Apple reveals top iTunes downloads of past decade
WHEN APPLE kicked off its iTunes Store almost a decade ago it had just 200,000 songs at 99 cents each.
Since then its sold a staggering 25 billion songs.
Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, oversees Apple's content stores including the iTunes Store, the App Store and the iBookstore, as well as Siri, Maps, iAd and Apple's iCloud services.
"When Apple introduced the iTunes Store on 28 April, 2003, we thought if consumers had a great, legal way to download music they would embrace it - did they ever,'' Cue said.
"Apple was floored, as were the labels, when customers bought over one million songs during the first week.
"And now, 10 years later, we continue to be amazed by how much customers love the iTunes Store with more than 25 billion songs sold.
Milestones throughout the history of iTunes:
28 April, 2003: Apple launched the iTunes Music Store with 200,000 songs at 99c each
September 2003: 10 millionth song downloaded on iTunes - "Complicated", Avril Lavigne
October 2003: iTunes for Windows is released
March 2004: 50 millionth song downloaded on iTunes - "The Path of Thorns", Sarah McLachlan
July 2004: 100 millionth song downloaded on iTunes - "Somersault (Dangermouse Remix)", Zero 7
December 2004: iTunes downloads hit 200 million songs
July 2005: 500 millionth song downloaded on iTunes - "Mississippi Girl", Faith Hill
October 2005: The iTunes Store debuts in Australia
Top songs in Australia for iTunes in the past 10 years
Top selling song overall in Australia in the first year - Ben Lee, Catch My Disease.
Top selling album overall in Australia in the first year - Sarah Blasko, The Overture & The Underscore.
Top 10 songs
Youth Group, Forever Young
Eskimo Joe, Black Fingernails, Red Wine
Gnarls Barkley, Crazy
Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Dani California
Justin Timberlake, Sexyback (Main Version)
Kanye West, Jamie Foxx, Gold Digger
TV Rock, Flaunt It
P!nk, Who Know
Top 10 albums
Bernard Fanning, Tea & Sympathy
Wolfmother, Wolfmother
Madonna, Confessions on a Dance Floor
James Blunt, Back to Bedlam
Eskimo Joe, Black Fingernails Red Wine
Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
Dixie Chicks, Taking the Long Way
P!nk, I'm Not Dead
Various Artists, Sessions 3 Digital Edition from Ministry of Sound
More iTunes milestones
February 2006: 1 billionth song downloaded on iTunes - "Speed of Sound", Coldplay
December 2006: The iTunes Store debuts in New Zealand
January 2007: iTunes song downloads top 2 billion
July 2007: iTunes song downloads top 3 billion
July 2008: App Store debuts with 500 apps
January 2009: All music on iTunes is DRM-free
February 2010: 10 billionth song downloaded on iTunes- "Guess Things Happen That Way", Johnny Cash
November 2010: The entire Beatles catalogue is available digitally for the first time - exclusively on iTunes
June 2012: The iTunes Store debuts in Singapore and nine additional countries in Asia
October 2012: AC/DCs catalogue is now available digitally for the first time - exclusively on iTunes
28 April 2013: The iTunes Store celebrates a decade of iTunes
