Apple"s iTunes Store has seen some pretty good growth in the last couple of years; it"s currently the most popular online music store, and that apparently isn"t all, according to MarketWatch. Just recently, iTunes managed to reach 25% (rising from 21% in 2008 and 14% the year before) of all music sales in the United States, meaning that it is now number one in both categories, be it digital or physical.
Let"s lay down some statistics here, straight from The NPD Group"s report (keeping in mind they"re all related to the United States only). Physical sales in the first half of this year (CDs, etc) accounted for 65% of all music sold, whereas digital hit 35% (up from 30% last year, and 20% in 2007). Russ Crupnick, who is vice president of entertainment industry analysis with The NPD Group, commented on this, saying, "But with digital music sales growing at 15 to 20 percent, and CDs falling by an equal proportion, digital music sales will nearly equal CD sales by the end of 2010."
iTunes is now at 69% of all digital sales in the U.S., with the closest rival being AmazonMP3, at 8 percent. In terms of physical sales, Walmart leads the way with 20 percent of sales, tailed by Best Buy at 16 percent, with Amazon and Target both at 10 percent each. Russ Crupnick, an entertainment industry analyst for The NPD Group, said, "The growth of legal digital music downloads, and Apple"s success in holding that market, has increased iTunes"s overall strength in the retail music category." He added, "But the importance of the big box retailers shouldn"t be dismissed, as long as the majority of music consumers continue to buy CDs."
The future for physical media sales is looking a tad bleak... let us know in the comments, Neowin; do you prefer to buy digitally, or are you a firm believer in having something you can hold in your hand?