Angry Birds Space Catapulted To No. 1 On Apps Store

Angry Birds Space has been out for one day, and has already become the most predictable Apps Store No. 1 of all time.

The game winged its way up the Apps Store charts in nearly 30 countries, as users flocked to buy the sequel to the best-selling mobile game of 2010 and 2011. The top spot for 2012 seems secured already.

Thursday’s release was preceded by the most expensive promotional campaign ever for a mobile game. Maker Rovio managed to winch a giant inflatable Angry Bird halfway up Seattle’s Space Needle, and even enlisted NASA flight engineer Don Pettit to demo the new game from the International Space Station, in orbit about 243 miles above the earth.

The expenditure has apparently paid off. Angry Birds Space is the No. 1 paid and No. 1 top grossing app for the iPhone and iPad in 28 countries, including the U.S., China, Germany, France, India, the UK, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, Argentina, and others.

The iOS versions of the game, priced at $0.99 and $2.99 on the iPhone and iPad respectively, have left the Pictionary-esque mobile game Draw Something and Apple’s own new photo editing and sharing tool, iPhoto, to fight it out for second place.

The game is also available for PCs and Macs (both $4.99), Amazon’s Kindle Fire ($2.99), Android ($0.99) and as a free, ad-supported version on most platforms.

Have you picked up a copy of Rovio’s top-selling bird-slinging simulation yet?

[Via Inside Mobile Apps]