Legal digital music downloads in the UK have crossed a billion, according to data from the Official Charts Company.
Adele’s Someone Like You was the most downloaded single of all time, followed by Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera, and Gotye featuring Kimbra’s Somebody That I Used To Know.
Legal songs download crossed the billion mark on Monday; data has been collected since 2004.
The total download includes all sales to UK-based consumers of singles downloads and does not include full digital album downloads or streams, but does include individual tracks unbundled from digital albums. The Official Charts Company has collected data from 50 digital retailers since 2004.
Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot said the explosion in download sales over the past nine years means the UK is genuinely now living in the digital music age. "Over the nine years of legitimate digital music, more than 16 new tracks have sold 1 million copies, which emphasises just how popular digital music is in the modern age," Talbot said.
Digital downloading in the country has surged from around 500,000 sales a week to more than 3 million a week.
In 2012, singles sales increased 6% over 2011 to reach 188.6 million tracks and in the first three months of this year the track sales surged, with an average 500,000 single tracks downloaded every day.
UK Entertainment Retailers Association director general Kim Bayley said, "UK music fans benefit from having probably the greatest choice of digital music services anywhere in the world."
"Digital music stores offer virtually unlimited range, access from pretty much anywhere on the planet and of course they never close."
"To hit one billion download sales is an incredible milestone and a testament to the ingenuity and investment and belief of a new generation of retailers who set out to create an entirely new music buying experience," Bayley said.
BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said the digital music revolution has made it easy to buy any song you like, instantly, for half the price of a coffee.
"As fans increasingly download music on the move, tablets, smartphones and connected cars will drive another phase in digital music’s expansion," Taylor said.
