iTunes hops to third place in music sales

Port Washington (NY) - Amazon and Target fell from their positions last year to bring the digital iTunes store to third place on the music sales charts in Q1 2007.

A new report from NPD Group shows that Apple’s online music outlet now accounts for nearly 10% of all music sales. However, reigning market leader Wal-Mart and electronics giant Best Buy continue to count higher sales.

Wal-Mart accounted for around 16% of all music purchases in the first quarter of 2007, and Best Buy was right behind with nearly 14%. The report counts every 12 tracks downloaded on iTunes as one CD.

It’s a continuously downward slope for the more conventional medium, though. Physical CD sales dropped about 16% compared to the same period last year, while digital music climbed a significant 49% and singlehandedly brought total music year-to-year sales to a positive figure.

Amazon, which was ahead of iTunes last year, only took in around 6.5% market share in the first quarter of ’07, nearly tied with Target, which claimed the #5 spot.

Dozens of other music stores also claimed their fair shares of the market. According to NPD, physical CD sales still account for more than 75% of all music purchases.