After weeks of speculation, Google's Chrome has unseated Microsoft Internet Explorer to become the world's top internet browser for the first time for a full calendar month in May, according to website analytics company StatCounter. The global browser numbers race between Chrome and Internet Explorer remains highly contested. However, StatCounter's Global Stats says that Chrome surpassed IE for the first full day back in March and the achievement of the weekly milestone was reported on 21 May.

For the full month of May according to StatCounter data from over 15 billion page views, Chrome took 32.43% of the worldwide market compared to 32.12% for IE and 25.55% for Firefox.

StatCounter says that a battle royal has broken out between Chrome, IE and Firefox. "While attention has recently been focused on the battle between Chrome and IE, not-for-profit Mozilla's Firefox with its loyal membership base should not be underestimated," commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. He points out that an upswing of over 0.6% in Firefox usage from April to May 2012 (apparently at the expense of IE) helped to push Chrome into pole position.

"The browser wars are back with a vengeance," he added. "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."

Chrome has gone from zero to market leader on a worldwide basis in less than four years. That said, while IE has ceded the top spot to Chrome for May 2012, Microsoft's newest browser version (IE9) is performing well and Firefox is holding its own.

In the US, IE remains the dominant browser. IE is similarly dominant in the UK.