Nielsen SoundScan has reported dramatic growth for digital music downloads in 2006.
For the first 49 weeks of this year, downloads are up 67% on the same period of the previous year.So far in 2006, 525 million music downloads have been sold.
54 tracks have sold more than 500,000 units compared to only 22 tracks in 2005.
Digital albums increased 100% from 14.5 million in 2005 to 29.7 million in 2006 and 11 albums this year have sold more than 100,000 downloads.
"It is clear that digitally downloaded music is continuing to enjoy tremendous and growing consumer acceptance," said Rob Sisco, President Nielsen Music in a statement.
Nielsen SoundScan data covers around 95% of digital sales.
