Apple has announced that the iTunes music store has now witnessed 25 billion song downloads. This is a global figure, and includes downloads over the last 10 years, since the iTunes store was launched. While the service was initially available only in some countries, gradual roll-outs have seen it now be accessible 119 countries.
The library holds around 26 million songs. Apple says that around 15,000 songs are downloaded globally across iOS devices per minute. The year 2012 saw 32 million iPods being sold, and 135 million iPhones, around the world.
The 25th billion song was sold to Philip Lupke in Germany, and Apple will be giving him a 10000 Euro iTunes gift card. The song downloaded by Lupke was Chase Buch’s “Monkey Drums (Goksel Vancin Remix)”.
“We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, said in a statement. “Averaging over 15,000 songs downloaded per minute, the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists, including global sensations like Adele and Coldplay and new artists like The Lumineers, on a scale we never imagined possible.”
Apple stock rose 1.6 percent on the basis of this news.
Source: Apple