NPD groups is reporting that iPod shuffle sales grew 51 percent in the week of March 21st, the first full week the third generation player was on sale. Next week iPod shuffle sales added another 10 percent rise and continued gaining momentum till beginning of April.

Overall sales of iPod models fell 38 percent on year-over-year basis during the week of the 21st March. However, the trend was similar throughout the digital media player sector, which saw sales slip 37 percent year-over-year for the same week. NPD’s analyst Ben Reitzes believes that Apple could see 14 percent year-over-year drop in iPod sales for first quarter of 2009 in US, which is higher than analyst’s previous estimate of a 2percent yearly decline.

However, NPD’s data only includes sales at Apple retail stores in US and it doesn’t include sales from online stores or any iPod sold outside the United States. NPD believes that International sales growth of iPods could be stronger than in US, which could result in less dramatic year-over-year drop in sales for Q1 2009.
[Via Apple Insider]