iTunes is Number 2 Music Retailer in U.S.

[MacRumors]

Alongside MacBook and MacBook Pro releases today, Apple announced that iTunes had become the number 2 music retailer in the U.S., behind only Wal-Mart.

"We'd like to thank the over 50 million music lovers who have helped the iTunes Store reach this incredible milestone," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We continue to add great new features like iTunes Movie Rentals to give our customers even more reason to love iTunes."

The rankings are based on NPD Group's MusicWatch data. iTunes has sold over four billion songs, with 20 million songs sold on Christmas Day 2007 alone.


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[Markleshark]

This is great news for Apple, long may it continue.

[PlaceofDis]

wow, thats some growth! huge congrats to apple.

now only if they could get more labels on board for the drm free stuff, i'd buy all my music from them.

[iPoodOverZune]

Apple is in full speed now, heh! It could take Walmart with its horns. Watch yourself walmart.

[yoman]

How far behind is iTunes from Wal-Mart? Does anybody know?

[phytonix]

How is Amazon doing?

[apple101]

was itunes like 3 the last time they told us?? may be wrong

[840quadra]

Originally Posted by press release

*Based on data from market research firm the NPD Group’s MusicWatch survey that captures consumer reported past week unit purchases and counts one CD representing 12 tracks, excluding wireless transactions. The iTunes Music Store became the second-largest music retailer in the US after Wal-Mart, based on the amount of music sold during 2007.

I am curious if that also means that purchases from iPod Touches and iPhones are excluded from the total sales volume.

[ruckus]

Originally Posted by apple101

was itunes like 3 the last time they told us?? may be wrong

Yeah it was 3, behind amazon I think.

Hopefully this will help the falling stock prices :P

[Stampyhead]

Originally Posted by xy14

I absolutely f***ing hate that store..

I absolutely agree with you. I refuse to go there unless I have to buy something in the middle of the night and there's nothing else open. I'm wondering if they are going to try more unethical tactics to get Apple of their tail. Remember when they threatened the movie studios to stop selling their DVD's if they signed up with the iTunes store? Any company with business practices like that deserves to rot in retail hell.

[Southernboy]

Seems like only yesterday that Target was the target. iTunes really is an incredibly intuitive shopping experience that I can only see expanding into software etc.

[ltjca]

Originally Posted by apple101

was itunes like 3 the last time they told us?? may be wrong

Yeah, i think so. Best buy or amazon was in front of Apple right?

[Doctor Q]

These were the pole positions as of last June (see Macrumors story):

1. Walmart (15.8%)
2. Best Buy (13.8%)
3. Apple iTunes (9.8%)
4. Amazon.com (6.7%)
5. Target (6.6%)

I also found an old press release from 2005:

1. Wal-Mart
2. Best Buy
3. Target
4. Amazon.com
5. FYE
6. Circuit City
7. Apple\iTunes
8. Tower Records
9. Sam Goody
10. Borders

[pounce]

i hope itunes growth will help to get more movie rental content available to us, since i have an apple tv and all.

[Jeff Meredith]

I, like obviously many others, love iTunes. Love the selection, convenience. Of course, I upgraded all of the music I can to iTunes Plus when available. But the majority of the music I buy from iTunes locks me further into iPods, we own three plus an Apple TV.

I have been a happy law abiding consumer purchasing music under the terms the music industry agreed to. I have never pirated anything.

But for the music industry to thrive and not become irrelevant, they need to level the playing field. If they unlock all of their music to AAC unprotected, then the MP3/AAC players, music phones,etc. will have to compete on price and features, not on vendor lock-in. All music that we have on our iTunes accounts should be immediately upgradeable to iTunes Plus. I would gladly pay the fee if it was reasonable.


Imagine if CDs locked you into only playing on Sony equipment. They tried that. Failed. Video Games lock you into one console and do fine but I don't think music can be that way.

Make Electronic music equivalent to CDs. Remove the DRM. Become relevant again.

[tk421]

Wow! That's amazing. I was impressed back when they announced they were 5th, and they've consistently gone up since then. I can even see them overtaking Wal-Mart. Who would have thought?

[Markleshark]

Originally Posted by Doctor Q

These were the pole positions as of last June (see Macrumors story):

1. Walmart (15.8%)
2. Best Buy (13.8%)
3. Apple iTunes (9.8%)
4. Amazon.com (6.7%)
5. Target (6.6%)

With those the last figures, Apple Can't be far behind Walmart now either, I'd like to see them number one by WWDC.

[Dimwhit]

Originally Posted by Doctor Q

These were the pole positions as of last June (see Macrumors story):

1. Walmart (15.8%)
2. Best Buy (13.8%)
3. Apple iTunes (9.8%)
4. Amazon.com (6.7%)
5. Target (6.6%)

Based on that, I've got to think that iTunes isn't far behind Walmart at all. Unless Best Buy tumbled and Walmart gained as much on them as Apple did.

edit: dang, Markleshark beat me to it...

[SiliconAddict]

*shrugs* I stopped going to iTMS now that Amazon has a somewhat competent selection that is DRM free at 256kb/s....Other then the store layout sucking like a black hole....

[Buschmaster]

This has already been a pretty big year for Apple. Tuesday is going to turn into Apple Day if this continues.

Great news continues to come our way!

[La Porta]

Excellent, for sure a step in the right direction.

[vendettabass]

didnt expect this!

[skeep5]

I've certainly done my part to make this happen!

[lazyrighteye]

Considering Wal-Mart's MP3 downloads are not Mac-compatible, iTunes is the #1 music retailer on the Mac OS!
And with Apple's market share on the rise...

If I were Wal-Mart *shudders*, I would make my services Mac-friendly. ASAP.

[zombitronic]

Does Wal-Mart still sell only censored music? I remember buying Mellow Gold from them way back in the '90s, only to discover that all the vulgar words were edited with that annoying reversal effect. If that's the case, who still buys music from them? Seems strange to support an artist if you're offended by their lyrics...

I know Apple does this in iTunes, but you usually have a choice. In some cases, I can understand this. You little kid likes Green Day, but you don't want them hearing all the F-bombs. That's fine, but it seems to me that the market for censored music is smaller than the market for uncensored music. Maybe I underestimate this.