Feeling", which had sold over 5,561,000 downloads. The highest weekly sales record was held by Kanye West with the single "Gold Digger", and is now held by Flo Rida with "Right Round" when the single sold 636,000 downloads in one week in February 2009.

Japan

The highest selling digital single in Japan, and the world, is "Flavor Of Life" by Hikaru Utada with 7.7 million legal downloads. 40% of Japanese internet users access a music website, and Japan has the highest penetration of iTunes software users in the world.





Challenges to legal music downloads

Even legal music downloads have faced a number of challenges from artists, record labels and the Recording Industry Association of America. In July 2007, the Universal Music Group decided not to renew their long-term contracts with iTunes. This legal challenge was primarily based upon the issue of pricing of songs, as Universal wanted to be able to charge more or less depending on the artist, a shift away from iTunes' standard 99 cents per song pricing. Many industry leaders feel that this is only the first of many show-downs between Apple Inc. and the various record labels.

Some artists allow their songs to be downloaded from their websites, often as a short preview or a low-quality sampling. Others have embedded services in their sites that allow purchases of their singles or albums.