The billionth song was Speed of Sound, as part of Coldplay’s album \"X&Y\", featuring Will Champion (photo) on drums.

The song was downloaded by Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Michigan. As the grand prize winner, Ostrovsky will receive a 20-inch iMac, 10 fifth generation iPods, and a $10,000 Music Card good for any item on the iTunes Music Store.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, wanted to take a moment to reflect on what has been achieved during the past three years:

\"Over one billion songs have now been legally purchased and downloaded around the globe, representing a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the Internet.\"

The iTunes Music Store is also the world’s most popular video download store with more than 15 million videos purchased and downloaded. iTunes offers over 60 popular TV shows for just $1.99 for viewing on a computer or iPod, and recently added new hit programming from ABC, Bravo, NBC, MTV Networks, and Showtime.