That means that, on average, more than 46 songs have been purchased on iTunes every single second, since the store launched on April 28, 2003.
Apple had been keeping a tally of sales leading up to the big 10 billion mark on a special website, where it now has the number typed out in a large banner, as well as a list of the 20 all-time top-selling songs.
I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas, Poker Face by Lady Gaga, Boom Boom Pow, I’m Yours by Jason Mraz, and Viva La Vida by Coldplay ranked as the top 5, respectively, in the history of iTunes.
Apple usually makes a big celebration about a large milestone such as this. To the 10 billionth song purchaser, the company will send a $10,000 iTunes gift card.
Here is a timeline of some of the biggest sales milestones for iTunes:
April 2003 – iTunes launches
July 2005 – 500 million
February 2006 – 1 billion
July 2007 – 3 billion
June 2008 – 5 billion
February 2010 – 10 billion