More Than 1 Billion Downloads Served: Nielsen SoundScan

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 12/19/2008

White Plains, N.Y. — Authorized music-download sites served up more than a billion tracks for the year through December 14, up 28 percent from the same period in 2007, Nielsen SoundScan reported.

Sales through Dec. 14 hit 1.001 billion compared with the year-ago 783 million. The company estimates that downloads for the full year will hit about 1.04 billion, up about 23.2 percent from full-year 2007, when download sales rose 45 percent to 844 million.

The Top 200 digital tracks for the year through Dec. 14 accounted for 17 percent of all track sales; or 171 million, a spokeswoman added.

“In April 2008, we projected that digital track sales would break the 1 billion sales mark for the year,” she noted. “That projection was accurate, and we still have two sales weeks remaining in the year.”