iTunes Tops US Music Charts April 4, 2008

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iTunes has managed to topple retail giant Wal-Mart in the US to become the biggest music seller.

According to NPD’s MusicWatch survey, iTunes finally surpassed Wal-Mart, using the criteria that 12 downloads is the equivalent of one CD. The news highlights the growing shift in music buying habits away from traditional retail outlets.

iTunes managed to overtake Amazon last June to take the No. 3 spot and just this February slipped by Best Buy to take second place. According to NPD’s figures, iTunes controls 19%, followed by Wal-Mart in second with 15%, Best Buy in third with 13% and Amazon.com at No. 4 with 6%.

“We launched iTunes less than five years ago, and it has now become the number one music retailer in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We are thrilled.”

According to Apple, iTunes has sold over 4 billion songs since it’s launch in 2003. love or hate Apple, you have to admit that taking just five years to topple the traditional music buying infrastructure is pretty good going.-Martin Lynch

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