TLD Radar

.pop

Is .pop a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?

.pop is contested: 9 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, Identity Digital, .top (Zhongze), GoDaddy Registry, Automattic, Guoxu Technology, Aruba, ShortDot and 1 more, listed below. SecM Tech Solutions named .pop as a backup string for its .sec application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.

Generic applications · Culture · on the record since Aug 15, 2026, updated Oct 7, 2026
applicants
9 applications · 1 deactivated backup

Who is applying, and what they run today

Seven of the nine already run TLDs, 46.90M names between them. One runs one of .pop's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .cool. Guoxu Technology and Link Freedom Group run none.

  • Vanity Check, LLC

    Identity Digital

    controlled by Ethos Capital Digital Infrastructure UGP LLC

    277 TLDs · 14.80M names: .info 5.63M, .pro 1.25M, .live 672K, .cool 23K (2012 comp)

    backup .calendar, disallowed

  • XYZ.COM LLC

    XYZ Registry

    controlled by Daniel Negari, Michael Ambrose

    35 TLDs · 11.96M names: .xyz 9.15M, .lol 1.13M, .autos 290K

    backup .girl

  • NETDREAM PTE. LTD.

    .top (Zhongze)

    controlled by Yizheng Xu

    1 TLDs · 7.43M names: .top 7.43M

    backup .core, disallowed

  • Registry Services, LLC

    GoDaddy Registry

    controlled by GoDaddy Inc.

    36 TLDs · 7.22M names: .vip 1.96M, .us 1.88M, .biz 1.30M

    backup .trends

  • ShortDot (Ireland) Limited

    ShortDot

    controlled by Cristian-Nicolae Tecar, Lars Jensen, NOVA LAAD - FZCO, Neozon SARL, ShortDot S.A.

    5 TLDs · 4.55M names: .sbs 1.45M, .bond 1.20M, .cfd 688K

    backup .moon, disallowed

  • Aruba PEC S.P.A.

    Aruba

    controlled by Aruba S.P.A., Giorgio Cecconi

    1 TLDs · 552K names: .cloud 552K

    backup .zzz, disallowed

  • Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC

    Automattic

    controlled by Automattic Inc.

    1 TLDs · 390K names: .blog 390K

    backup .gig, disallowed

  • Beijing Guoxu Network Technology Co., Ltd.

    Guoxu Technology

    runs no TLD today

    backup .mai, disallowed

  • Link Freedom Group Ltd

    Link Freedom Group

    controlled by Vandelay Investments Ltd, Yonatan Belousov

    runs no TLD today

    backup .look, disallowed

runs TLDs today; the larger, the more namesruns none.tld in orange: one of this string’s closest 2012 stringsbackup .x usable · backup .x ✕ disallowed

Applications are counted by company, across its legal entities, from ICANN’s list. Names are from the registries’ June 2026 reports to ICANN. “None on record” means no public source in our record ties the company to a registry operator that runs TLDs today. Control: each application’s own answer to ICANN (question 108). Largest TLDs and names: the registries’ monthly reports to ICANN.

backups
  • SecM Tech SolutionsDeactivated backupsecuritymatters.asia ↗

    Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .sec application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup

    Deactivated backup for .secGeneric · Applicant supportICANN STS2562-T71111ICANN ↗

Will names sell?

◈AI score
40/ 100
Usable but limited

A catchy word for pop culture, music fandom, and pop-up shops; good for campaigns and fan sites, rarely a serious brand's main address.

assessed by claude-fable-5 · Aug 15, 2026

Last round the AI scored the 2012 strings blind to their fate. Strings it scored 60 or more hold a median 27,168 names today; those under 30, a median of 30. .pop’s closest 2012 strings hold .buzz 220K, .fun 447K and .cool 23K.

AI score 40 of 100. .com scores 96, .ai scores 84.

For comparison, .com scores 96 and .ai scores 84 on the same rubric.

How the AI’s blind 2012 read held up: its score of each 2012 string against the names it holds today808 2012-round TLDs. Scored 60 or more: median 27168 names. Scored under 30: median 30 names. .pop's closest 2012 strings: .buzz scored 26, 219719 names; .fun scored 45, 446583 names; .cool scored 35, 23197 names.101001K10K100K1M020406080100scored 60+: median 27Kunder 30: median 30.buzz · 26 · 220K.fun · 45 · 447K.cool · 35 · 23Kthe AI’s blind 2012 score of each string (its own scale) →names held today (log) →

a 2012-round TLD.pop’s closest 2012 strings: score · names

The 2012 read is a separate, time-locked score on its own scale, so .pop’s score above is not placed on it. Names: the registries’ reports to ICANN, 2026-10. Non-brand 2012 TLDs in the root.

closest 2012 strings
3 of 1,408

The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today

The closest 2012 string, .buzz, held 219,719 names, June 2026. .fun held 446,583; .cool held 23,197. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.

  1. .buzzstrong parallel219,719 names, June 2026live since 2013 · uncontested in 2012 · scored 26* in 2012 · DOTSTRATEGY CO.See .buzz in Stats

    Same bet: a short, punchy, meaning-fluid English word sold not as a category but as tone, betting that consumer brands and marketers will pay for energy and memorability rather than for a vertical the string defines.

  2. .funstrong parallel446,583 names, June 2026live since 2016 · 3 applications in 2012 · scored 45* in 2012 · Oriental Trading Company, Inc.See .fun in Stats

    Same bet: a mass-appeal one-syllable mood word with no anchor industry or community, whose whole value case is that anyone can hang a playful consumer identity on it, so it lives or dies on volume-priced brandability.

  3. .coolmoderate23,197 names, June 2026live since 2014 · uncontested in 2012 · scored 35* in 2012 · Koko Lake, LLCSee .cool in Stats

    Close in kind — a generic slang word monetized purely as vibe with no defined registrant class — but it is a pure adjective, so it modifies a brand rather than being a thing a registrant can claim to be, which narrows the identity use versus a noun like pop.

Names are from the registries’ monthly reports to ICANN. Each name opens the TLD’s stats page: how it grew, who sells it, and the 2026 strings compared with it. * A separate 2012-only read, time-locked to what was public that year, on a different scale from this page’s score.

Where they meet elsewhere

Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .pop included.

  • Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
    77
  • Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
    68
  • Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
    51
  • Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
    49
  • Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
    32

Shared contests: strings where both companies hold an application on ICANN’s list. Companies that meet another here in fewer than three are left out.

who it’s for

pop-culture media outlets, fan communities, music acts and labels, and pop-up retail or event brands wanting a playful, memorable address for campaigns, drops, and side projects

What a .pop domain is

.pop is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 9 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.

Is the .pop domain extension real yet?

.pop is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. It is a string applicants have put forward in the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, the process that decides whether it becomes one.

When can you buy a .pop domain?

You can’t yet. A .pop name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .pop was .buzz, delegated on 18 December 2013.

Is .pop a real TLD?

Not yet. .pop is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .pop is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.

Considering a name on .pop?Appraise a name on this TLD →

This record is corrected in the open. See the changelog and methodology.