Apple on Wednesday said both its iPod music player and iTunes Music Store have toppled Japan native Sony to become number one in the Japanese music market. Sony had led as recently as July, but Apple's fortunes turned a corner with the introduction of iTunes in the country. Within four days of launch, iTunes Japan sold more than one million tracks, the fastest start of any of the company's twenty regionalized stores. Apple credited the iPod's success to that response, which analysts initially doubted would succeed due to the intricacies of the Japanese marketplace.

iTunes competitor Yahoo launched a Japanese version of its Yahoo! Music Unlimited music service in August. Napster, meanwhile, has plans to bring its music service to the country in 2006 through a partnership with Tower Records Japan. Via - Betanews