Retail sales of the guitar market in the U.S. 2005-2021

In 2021, the guitar market retail sales value amounted to approximately 2.02 billion U.S. dollars in the United States, up from around 1.67 billion in the previous year. The figure reached its lowest point in 2009, when the U.S. guitar market retail sales value was around 821 million U.S. dollars.

 Retail sales vs. wholesale sales 

Retail sales are when guitars are sold in small quantities directly to consumers from a specific establishment such as a department store. Comparatively, wholesale is the selling of guitars in great quantities at a discount to merchants for resale to retailers. Both of these segments have seen growth over the past years. In 2021, the wholesale guitar market value in the U.S. was nearly 1.3 billion U.S. dollars, up from around around 1.1 billion one year earlier. Cumulatively, roughly 3.3 million guitars were sold in the United States in 2021.

Guitar type popularity

Guitars are generally divided into two main types: acoustic and electric. Electric guitars, while more modern, are not as popular as the more traditional acoustic guitar – this can be shown by the fact that in 2021 electric guitar sales accounted for a little less than 1.5 million of all guitar sales.