Japan topped the rank of per capita spending on mobile games and non-game apps in the first three quarters of 2021, reported Sensor Tower in October.

Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data reveals that among the top 10 highest-grossing markets in the first three quarters of 2021—excluding China—Japan’s average per capita spending on mobile games and non-game apps topped all others at approximately $149, up 18 percent year-over-year.

The report also indicated that this was five percentage points less than the 23 percent growth that Japan saw between the same periods in 2019 and 2020. The possible reason is that user behavior is normalizing after an increase in spending on applications is driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan, South Korea, the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Thailand, and Russia were the top 10 highest earning markets on the App Store and Google Play during 2021.

These markets generated combined spending of $65.4 billion up from $53.8 billion a year ago.

Although Japan saw the highest per capita spending on average in the 1Q21 to 3Q21 period, U.S. app stores generated the most overall spending among the markets studied.

US app stores saw some of the highest spendings, climbing 24% to $30 billion.

Japan came in second with mobile game and app revenue reaching approximately $18.6 billion, up 18 percent Y/Y from $15.8 billion.

Thailand saw the biggest increase in per capita spending jumping 33% to an average of $12, up from $9 in 2020.

Germany experienced somewhat of a cool down from 2020, with average spending growing 28% compared to the 32% it jumped the year before.

Meanwhile, Canada saw the largest drop in spending growth. Users spending in apps grew 42% in 2020 versus 22% this year, which signals just how impactful COVID lockdowns were for app and in-app sales.

Source: Sensor Tower