Here’s another great news that will surely boost Steve Job’s huge ego. Based on the latest data from research firm NPD Group, iTunes is now the number 2 music retailer in the US. Wal-mart remains the leader in this category.
In this digital era where online music downloads rule over sales of physical CDs, iTunes has sold over four billion songs last year, with an incredible 20 million songs sold on Christmas Day 2007 alone. Best Buy and Target came in 3rd and 4th spot.
Currently, iTunes offers the world’s largest music catalog of more than 6 million songs from major and independent record labels. Apple also announced that there are now over 50 million iTunes Store customers.
An analyst notes that more important than sales are the 50 million customers buying and gladly providing their credit card information to Apple. It is very interesting to note that 48% of teenagers did not buy any CD in 2007 compared to 38% in 2006. This upward trend signals the slow death for CDs.
But this year might prove to be more challenging for iTunes as many online retailers like Amazon.com will be offering DRM-free music from major record labels.
via Beta News
Originally posted on February 27, 2008 @ 7:35 am