THE UK downloads chart has passed a major milestone after single sales topped the one billion mark - nine years after the format was officially launched.
According to figures from the Official Charts Company, the magic number was passed late Monday, following a surge in sales which has seen an average of half a million singles downloaded per day in 2013. And a new chart released to coincide with the billionth sale has revealed Adele‘s Someone Like You to be the most downloaded single of all time in the UK.
The song, which topped the UK charts in 2011, has been downloaded 1.46m times in the UK - closely followed by Maroon 5?s Moves Like Jagger at number two with 1.40m. Gotye’s 2012 chart-topper Somebody That I Used To Know, the Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling, and Rihanna and Calvin Harris’s We Found Love complete the top five. The list is made up of sales of singles downloads and individual album tracks, but does not include the tracks when downloaded as part of a complete album.
Downloading has also led to a surge in singles sales in the UK - with sales rising from 500,000 a week when the format was first introduced in 2004 to over 3m per week.
In total over 188m singles were downloaded in 2012 - one of the highest totals ever. ‘The explosion in download sales over the past nine years means we are genuinely now living in the digital music age - with Adele as our queen!’ commented Martin Talbot of the Official Charts Company.
‘Over the nine years of legitimate digital music, more than 16 new tracks have sold 1 million copies, which emphasises just how popular digital music is in the modern age.’             –Metro

Top 10 downloaded singles in UK

1     Somone Like You - Adele (2011)    1.46m
2     Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 (2011)    1.40m
3     Somebody - Gotye featuring Kimbra  (2012)    .1.38m
4     I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas (2009)    1.38m
5     We Found Love - Rihanna, Calvin Harris - (2011)    1.27m
6     On Fire - Kings Of Leon (2008)    1.24m
7      Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen (2012)    1.21m
8     Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO (2011)    1.19m
9     Just The Way You Are - Bruno Mars (2010)    1.18m
10     Price Tag - Jessie J (2011)    1.13m