MacRumors.com gathered some data a while back from various sources to determine what the potential market for a very successful paid iPhone app might be.

This is very good motivation to invest real money in both iPhone native app development and marketing :)

Here is a collection of the known sales numbers for some of the top 20 paid apps…

#2. Koi Pond – The New York Times published just a few days ago reveals that Blimp Pilots’ virtual pond app has been downloaded an estimated 900,000 times giving the developers about $623,000 after Apple’s cut.

#3. Enigmo – Pangea’s puzzle game appeared early in the App Store. Enigmo sold 810,000 units between July 2008 and January 2009 (likely the bulk of sales). The price of this app has bounced between $9.99 and $0.99 making it difficult to estimate earnings.

#12. Pocket God – Another entertainment app that puts you in control of a small island of inhabitants, sold about 500,000 copies as of late March, and it has only been around since January. The developers earned about $350,000 so far.

#19. iShoot – An artillery game that made $800,000 in five months with over 380,000 downloads.