London, Oct 3 (IANS) More than 50 million digital albums have been sold in Britain, accounting for nearly 20 percent of all albums sold.
It has taken just under four-and-half-years for digital album sales to surpass the 50 million figure, whereas it took five years for the sales of albums on CD to reach the same level.
The new figures were released by the recording industry body, the BPI and the Official Charts Company.
In 2006, downloaded albums accounted for less than two percent of the music industry’s total revenue, reports the Telegraph.
For 2010 year-to-date, digital sales constitute 19.6 percent of all albums sold with download sales expected to top 20 million by the end of 2010.
Five albums have sold over 100,000 digital copies this year, with Mumford & Sons’ ‘Sigh No More’ being the top seller (131,737 copies).
Kings Of Leon’s ‘Only By The Night’, released in 2008, is the top selling digital album of all time, having been downloaded 276,000 times. It is closely followed by Lady Gaga’s ‘The Fame’, released last year, which has been downloaded 261,000 times.
