As we approach the end of another year, it is time to take a look at the current state of the torrent and file sharing websites that remain standing at the end of 2016. Some of the fastest growing and most popular torrent sites this year include The Pirate Bay, Torrentz2, 1337x, Extratorrent, and Rarbg.

2016: Volatile Year For Torrent Sites

2016 is sure to go down as one of the most volatile years in the short history of torrenting and file sharing, with many of the most popular sites biting the dust in a huge shakeup. Meanwhile, several contenders emerged to take the place of sites which were shut down either forcefully or voluntarily, while some other mirror and replacement sites have also risen to prominence.

The big news this year was, of course, the July U.S. government shutdown of Kickass Torrents, which at the time, was the leading torrent site in the world, even having bypassed former chart topper The Pirate Bay. The unexpected closing of that site was soon followed by the voluntary shutdown of the third most popular torrent site, Torrentz, which acted as a meta search engine for file sharers, directing them to various sites which actually hosted the files. Another top torrent site, Torrenthound, soon followed, shutting itself down as well.

The shakeup left millions of former users of the aforementioned sites looking for alternatives, and soon, various mirrors and copies of the defunct websites appeared. Some functioned properly, while others merely hosted cached former content or secretly just mirrored other sites like Pirate Bay. Meanwhile, other torrent sites that had already been around began to get a second look from displaced file sharers.

Big Winners: The Pirate Bay, Torrentz2, 1337x, Extratorrent, And Rarbg

So, who benefited the most from the great torrent shakeout of 2016? One obvious winner was The Pirate Bay, which rebounded back to the top of the most trafficked torrent site list in the wake of Kickass Torrents' demise.

Other beneficiaries included sites like Extratorrent, 1337x, and Rarbg, which had all been chugging along under the radar for quite some time, and suddenly experienced huge traffic gains from an influx of new users. Torrentz users also found a functional new replacement for their favorite site in the form of Torrentz2, which managed to echo the former site's meta search engine functionality.

With things having stabilized since the summer shakeout, the question now remains what will happen in the coming year as far as torrent and file sharing sites are concerned.

Will there be any big forced or voluntary shutdowns, any new challengers, or will the current state of affairs remain? Only time will tell, but with file sharing still wildly popular, don't expect to see users abandoning the process anytime soon with all the functioning alternatives now available.