Yeah I was (and remain) in the UK.
My perception is that White Wolf got close to D&D numbers for a time, but yes I don't believe they ever beat it. Even getting close was incredible though. I was at uni at the time and D&D was definitely seen as old fashioned and uncool, at the university RPG society there were loads of white wolf games, a bit of cthulhu and other stuff, and literally only one brief bit of D&D. I know that at the same time my home group D&D campaign was still going on though, and those guys were almost totally unaware of the rest of the hobby. I think there are still great swathes of the D&D fanbase who are totally unaware of other games.
My perception is that White Wolf got close to D&D numbers for a time, but yes I don't believe they ever beat it. Even getting close was incredible though. I was at uni at the time and D&D was definitely seen as old fashioned and uncool, at the university RPG society there were loads of white wolf games, a bit of cthulhu and other stuff, and literally only one brief bit of D&D. I know that at the same time my home group D&D campaign was still going on though, and those guys were almost totally unaware of the rest of the hobby. I think there are still great swathes of the D&D fanbase who are totally unaware of other games.