Media Entertainment [Solved] Japan's Music Industry now #1 in the World.

2010 figures on the Wiki are "physical" sales from the 2011 "Recording Industry in Numbers" report published by IFPI. I haven't seen the 2012 RIN report released in March yet. You can buy it on the IFPI website.  Here is a relevant article.

IFPI 2012 Report: Global Music Revenue Down 3%; Sync, PRO, Digital Income Up

 

 Quote

[...]

In the global rankings, the U.S. retained the top position with sales remaining flat in value terms totlling $4.37 billion. Japan, the second biggest global music market, recorded a 7% decline in trade revenues, falling from to $4.39 billion in 2010 to $4.09 billion. 

Germany is once again has the world's number three music market, posting flat results, with revenues totaling $1.47 billion in 2011. The United Kingdom, which slipped behind Germany in last year's world rankings last year, remains at number four, with recorded music revenues totaling $1.43 billion, a 3.1% fall on 2010's total of $1.48 billion. France is at number five with recorded music sales totally just over $1 billion. 

Elsewhere in the top ten music markets, Australia ($475 million) has overtaken Canada ($434 million) to claim the number six spot and Brazil ($262 million) has jumped two places to number eight, overtaking the Netherlands ($240 million) and Italy ($240 million). 

In total, 17 global markets saw growth in 2011, including seven of the top twenty markets: Canada (+2.6%), Sweden (+3.0%), India (+6.2%), South Korea (+6.4%), Brazil (+8.6%), Mexico (+5.5%) and Australia (+5.7%).

[...]

First or second, Japanese music market has been very big. Each market in top 5 is so much bigger than the rest. More numbers below. 

2009 data

2010 data

2011 data is the fresh one. This table is from a secondary source but it's consistent with the Billboard article. Digital sales are bigger than physical sales in American, Korean, Indian and Norwegian markets.

If you wonder why the values from the previous year are adjusted,

 

 Quote

IFPI attributes the numerical difference between its previously published 2010 sales total ($15.9 billion, without sync revenue) to that stated in this year's report ($16.8 billion, without sync revenue) to the fact that it calculates growth on a fixed U.S. dollar basis, which means that U.S. dollar values have been restated at 2011 exchange rates. In addition, there may be minor revisions/restatements for 2010 from individual markets, according to a spokesperson for IFPI.

^ Strange. The Wiki figures match the IFPI numbers that RIAJ has in there stats 
Here are the two links:
http://www.riaj.or.jp/e/issue/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_...IFPI_2010_data
Year after year the data matches. 

The RIAJ does indicate it gets its world data from the IFPI so there has to be a correlation. We'll have to see what the IFPI 2012 report says once someone uploads it. I don't want to buy it. lol.

Anyway, ultimately the 2012 report is based on earlier 2010 data which is logical since 2012 is only 3/4 done. I guess they don't use 2011 data either because it probably isn't all in yet. The AKB/Idol boom started in 2010 but really kicked in on 2011 2012. That's when AKB started breaking all kinds of sales records. 
I predict the next IFPI reports to be even brighter for Japan!