iTunes Music Store Hits 300 Million Download Mark

Customers of Appleis iTunes Music Store (iTMS) have purchased and downloaded more than 300 million songs, the company announced Wednesday.

In addition, the company said the single "Across the Universe" to benefit survivors of the Asian tsunami and which is only available through the iTMS, debuted at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, making it the most successful exclusive digital track ever in its first week of release.

Apple last reported it surpassed 250 million in online music sales on January 24, meaning the company has sold some 1.3 million songs daily in the last 38 days.

The iTMS is available for Mac and Windows personal computers and works exclusively with Appleis line of iPod digital media devices. The iTMS is available in 15 countries. In the U.S., the service features more than one million songs.

iTunes Music Store Key Dates
April 28, 2003 Apple Launches iTunes Music Store
May 6, 2003 One million songs sold on iTMS
May 14, 2003 Two million songs sold on iTMS
June 23, 2003 Five million songs sold on iTMS
September 8, 2003 Ten million songs sold on iTMS
October 16, 2003 Apple & Pepsi launch giveaway of 100 million free songs
October 20, 2003 One million copies of iTunes for Windows downloaded in less than four days
November 6, 2003 1.5 million songs sold on iTMS in one week
December 15, 2003 25 million songs sold on iTMS
March 15, 2004 50 million songs sold on iTMS
April 28, 2004 Over 70 million songs sold on iTMS
May 5, 2004 3.3 million songs sold on iTMS in one week
June 15, 2004 Apple launches iTMS in UK, France & Germany
June 23, 2004 iTMS in Europe sells 800,000 songs in first week
July 12, 2004 100 million songs sold on iTMS
August 10, 2004 iTMS catalog tops one million songs
October 14, 2004 150 million songs sold on iTMS
October 26, 2004 Apple launches iTMS in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain
November 30, 2004 Apple launches iTMS in Canada
December 16, 2004 200 million songs sold on iTMS
January 6, 2005 Apple launches iTMS in Ireland
January 24, 2005 250 million songs sold on iTMS
March 2, 2005 300 million songs sold on iTMS