One billion songs have now been downloaded in the UK- according to the Official Charts Company.
The milestone was reached on Monday, almost 10 years after legal downloads were launched.
Adele’s Someone Like You is the most downloaded single of all time in the UK- followed by tracks by Maroon 5 and Gotye.
The Official Charts Company says on average more than three million tracks are now sold every week.
In 2012 the number of digital tracks sold continued to rise, with 188.6 million songs being bought. That was up 6% on 2011.
Martin Talbot, Managing Director of the Official Charts Company, said: “The explosion in download sales over the past nine years means we are genuinely now living in the digital music age.”
Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of the BPI, added: “As fans increasingly download music on the move, tablets, smartphones and connected cars will drive another phase in digital music’s expansion.”
So far in 2013 an average of 500,000 digital tracks have been bought every day in the UK.
Adele’s 21 album is now the fourth biggest selling album of all time in the UK.
The top 10 most-downloaded songs of all time in the UK are:
1. Adele – Someone Like You
2. Maroon 5 ft Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger
3. Gotye ft Kimbra – Somebody I Used To Know
4. Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling
5. Rihanna ft Calvin Harris – We Found Love
6. Kings Of Leon – Sex On Fire
7. Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe
8. LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem
9. Bruno Mars – Just The Way You Are (Amazing)
10. Jessie J – Price Tag
All of which means that demise of the paid for music industry continues to be somewhat premature.