Opera has always been known as that other kid on the block. While Firefox and Chrome continue their success, the world’s fifth most popular browser isn’t just sitting back. In a recent report released by Opera, the company said that as of December 2010, there are over 85.5 million Opera users worldwide. That’s a solid 84.7% percent increase in unique users since December 2009.

Opera is also enjoying a huge popularity in the mobile arena. Not to forget, there were over 1 million downloads from the iPhone App Store, within just 24 hours of its launch.

[Update: Thomas Ford of Opera Software ASA notified us that the 85.5 million users is just Opera Mini itself. The actual number of Opera users (desktop and mobile) is significantly higher.

Thanks Thomas! We really appreciate your feedback!]