Ars Technica managed to get access to unreleased data from NPD MusicWatch that shows that Apple is now the leading music retailer in the US, passing Walmart. Apparently the news was sent in an internal Apple email and Cupertino now controls 19% of retail music sales, against Walmart's 15% and number three Best Buy's 13%.Needless to say, this is the first time a download retailer has taken the number one spot and represents a notable market share gain for Apple even since February. It will now be interesting to see if Apple can hold on to the top spot in the long run. In any case, this is a watershed moment and brings the mainstream death of the CD that much closer into view.
Update: Apple has since confirmed its position with a press release. "The iTunes Store became the largest music retailer in the US based on the amount of music sold during January and February 2008."
Thanks Nate!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-03-2008 @ 12:10PM
Eckofish said...
Those records where weekly market analysis focusing on the January period.
The same Janury period that people tend to spend spend spend on things like iPods, iPhones and the iTunes store.
So this data doesn't mean much at all. Especially since apple themselve annouced that they were thrilled to be the No. 2 retailer in mid February.
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4-03-2008 @ 12:29PM
Zoroaster said...
Man I'm sorry. I like this blog but you guys prove yourselves to be idiots over and over and over again. Every other blog in America is smart enough to point out that this was from one week in january when all the fanboys had their pockets full of gift cards.
As has already been pointed out, Steve Jobs himself considered the company to be in second place in February, so even he wasn't deluded enough to believe this meant anything.
Don't get me wrong, I'm an apple fan myself, but I just can't take this kid of blind fanboyism.
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4-03-2008 @ 12:38PM
Zoroaster said...
And I know your source has now posted a "debunking of the debunkers" but its similarly ridiculous. Yes Walmart and Amazon also have gift cards but they can be used for a lot of things besides music, while itunes gift cards require you to purchase media. The bottom line is that we know that as of the very next month, Apple was number 2. So its either idiotic or disingenuous to use the present tense and claim that Apple is now #1, or to use your particular title and say, "Apple passes Walmart, number 1 in US music sales." It's still an implied present tense and is clearly false.
4-03-2008 @ 12:48PM
Mat Lu said...
Well the presence of idiots hereabouts is true enough, I suppose. The Feb announcement was for music sold in 2007. If the Jan data is the latest available then it's perfectly reasonable to speak in the present tense, gift cards or no. In any case, it's particularly reasonable for us to link to a credible story at a respectable site, even if, in the end, it turns out to be flawed. However, so far as I can tell, it has not been so shown.
4-08-2008 @ 2:03AM
DJCarbon43 said...
Mat, don't even bother. They can't conceptualize that while they are too busy being know it alls.
People, the numbers that were realeased 37 days prior to today, see: http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/26/itunes-number-2-with-a-bullet/
were for 07. This latest data was for Q1 08 (or the first third of Q1).
Stop being such know it alls.
4-03-2008 @ 1:24PM
required said...
Wow. I literally had no clue that there were in fact Walmart fanboys that are so passionate to shout, "say it's not so!" regarding something so petty. Gives me chills I tells ya.
4-03-2008 @ 1:36PM
Zoroaster said...
Well if its true that Jobs announcement was in regards to 2007 then I rescind my comment. I still think its sketchy to infer from these numbers that Apple is currently number 1, but its not quite as blind fanboyish. And "idiots" may have been a little harsh. I was having an absolutely rotten morning so my patience was pretty low.
4-03-2008 @ 1:37PM
Frank Furter said...
Wouldn't these be the same fanboys that had the same gift cards -last- January? (When Apple -wasn't- #1?)
This shows growth in the market share.
Mac-hater.
4-03-2008 @ 4:49PM
paul said...
I'm glad the article is true. However, this comment by Mat is very disturbing:
"it's particularly reasonable for us to link to a credible story at a respectable site, even if, in the end, it turns out to be flawed."
No, it's not reasonable. Being a blogger doesn't give you a free pass to be lazy. TUAW sometimes complains about not getting tickets to Apple media events. Start acting like a journalist and you might.
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4-03-2008 @ 5:17PM
Mat Lu said...
Have you ever, perhaps, heard of corrections? Go pick up any newspaper and consider reading it. My claim was not that we're entitled to link to falsehoods because we're bloggers. My claim was simply, and remains, that there was (and is) sufficient epistemic warrant to credit the story and thus it was reasonable for us to post on it, even if it happened to turn out to be false. It is clearly possible for an actually false story to meet this epistemic bar, establishing the reasonableness of our linking to it. As it happens, the story both met the epistemic bar, and happily, was true.
4-04-2008 @ 3:56PM
Michael Rose said...
Mat, I'll be waiting for you over at the epistemic bar with a steinful of epistemological beer.
4-05-2008 @ 4:26AM
artifex said...
Michael, I'll bet the musicians there can do a mean version of "Existential Blues."
4-03-2008 @ 5:26PM
Paul Bradley said...
Regardless of being #1 or #2, I think this says more about dropping CD sales all over the US (including Walmart) than it says about increasing digital download sales.
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4-03-2008 @ 7:59PM
doubleagame said...
This is HUGE news. Kudos to iTunes.
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