iTunes is Apple Inc.’s online music retail store. Recently, it has edged out Best Buy and Target to secure the second largest U.S music retailer position. It trails only behind Wal-Mart, a giant in the retailing sector.

NPD Group Watch Survey, a market research firm, released statistics that support this ranking. Their data revealed that more than 4 billion songs were sold by iTunes in 2007. These sales were based on a 12-track CD equivalency for song downloads, excluding all wireless transactions.

The Vice President of Apple iTunes, Mr. Eddy Cue, took this opportunity to acknowledge the over 50 million passionate music lovers who helped iTunes achieve this success. In a show of gratitude, he announced that the iTunes Store now stocks new features, like iTunes movie rentals. The rentals include films from all nine major movie studios. This move by Apple is meant to attract more customers in the future and enhance the iTunes shopping experience.