the registry signed a contract with ICANN.
• August 5, 2014, the domain entered the root zone of ICANN new gTLD.
• October 15, 2014, it entered its sunrise period.
• November 18, 2014, .top domains could be registered openly. Registration volume exceeded 10,000 at the first day.
• March 5, 2015, .top was supported on Sedo, the biggest domain trading platform in the world.
• April 24, 2015, .top was put on record with Chinese national government department MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology).^[3][4]
• September 2015, .top domains obtained 250,000 new registrations within one week, making its total registration volume surge to 530,000.
• December 2015, .top total registration reached around 1,000,000.
• January 2016, .top will release it's IDN domains, supporting Arabic, Chinese (traditional + simplified), French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish - the exact date of IDN release will soon be announced.^[5]

Background and current use

The origin English word "top" means "topnotch" / "first-class" / "high end" / "best" / ... in almost every language, thus the upbeat .top domain appeals to entrepreneurs, businesses and individuals all over the world. It's recommended by ICANN that ".top is short, memorable and helps companies or individuals stand out as the 'top' or 'best' brand in their industry".^[6] There are 560,000 .com domains contain the word "top", accounting for a rate of 1:220, a hint of "top" popularity among end-users.
Following the open registration day November 18, 2014, .top domain attracted international and domestic investors as well as terminal enterprises from more than 230 countries and regions, building their website with .top extension.^[7]

Biggest sales

In addition to standard domains registration, it's also reported on dnpric.es that .top reserved / premium domain selling ranks No. 1 among all new gTLDs.^[8] top sales are also reported on dnjournal.com and included in namebio.com.

Domain registration

After the last batch of reserved .top domains released on May 12, 2015, the .top registry still reserves mainly single / double / triple digits and / or letters, common English word and Chinese pinyin .top domains - this is because the registry encourages and supports endusers building website with .top extension and they can get their desired .top domains at reasonable price, thus expanding the application of .top domains and creating benign investing environment for .top domain investors.

Compared to other new gTLDs, the price of 'standard' ('antonym' in this case would be 'premium') .top domains is inexpensive - if including temporary promo prices, the price is ranging from $0.5 to $35 - depending on different registrars,^[9] so that everyone should have an opportunity to get .top domains at affordable prices.

References