According to The NPD Group, a while CDs remain the most popular format for paid music
purchases, digital music sales are making up an ever-greater share of
U.S. music sales. CDs comprised 65 percent of all music sold in the
first half of 2009 compared to paid digital downloads, which comprised
35 percent of music sales. By comparison, paid digital music downloads
comprised just 20 percent of sales in 2007 - growing to 30 percent of
the music market last year.
According to NPD MusicWatch,
when it comes to the unit-sales volume of music sold at retail -
including paid digital music downloads and CDs - Apple iTunes leads in
the U.S. with 25 percent of music units sold, which is up from 21
percent in 2008 and 14 percent in 2007. Walmart (including Walmart,
Walmart.com, Walmart Music Downloads) remains in second position with
14 percent of music volume sold at their stores and Web sites with Best
Buy ranked third.
iTunes also continued to solidify its lead in the digital music
arena, as consumer downloads from iTunes comprised 69 percent of the
digital music market in the first half of 2009, followed by AmazonMP3
at 8 percent. Walmart leads all sellers of CDs with a 20 percent share
of the physical music market, followed by Best Buy at 16 percent and
Target and Amazon tied at 10 percent each.
delivery format, given the attention to digital music and the shrinking
retail footprint for physical products," said Russ Crupnick, vice
president of entertainment industry analysis "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."
"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," said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry
analyst for The NPD Group. "But the importance of the big box retailers
shouldn't be dismissed, as long as the majority of music consumers
continue to buy CDs."
Data note: The information in this press release is from NPD's consumer tracking
of U.S. consumers, age 13 and older, who reported their purchases of
physical product (CDs), digital music, and wireless over-the-air (OTA)
transactions -- excluding ringtones. In addition, NPD only tracks
digital music tracks and albums sold a-la-carte, not music purchased
under subscription.