Google's Chrome browser has become increasingly more popular, and according to website analytics company StatCounter, Chrome overtook Microsoft's Internet Explorer in May, becoming the world's most popular browser. Meanwhile, Web analytics company Net Applications also released its data on June 1, ranking Google's Chrome as the world's second-most-popular browser, overtaking Mozilla's Firefox.

According to StatCounter, Chrome grabbed 32.4 percent of the worldwide market for the full months of May, compared with Internet Explorer's 32.1 percent and Firefox' 25.6 percent. StatCounter added that May was the first full calendar month in which Chrome ranked higher than Internet Explorer globally.

"The browser wars are back with a vengeance," said StatCounter Chief Executive Aodhan Cullen, as cited by MarketWatch.  "This time there are three major players competing for the top spot but, ultimately, the real winner will be the end user who can look forward to more choice and innovation as a result of this increased competition."

Meanwhile, Net Applications' data shows Chrome rose 1.3 percentage points, more than double its average increase over the last year, to gain 20.2 percent. Firefox lost six-tenths of a point, dropping to 19.6 percent. Internet Explorer dropped half a percentage point in May, ending the month at 53.6 percent, according to Net Applications. This decline marked the end of the browser's two consecutive months' growth, leaving Internet Explorer close to the share it had last March. IE did, however, gain share in three of the first five months of this year.

When it comes to Apple's Safari and Opera Software's Opera browser, Net Applications reported Safari dropped two-tenths of a point to land at 4.6 percent, while Opera remained flat at 1.6 percent. StatCounter data puts Safari at 7.1 percent and Opera at 1.7 percent.

StatCounter's results are based on over 15 billion page views per month, recorded across over three million Web sites. The stats are based in page views, not on unique visitors, allowing the company to see how frequently browsers are used and to track multi-browser usage. Net Applications, on the other hand, calculates browser usage share based on data from more than 160 million unique visitors, across 40,000 Web sites monitored by the company.