Apple's iTunes hits 1 billion song mark

Apple's iTunes today reached the 1 billion song mark, setting an industry milestone for sales of digital music from its popular online store. The industry-leading iTunes Music Store sold its billionth song at just after 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 22nd--less than three years after its launch in April of 2003. Although the company did not provide any details on the winner, it celebrated with a note on its homepage: "To every iTunes Music Store customer, thanks a billion. 1 billion songs have been downloaded from the iTunes Music Store." The company launched its billion song promo earlier this month and offered a 20-inch iMac, 10 60GB iPods, and a $10,000 iTunes Music Card as well as a full-ride scholarship in the winner's name to a world-renowned music school.

“Music lovers like you in 21 countries around the globe have purchased one billion songs from the iTunes Music Store. And for helping us reach this massive milestone in digital music history, we’d like to thank you,” Apple wrote in a note on its website.

iTunes first launched on April 28, 2003 and it sold its first million tracks in the first 5 days and then reached the 70 million song mark on its one-year anniversary. The company sold more than a quarter of a billion songs worldwide by January 2005 and began its countdown to half a billion songs in early July 2005.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: digital music/video