14 DAY TRIAL // The iTunes Store is still going strong, and has broken another record, during a charity fundraising campaign. For the first time ever, an iTunes Exclusive song debuted in the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100.
During a special event that aimed to raise awareness and funds for children and young people living in extreme poverty in the United States and Africa, the iTunes Store made history again. The song in question is Carrie Underwood's cover of The Pretenders' "I'll Stand By You," and was performed at last week's American Idol "Idol Gives Back" television show. The single was an iTunes Exclusive, not available on CD or from any other provider, but, according to Apple, more than 100,000 audio downloads of it were purchased in less than a week. That is a very impressive number.
In addition to Underwood's success, the top three selling music videos on iTunes are also from the "Idol Gives Back" show. Other celebrities that participated in the event included Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, Earth, Wind & Fire, Il Divo, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Josh Groban with the African Children's Choir, Jack Black, Helen Mirren, Rascal Flatts, Quincy Jones, Carrie Underwood, Annie Lennox and others. All proceeds from the iTunes sales went to charity - the total amount of money raised is around $70 million dollars.
The numbers are impressive all around. Not just the sheer amount of songs sold, or how the single took such a high spot on the billboards, but also the amount of money raised and the flexibility with which the iTunes Store handled it all. There is no doubt that Apple's service is the market leader, but this proves that Apple's offerings are not just the digital marketplace version of the CD, but a robust and flexible distribution platform.