NEW YORK - Subway, home of the $5 footlong, has officially taken the top spot away from McDonald€™s as the world€™s largest restaurant chain in terms of units.

The Wall Street Journal writes that at the end of 2010, Subway had 33,749 restaurants worldwide, compared to McDonald's 32,737.

Global dominance is an important goal for the sandwich chain, but it has unyielding competition. According to the newspaper, Starbucks announced plans to triple its number of outlets in China, while Dunkin' Brands Inc. plans to open thousands of new outlets in China in the coming years, including its first stores in Vietnam.

Subway opened its first international restaurant in 1984 in Bahrain and expects the number of its international restaurants to exceed its domestic ones by 2020, Don Fertman, Subway's chief development officer, told the newspaper.

McDonald's, however, is still the leader when it comes to sales, reporting $24 billion in revenue in 2010. "We remain focused on listening to and serving our customers, and are committed to being better, not just bigger," a McDonald's spokeswoman told the newspaper.

Subway€™s rapid growth is attributed to its non-traditional locations, such as an automobile showroom in California, an appliance store in Brazil, a ferry terminal in Seattle, a riverboat in Germany, a zoo in Taiwan, a Goodwill store in South Carolina, a high school in Detroit and a church in Buffalo, New York, the Journal writes.

"We're continually looking at just about any opportunity for someone to buy a sandwich, wherever that might be. The closer we can get to the customer, the better," Fertman added, noting that at nearly 8,000 Subway locations in unusual locations, "The non-traditional is becoming traditional."

While the battle for top restaurant chain heats up, 7-Eleven is the top global retail chain, having just opened its 40,000th store.