by , 1:35 PM EDT, October 14th, 2004
Apple announced Thursday that it had sold the 150 millionth download through the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) since its launch in April of 2003. The company also says that customers are now downloading some four million songs per week, putting the company on track to sell 200 million songs per year.
"Crossing 150 million downloads marks another major milestone for the online music business," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Applications in a prepared statement. "We're looking forward to bringing iTunes to even more music lovers when we launch our pan-EU music store soon."
The company said that the 150 millionth song was "Ex-Factor" by Lauryn Hill, which was purchased by Beth Santisteven of Ignacio, Colorado.
Apple also announced that gift cards would now be available in all Best Buy locations, significantly increasing the exposure for the iTMS. Best Buy is one of the largest music and electronics outlets in the U.S., and the company is one of Apple's iPod vendors. iTMS gift certificates were originally introduced at Target stores earlier in 2004.
| iTunes Music Store Key Dates | |
|---|---|
| April 28, 2003 | Apple Launches iTunes Music Store |
| May 6, 2003 | One million songs sold on iTMS |
| May 14, 2003 | Two million songs sold on iTMS |
| June 23, 2003 | Five million songs sold on iTMS |
| September 8, 2003 | Ten million songs sold on iTMS |
| October 16, 2003 | Apple & Pepsi launch giveaway of 100 million free songs |
| October 20, 2003 | One million copies of iTunes for Windows downloaded in less than four days |
| November 6, 2003 | 1.5 million songs sold on iTMS in one week |
| December 15, 2003 | 25 million songs sold on iTMS |
| March 15, 2004 | 50 million songs sold on iTMS |
| April 28, 2004 | Over 70 million songs sold on iTMS |
| May 5, 2004 | 3.3 million songs sold on iTMS in one week |
| June 15, 2004 | Apple launches iTMS in UK, France & Germany |
| June 23, 2004 | iTMS in Europe sells 800,000 songs in first week |
| July 12, 2004 | 100 million songs sold on iTMS |
| August 10, 2004 | iTMS catalog tops one million songs |
| October 14, 2004 | 150 million songs sold on iTMS |