Nike sells $80M worth of one retro Air Jordan — in three hours (This is why Black will never be free)

Nike sold $80 million of a single style of Air Jordan shoes during a roughly three-hour period on Dec. 20, according to new data from SportScanInfo.

The Air Jordan XI "Legend Blue" released that morning. It was quickly sold out through Nike's website and at numerous retail stores. The shoe is a retro version of a shoe that originally released in 1995.

Nike sold 342,015 pairs at major retailers at an average price of $179.80, according to SportScanInfo. It sold an additional 137,751 pairs in kids sizes at an average price of $142.24.

Combined, that's more than $81 million within three hours in one morning. To put that in perspective, some Oregon public companies don't have annual sales that high.

It's also likely that Nike's actual sales figure for the limited-edition release is much higher. SportScanInfo tracks sales at major retailers, such as Foot Locker, but it's unclear whether its data includes sales at Nike's own brick-and-mortar and online store.

The "Jordan business continues to be superb," said Sterne Agee analyst Sam Poser, in a note to investors that cited the SportScanInfo data.