U2’s ‘Songs of Innocence’ was pushed to 500 million iTunes account holders

Two days on from the biggest surprise release of the year - and the most controversial - initial figures have emerged for U2’s iTunes exclusive, ‘Songs of Innocence’.

The new album was unveiled in Apple’s Keynote speech, given away to U2.com subscribers and every iTunes Music Store customer.

With iCloud activated, the record was pushed to every iTunes library, it was initially reported. Figures back this up, suggesting that up to 500 million iTunes account holders receive the album on the day of release.

Of these, an estimated 200,000 U.S.-based account holders responded by downloading the album.

Figures have been disputed to Billboard by a Universal Music Group spokesman.

In October, ‘Songs of Innocence’ will also come in a deluxe format, with an acoustic session of select songs from the album, and four additional tracks: ‘Lucifer’s Hands’, ‘The Crystal Ballroom’, ‘The Troubles (Alternative version)’, ‘Sleep Like A Baby Tonight (Alternative Perspective Mix by Tchad Blake)’.

Read DIY’s response to the surprise release, with editor Stephen Ackroyd claiming that this shock move damages the future of digital curation.