Apple’s App Store is widely considered the king of mobile marketplaces — even Android fanatics will admit that it offers a greater selection of high-quality apps and games. But it’s Google Play that’s currently seeing the most growth, according to the latest data from app analytics firm Distimo, while the App Store enjoys more than four times as much revenue.

Over the past four months, the combined daily revenue of Google Play has grown 43%. In comparison, the App Store’s daily revenue has grown just 21%, but Apple’s product is still by far the most profitable.

Over the whole year, the App Store’s revenue has grown 51% in the 20 countries Distimo included in its data. Those are: Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In November, the App Store saw $15 million in average daily revenue, beating Google Play’s $3.5 million more than fourfold. And believe it or not, in-app purchases — not apps that ask for a one-off payment upfront — accounted for more than 69% of the App Store’s revenue.

Distimo notes that many publishers are still “very successful” with the paid-only approach, and during 2012, 35% of the revenue from the top 10 publishers was for paid apps — not those that can be downloaded for free in the hope that you’ll spend money later.

iPad apps drove most of the revenue growth on iOS, with an estimated increase of 71%. The iPhone saw an estimated increase of 40%. Most of that revenue came from the United States, followed by Japan, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Distimo also included in its report a list of 2012’s top apps from the App Store and Google Play, which you can see below:

App Store’s Top 10

1. Instagram
2. Temple Run
3. Find My iPhone
4. Facebook
5. iBooks
6. Draw Something Free
7. iTunes U
8. YouTube
9. Podcasts
10. Twitter

Google Play’s Top 10

1. Street View
2. Facebook
3. Voice Search
4. Maps
5. Gmail
6. YouTube
7. Adobe Flash Player
8. Skype
9. WhatsApp Messenger
10. KakaoTalk

• SourceDistimo
• ViaThe Next Web