Apple announced today that its iTunes store has sold its three billionth song, putting another feather in the cap of Steve Jobs’ "experiment" with digital music. Music sales via the iTunes store recently surpassed both Amazon.com and Target, making iTunes, the third largest music retailer in the United States.
"We’d like to thank all of our customers who have contributed to this incredible milestone," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s VP of iTunes, in a release. Unlike some earlier milestone sales numbers, Apple did not give away any prizes or mementos to the buyer of the 3 billionth track, nor did the company disclose the name of the track or the artist.
The iTunes store sold its first billion tracks in February 2006, and announced that sales had topped two billion songs in January 2007. At the current rate, it’s not impossible that Apple could sell its four billionth track by early 2008, possibly selling two billion tracks in roughly one year’s time. In contrast, Apple took almost four years to sell its first two billion tracks: the iTunes store launched in April, 2003.
