iTunes Sells 10 Billion Songs
Downloader who bought 10 billionth track wins a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry helped drive sales of tracks on Apple’s iTunes store past the 10 billion mark Wednesday (February 24). And the person who bought the 10 billionth track gets a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

The Black Eye Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” is the most-downloaded song on the store, with “Boom Boom Pow” landing at #3. Lady Gaga is the artist with the most songs toward the top, with “Poker Face” at #2, “Just Dance” at #6 and “Bad Romance” at #22. Other acts with tracks in the top 25 include Coldplay, Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Kings of Leon, the Fray and Owl City.

All of the top 25 tracks were released in the past five years (Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” is the newest at #10) except for one: “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Classic rockers Journey undoubtedly have “The Sopranos” and “Glee” to thank for renewed interest in the unstoppable song, first recorded in 1981, which landed at #21.

In 2006, Apple gave a gift card, 20-inch iMac, 10 60GB iPods and a music-school scholarship set up in the winner’s name to the person who purchased the 1 billionth download. Apple’s iTunes store was known as the iTunes Music Store when it launched less than seven years ago, prior to the addition of videos, movies and TV shows.

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Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Ga., clicked the “Buy” button at an opportune time, downloading the 10 billionth song from the company’s iTunes Store.

The song? Johnny Cash’s “Guess Things Happen That Way.”

Mr. Sulcer, a 71-year-old retired real estate broker, said in an interview that he learned about his good luck when Steve Jobs, called on Wednesday night. On Thursday,he heard from Rosanne Cash, thanking him for buying one of her father’s tunes. She then put her husband, the musician John Leventhal, on the phone to play the winning song.

Mr. Sulcer said that he hadn’t had much time to think about how he’ll spend the winnings. “That’s the $10,000 question,” he said, though he said expects that his three children and nine grandchildren will likely benefit. “I don’t think I’ll have to worry about buying birthday and Christmas presents anytime soon.”