143,963 total apps in the Windows Store and the top Windows 8.1 apps as of Jan 12th

As of January 12th, there are 143,963 apps in the Windows Store, an increase of 572 apps in just one week. A bit of a slow week for new apps compared to previous weeks. The Windows Store is close to reaching the 150,000 app milestone, which is no surprise since over a thousand apps are being added to the Store every week, on average.

Let’s dive in and take a look at the most popular Windows 8.1 and Windows RT apps available in the Windows Store. We will go over some stats for the Windows Store, including the top five paid apps and top five free apps. This is yet another post in our feature called “Windows Store Sunday” where we highlight what’s going on with the Windows Store.

Facebook, one again, remains the top free app in the Windows Store while Asphalt 7 Heat returns to the top spot in the paid category. Angry Birds Star Wars has returned to the top-paid cateogry after a few weeks of being off the list. You can see a complete list of the top free and top paid apps at the bottom of this post. First, lets recap this week’s important Windows Store news.

If you are into strategy games, check out Orcs Must Survive. In this game, which is eerly similar to Plants vs Zombies, your task is to protect the Orcs from humans who are trying to kill them. Zombie Ragdoll, which was also released this week, is an addictive shooting game that works with both Windows 8 and 8.1, giving users the chance to shoot the zombies using plethora of weapons. The game comes with very decent graphics, and over 100 addictive levels to test your skills.

Looking for a cool new game for Windows 8.1? Check out Slot Battlefield, which isn’t your traditional slot machine game. Instead, you must use strategy as well as luck to fight other slot players to become a great slot machine warrior.

After launching on both the Android and Windows Phone platforms, Supercar Shooter was made available for those of you on Windows RT and Windows 8.1. This is a fun and addictive racing game that lets you blow things up!

Infinite runner games are quite popular on Windows Phone and other mobile devices, but if you’re looking for something new and interesting on your PC, take a look at Zoids Endurance for Windows 8.1. Introduced this week, Zoids Endurance is an endless runner game where you have to go as far as possible.

And now, lets take a look at the top five free apps in the United States based on popularity: