More Videos
- YouTube Could Become Networks' "OurTube"
- What Are Investors Missing? How About Everything!
- That Microsoft, Yahoo Talk is Back!
- Apple As Wall Street Whipping Boy
- AMD Prepares 'Big' Announcement
- Apple's Big Mo: "Losses" Are Only Real When They Are Realized
- EBay Fails to Think Outside The Box
- Latest Jobs' Health Rumor: It's NOT True He Had Heart Attack
- Your Apple Feedback Continues
- Apple And Street Need To Do Better Job With Each Other
- Bowyer: Mark To Market Still Lives (Unfortunately)
- Mad Mail: Why Not Shut the Market Down?
- Lightning Round OT: AFLAC, Valero and More
- Lightning Round: Chesapeake, Corning, J&J and More
- Cramer: What’s the Worst-Case Scenario?
- Game Plan: The Crash of '87 Scenario
- Cramer’s Double Secret Borrow-Binge Plan
- Your First Move For Monday October 13th
- History In The Making
- GM Held Talks With Ford Before Turning to Chrysler
- Markets to Fall 20% More at Most: IMF Economist
- G.M. and Chrysler Explore Merger
- Stock Market Crisis: Nation's Mayors Sound Off
- US Banks Keep Pressure on SEC to Deal With Shorts
- Financial Crisis Has Inflationary And Deflationary Potential
- What the Pros Say: Swap Jitters, Bottom Searches
- Viacom Warns of Third-Quarter Profit Shortfall
- US Consumers Lose Faith in Fed Due to Crisis
Text Size 
Some of us knew it was going to happen; it was just a matter of when.
Over the last several Apple [AAPL
Loading...
()
] events, it seemed as if Steve Jobs would always throw a graphic up on the big screen behind him to show the progress iTunes had been making against more traditional, established music retailers.
Today, Apple finally lays claim to the industry's top spot: No. 1 music retailer -- surpassing Wal-Mart Stores [WMT
Loading...
()
] ! -- based on the latest data from NPD.
Apple says that with over 50 million customers, iTunes has now sold over 4 billion songs and features the world's largest music catalog, with six million tracks. About 19 percent of all music purchases are done on iTunes, compared to 15 percent at Wal-Mart. Customers bought a stunning 200 million songs last Christmas Day alone.
In a release this afternoon, iTunes general manager Eddy Cue says, "We launched iTunes less than five years ago, and it has now become the number one music retailer in the world. We are thrilled and would like to thank all of our customers for helping us reach this incredible milestone."
And a heck of a milestone it is. The company has regularly been gobbling up market share from the likes of Target [TGT
Loading...
()
] , Best Buy [BBY
Loading...
()
] , Amazon [AMZN
Loading...
()
] , Wal-Mart and others for some time. And Apple's ascension into the top spot comes amid increasing competition in the marketplace. Seems like everyone is trying to get into the online music business. Just like News Corp.'s [NWS
Loading...
()
] MySpace!
Apple certainly wasn't the first, but it established itself as the easiest to use. Of course, that didn't come without ruffled feathers and some controversy over pricing and the so-called closed eco-system of iPod/iPhone and iTunes.
Controversies aside, Apple owns the market. And it eclipsed all its competitors in just five years -- that's a staggering achievement.
And looking over the list, another tid-bit worth mentioning: RealNetworks [RNWK
Loading...
()
] and its Rhapsody service cracked the Top 10 with 1 percent of the market. Not much, sure, but its partnerships with MTV, Nokia [NOK
Loading...
()
] and Yahoo [YHOO
Loading...
()
] could help the company continue to gain ground.
Questions? Comments?
Del.icio.us
Digg It
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes