The total sales of digital music in the UK has surpassed the £1 billion mark for the first time according to new figures released.

Sales of digital music have rocketed in recent years and have now passed the £1 billion bench mark since first being launched in 2004.

According to industry insiders getting past the £1 billion mark is a symbolic mile stone for the digital music industry as it has come in spite of problems facing online and digital music, primarily from online piracy and illegal downloading.

The figures also show that the industry is growing rapidly with around one third of all the sales occurring during 2010 alone.

Top of the downloads is Adele with her album 21 which is the most popular download in the UK. This is followed by Lady Gaga with her album The Fame and the King's of Leon with Only by the Night.

In total there are 34 albums which have been downloaded in the UK more than 100,000 times with six of these top ten artists being from the UK heralding the strength of homegrown musical talent.

When it comes to the most popular singles to be downloaded in the UK I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas is the number one bestselling single in the UK followed by the Kings of Leon hit Sex on Fire and then Poker Face by Lady Gaga.

Although the increase in legitimate online music sales is rising it is also proving to be beneficial to the music buyers too as the figures show that the average price for an online digital album download has fallen from £10,02 in 2004 to £7.32 in 2010.