Revenues from digital music have overtaken those from CDs

Money made from downloads has overtaken that from CDs for the first time ever, in news that Music Week describes as “hugely significant’.

In the first quarter of 2012 (that’s ‘Q1′, jargon fans), consumers spent £86m on digital downloads, compared to £69.3m on physical releases.

Interestingly, for the second quarter in a row most of this income was brought in by album downloads. Lana Del Rey’s ‘Born To Die’ was the biggest selling digital album of ‘Q1′, followed by Part-Time Borelord Emile Sandé’s ‘Our Version of Events’ and Ed Sheeran’s ‘+’.

Poor ‘MDNA’.

The chief executive of the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) Geoff Taylor described the new data as “a significant milestone in the evolution of the music business”, and that “the industry’s prospects for growth look brighter than for several years.”

Which can only be a good thing really. Hooray!