According to the most recent statistics released by Ireland-based research firm StatCounter, the last week of November 2011 witnessed Google's Chrome 15 reaching up to the top position in terms of global browser usage, dethroning Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 (IE8).

With the StatCounter data showing that top rank in global browser usage has been grabbed by Google's Chrome 15, which recently surpassed the IE8, it is for the first time that a non-Microsoft app has headed the list in the research firm's tracking.

In addition, it is also for the first time - since the beginning of 2010, when the IE8 replaced its predecessor IE7 - that the IE8 has been deposed from the top rank.

Going by the StatCounter data, Chrome overtook IE8 in the last week of November, grabbing 23.6 percent of the worldwide browser market, vis-a-vis a 23.5 percent global browser usage share by IE8.

However, the browser usage share of a combination of all the IE versions put together is still higher than the share of any other browser. In the US alone, the IE is till the top-ranking browser, with a 27 percent share of the market. At the second place, behind IE, in the cumulative spot is Chrome which surpassed Firefox in November.

Drawing attention to the fact that Google marked its foray into the browser market as late as 2008, StatCounter's CEO Aodhan Cullen said that Chrome's noteworthy ascend clearly indicates its widespread acceptance by consumers as well as businesses.