As 2024 ends, Reverb has released a list of their mostly sold guitars in different categories like every year. Although the data is limited to Reverb, since it is the largest online gear marketplace, we get to know a lot about the guitar business from their data. We can also predict how 2025 is going to look from last year sales.
Fender Teles and Strats in Top 5 Along With One PRS
As like previous years, 2024 saw Fender and PRS on the Top 5. Surprise? Nope. What is interesting is although Gibson does not make it to the Top 5 in the main list, it finds a 5th spot on the used guitar list. While we see Gibson on both the lists, it is very evident is since their pricing is more on the higher side, guitar players prefer to buy them used more than new.
While Fender and PRS both have much lower priced guitars on the list, which builds up the volume. The used guitar sales list sees Gibson 8 times out of 20 while in the main list Gibson appears only 5 times. No wonder people are considering saving those extra bucks.
If we observe closely, the most sold guitars this year come from the lower price brackets. This might be a response to inflation and economic struggles in the recent times, although we can’t be sure. If we study the top 10 names on the most sold electric guitar list, we find 4 Fenders, 4 PRSs and 2 Gibsons on the list.
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The PRS SE Silver Sky which had topped the overall list for the previous two years is no more there at the top, although it is 3rd in the list. The Fender Player Telecaster and Fender American Professional II Stratocaster got ahead this year, probably due to their widely available discounts. However the PRS SE Silver Sky still tops the used guitar sales list. The huge sales last year makes it a strong contender in the used market as it appears.
Reverb 2024 Guitar Sales: Price-driven Market Catering to Mostly Mid-ranged Guitar Players
The market has been very much price driven this year. The relatively affordable Fenders made it to the top while the last year’s most bought used guitar – the Gibson Les Paul Standard 60’s has slid to 5th position.
Coming to the Best-Selling Electric Guitars Released in 2024 list, we find the PRS SE CE Standard Satin take the lead here.
The list includes three SEs from PRS, two Epiphones (no Gibsons), the Fender Tom DeLonge Sratocaster, the Squier Hello Kitty Stratocaster and last one – Fender’s 70th Anniversary Ultra II Strat on 10th position. The last one is the only expensive USA made guitar on the list. This points to the bulk of the players moving to mid ranged options, maybe mostly due to the economic situation.
The Best-Selling Electric Guitar Brands of 2024 includes Fender, Gibson, PRS, Epiphone on top 4 respectively and Ibanez as well on the 5th position, a name we haven’t come across on the above mentioned list. In the acoustic guitar list we see some interesting names like Tanglewood, Gretsch, Martin, Taylor and Ibanez as well. The Fender Acoustasonic Player Telecaster, the most popular of Fender’s modern hybrid acoustics tops the list.
Reverb 2024 Guitar Sales: What Can we Predict for 2025?
We have always seen enthusiastic customers moving up to the premium range, maybe their so called “dream” guitars. But the data from last year shows a shift to a more mid ranged conscious value for money audience. Customers moving more towards Mexican made guitars from US made, PRS SE and higher end Epiphones; not the extreme high budget, neither the extreme low.
This also indicates a decline in the sales of the extremely low priced entry level guitars. This is definitely a good news for price conscious buyers as down the years they seem to have more options, while it is also a good challenge for manufacturers to make the best sounding guitars on a budget!
Check out Reverb’s lists here: The Best-Selling Guitars of 2024
