British music singles download record smashed
LONDON (AFP) — Britain's download singles sales record was smashed last week, figures showed Wednesday, as music industry chiefs said the digital format helped confound predictions that singles would become obsolete.
A record 1.7 million downloads were sold last week, said the Official UK Charts Company.
Singer Leona Lewis, who entered the chart at number one, sold more than 218,000 copies of her new single "Bleeding Love". Just over 50 percent of her sales were compact discs, statistics showed.
Music experts had forecasted the demise of singles due to illegal downloading of tracks from the Internet and file sharing.
But Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the British Phonographic Industry, which represents the British recorded music industry, said they had been proved wrong.
"Just three years ago, sceptics forecast the death of the single but instead singles have gone from strength to strength," he said.
"New digital music services have combined with existing music stores to give music fans unprecedented choice as to how they discover, sample and buy new music.
"British pop fans still love to buy physical singles, which speaks volumes for the quality of the music."
