Digital Music Timeline

From cassette single to mobile phone:

• 1980 First cassette single Bow Wow Wow's C30, C60, C90 Go. The humble cassette single was phased out by most outlets in 2003, but Malcolm McLaren's post-punk prodigies were first to launch the format, which was a low cost way to cash in on the arrival of the Sony Walkman.
• 1983 The 12" single comes into its own New Order, Blue Monday. Born out of Joy Division, New Order's club classic became the country's biggest selling 12-inch single ever, but the cost of its sleeve almost bankrupted Factory Records in the process.
• 1985 CDs become the dominant format Dire Straits, Brothers In Arms. Although CDs had been adopted by classical music fans in 1983, Dire Straits' fifth album was one of the first major rock releases to use the format. Britain's third biggest selling album of all time helped drive sales of CD players.
• 2004 First album to be released on memory card Robbie Williams, Greatest Hits. The format was designed to appeal to owners of handheld computers and mobile phones. It failed to sell well.
• 2005 First band to top the charts using MySpace Arctic Monkeys. Credited as being the first major band broken on social networking site MySpace.com, the Sheffield outfit built up a considerable fanbase as people shared tracks online. They scooped this year's Mercury Music Prize, but admit they knew very little about the internet.
• First album to be launched exclusively on mobile phones Jamiroquai, Greatest Hits. Jamiroquai wanted to boost the sales of their greatest hits album by offering it to mobile phone users first.
• First single released exclusively on mobile phone Planet Funk, Stop Me. Hopes that the Anglo-Italian electronic five piece could make an impact on the chart - repeating the success of ringtone-based Crazy Frog single the previous year - were dashed.
• First single released on memory stick Keane, Nothing In My Way