While any user who's had "the pleasure" of running Vista knows this from personal experience, NPD's statistics now shed some light on just how bad the market needed Windows 7.

The NPD Group reports the initial Windows 7 (boxed) sales figures have exceeded those of Vista by impressive 234 percent in the US. Revenue growth on the other hand wasn't that great, although 82 percent better than Vista is still nice. Such revenue is reportedly a result of pre-order discounts and a "lack of promotional activity" for the Ultimate version.

The top selling Windows 7 SKU is the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade, which costs $76, followed by Windows 7 Pro Upgrade priced at $147 and Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack 3 User Upgrade priced at $149.

Note that the sales are for the week of October 18 - 24, 2009.

You can find out more here.