Mobile phone makers sold more than 4 million Windows Phones in the third quarter, up from 1.7 million in the same quarter a year ago, according to numbers released earlier today by Gartner.

It represents a slight decline from the second quarter of this year, but that was probably because many potential buyers were waiting for Windows Phone 8.

Not all that bad, until you look at it in the context of Android’s soaring market share.

GeekWire compiled Gartner’s stats for the past two years into the chart above, and you can see how Google’s smartphone operating system is running away with the market, dwarfing the rest of the field with unit sales of more than 122 million in the third quarter. Expressed as market share, Android went from 52.5 percent in the third quarter of 2011 to more than 72 percent in the recent quarter.

Hey, at least Windows Phone has Gwen Stefani and Jessica Alba! These ads start airing tonight.