iTunes passes five billion music downloads

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 20 Jun 2008 at 11:30

Apple has sold a total of five billion songs through its iTunes store, with customers purchasing tracks at a rate of around 83 million per week.

The company estimates that it now has eight million tracks in its music catalogue, as well as 20,000 TV shows and 2,000 films.

The store is also serving 350,000 films per week, making iTunes the world's most popular online movie store less than a month after it began offering the service in the UK.

Over 700 films are available on the service for rental or purchase, from studios including 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

However, Apple has admitted that sales figures for films have failed to meet expectations, claiming that unlike music a rental model is more appropriate.