iPod Fans

Thanks to a spike in post-holiday sales, Apple’s iTunes online store outsold long-time top music retailer Wal-Mart in the United States during both January and February, the company said Thursday. Research firm NPD has been tracking the meteoric rise of iTunes among music retailers since it broke the top ten sellers in the third quarter 2005. It entered the rankings at number seven behind Circuit City, FYE, Amazon.com, Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart.Data from NPD, which tracks retail sales in the US, showed that by the first quarter of 2007, iTunes had upset all but Wal-Mart and Best Buy, establishing a comfortable position in third. The margin between third and second place represents the largest gap in the rankings.

Then, citing NPD data again in February of this year, Apple claimed its iTunes store was number two in music sales in 2007, selling over 200 million songs on Christmas Day alone. It was during one of these spikes that iTunes finally ranked higher than Wal-Mart, garnering a 19% share of music sales over the discount retailer’s 15%. According to the company, it was able to hold that top spot during January and February. Apple has sold 4 billion songs through iTunes and counts over 50 million customers.

Source: Betanews, Martin