Digital Download Sales Doubled In 2006
Global online music sales nearly doubled in 2006 to about $2 billion, or 10 percent of all sales, but failed to compensate for an overall decline in sales of CDs, the global music industry trade body reported. However, the report revealed that growth in online sales has slowed compared with 2005, when sales nearly tripled to $1.1 billion from $380 million in 2004.
Single-track downloads totaled nearly 795 million in 2006, up 89 percent on the 420 million online singles sold in 2005. The United States accounts for the bulk of those sales, with 582 million single tracks sold online in 2006, up 65 percent on 2005. The U.K. is the world’s second-largest market for online music sales, with 53 million single track downloads sold in 2006, double the number sold in 2005.
