It’s a milestone of epic proportions for the age of digital music.
According to an announcement from Apple on Wednesday morning, the iTunes store has now sold more than 25 billion songs.
“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 the release.
The 25 billionth song was “Monkey Drums” (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch. The song was purchased by Phillip Lüpke from Germany. Apple says the downloader of the 25 billionth song will receive a €10,000 iTunes Gift Card.
On Wednesday, Apple also confirmed that the iTunes store now averages over 15,000 songs downloaded per minute.
“In a lot of ways, iTunes has leveled the playing field for musicians,” says Wesley Schultz, guitarist and lead vocalist of The Lumineers. “Whether you’re unsigned, indie, major, whatever—it’s the place most people go to buy digital music… iTunes doesn’t exclude any musicians simply because they’re not yet established or popular.”
