From this week’s Economist…

Sales of music CDs and other physical formats fell by 6.3% in the first half of 2005. But sales of digital music (not shown in the chart) more than tripled to $790m. Music downloads and mobile-phone ringtones now account for 6% of retail revenues. Of the countries with the most music sales, the British bought the most per person, thanks to their attractive specialist music shops, and the release of Coldplay’s album “X&Y”.