Apple: iTunes is #1 Music Retailer in the U.S.

Apple announced on Thursday that they have surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the U.S. The numbers come from the NPD Group.

"We launched iTunes less than five years ago, and it has now become the number one music retailer in the world," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. "We are thrilled, and would like to thank all of our customers for helping us reach this incredible milestone."

Apple said that the announcement was "based on data from market research firm the NPD Group’s MusicWatch survey that captures consumer reported past week unit purchases and counts one CD representing 12 tracks, excluding wireless transactions. The iTunes Store became the largest music retailer in the U.S. based on the amount of music sold during January and February 2008."

Apple has been steadily climbing the charts in this respect. Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, has shown the sales position of Apple's iTunes at major keynotes and the suggestion was always that Wal-Mart, in Apple's sights, would eventually be surpassed by iTunes. Thursday's announcement punctuates those keynote slides even more, and chances are, there will be a big smile on Mr. Jobs face during WWDC's keynote.

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