London - U.K. digital music sales during the week of Christmas nearly doubled from the previous year, to just under three million, while total download sales for 2007 topped 77 million, a 50% increase from 2006, according to data provided by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) trade group.

The spike was credited to consumers going online to purchase songs to fill the new portable music player gifts they received for the holidays.

"Recent years have seen a boost in download sales in the week after Christmas, but this was a larger increase than expected, and sales should continue to grow throughout 2008," said Matt Phillips, BPI director of communications.

"The enormous choice of music and great value for money, combined with the ease and convenience of downloading, means legal digital music services are becoming increasingly popular with music fans."

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http://www.bpi.co.uk/index.asp?Page=news/press/news_content_file_1121.shtml