Apple announced today that iTunes has sold more than 10 billion songs, and marked the occasion by awarding a lucky someone a $US10,000 iTunes gift card.

Apple had been running a promotion called the iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs and offered the $US10,000 gift card to the person who purchased the 10 billionth song. The winner of the gift card is Louie Sulcer from Woodstock, Georgia. Sulcer’s download of “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash was the 10 billionth song sold.

The iTunes Store has a catalogue of more than 12 million songs, movies and podcasts, making it the world’s largest music catalogue. iTunes is also the number one music retailer in the world.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s Vice President of Internet Services, said in a release: “We’re grateful to all of our customers for helping us reach this amazing milestone.”

He added: “We’re proud that iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world, and selling 10 billion songs is truly staggering.”

Apple launched the iTunes store in 2003. It’s anybody’s guess how long it will take to get to 20 billion, but it isn’t likely to take another seven years.