Apple: U2’s ‘Songs of Innocence’ Album Downloaded 26 Million Times

Looks like lots of people have downloaded U2’s Songs of Innocence—26 million in total—according to Apple. Whether how many of those were automatic or not, that is another story.

Here’s what Billboard reports:

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior VP of internet software and services, tells Billboard that U2’s Songs of Innocence has racked up a staggering 26 million complete downloads since its Sept. 9 release as a free download exclusively to Apple’s 500 million global iTunes customers. In total, Cue adds, over 81 million Apple customers experienced songs from Innocence, a global figure that includes plays and streams through iTunes, iTunes Radio and Beats Music. “To help put this into perspective,” he says, “prior to this, 14 million customers had purchased music from U2 since the opening of the iTunes Store in 2003.”

Despite the freebie, Apple released a one-click tool to enable customers to remove the album, after it downloaded automatically via iCloud for some customers, who got angry about the move.

Did you keep or delete this free U2 album?