Cupertino (CA) - Apple today said that more than more than five billions songs have been sold through its iTunes music store so far. Movie sales and rentals are also accelerating their pace, with over 50,000 downloads per day.

Apple has crossed another big milestone with its iTunes music and video store: According to the company, more than five billion songs have been sold since the launch of the store on April 28, 2003. For those who are keeping count, it took Apple a week to sell one million songs and is currently selling about 12 million songs per day - which translates into revenues of about $360 million per month and about $4.3 billion per year. The business model, however, remains unchanged: iTunes sales are in place to drive hardware sales, with Apple selling 10.6 million iPods in the first quarter of this year. The average price tag was $194, generating sales of more than $2 billion.

While this number makes Apple the #2 music retailer in the U.S., the number of sold songs is less impressive when put against the numbers of iPods sold. According to Apple, about 153 million iPods have been sold, which means that the company sells about 33 songs for every iPod it can get into the hands of customers. However, many people already own their second and third iPods and songs-per-iPod sales are apparently on the increase: In February of 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that only 22 songs have been sold for every iPod.

Apple said its music catalog currently holds about eight million songs. According to Apple, the iTunes video library holds more than 20,000 TV episodes, 2000 films (350 of them in HD).

Apple now in seventh place in worldwide laptop sales.