We all know that iTunes is doing very well. The stunning success of the iPod and Apple's resurgence the past half decade have not gone unnoticed. Just how successful have they been, however? It seems that their online store has trounced not only every other online music retailer around,but comes in third place for retail sales in the U.S.. If you based it on number of units sold, iTunes apparently has a 9.8% market share for 1Q 2007, putting it behind only Wal-Mart and Best Buy:

ITunes had a 9.8 percent market share in the first quarter, ranking behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s 15.8 percent and Best Buy Co.'s 13.8 percent, according to The NPD Group. Online retailer Amazon.com's share was 6.7 percent, slightly ahead of Target's 6.6 percent, NPD said.
The metrics behind the study used 12 tracks to qualify as one album on a CD. This information, as the article brings out, brings up a very good point. Despite the RIAA's claim that CD sales are on the decline due to piracy, this goes to show that in truth online sales are quickly approaching and set to soon surpass brick and mortar sales.

According to the article, mobile sales and the actual amount of money made from these sales are not factored in. We can speculate from this that people are more receptive to buying music online. Not to say that CD sales are dead, as on a whole digital music did not make up even a fourth of total music sales. However, year after year, digital sales rise while CD sales fall.