10 billion iTunes Store downloads

Stephen Withers
Friday, 26 February 2010 07:02

Your IT - Entertainment

The 10 billionth download from the iTunes Store has occurred, and the $US10,000 prize has been won.

During the last couple of weeks Apple's iTunes Store has been running a sweepstake to mark the 10 billionth song download. The person responsible for that download - or someone making a manual entry - stood to win a $US10,000 iTunes gift card.

Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia, hit the jackpot when he downloaded Johnny Cash's Guess Things Happen That Way, as that transaction took the Store's tally to the magic number.

We don't know what Sulcer will do with the prize, but he could buy the other 198 Johnny Cash tracks in the iTunes catalogue and still have more than $US9800 left in his account.

"We're grateful to all of our customers for helping us reach this amazing milestone," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet services.

"We're proud that iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world, and selling 10 billion songs is truly staggering."

Apple also claims that the iTunes Store has the world's largest music catalogue with more than 12 million songs.