[Updated]

Apple's iTunes Music Store Already Hit a Half Billion Songs: On Sunday, the counter on Apple.com's front page hit 500,000,000 song downloads from the iTunes Music Store.

Someone won 10 iPods of their choice to share with family and friends, an iTunes gift card for 10,000 songs and an all-expenses paid trip for four to see Coldplay on their world tour. Apple's announcement is expected later today. [Update: The 500 millionth song, Faith Hill’s Mississippi Girl, was purchased by Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana. More...]

Apple kicked off the promotion on July 5th with about 484 million downloads under its belt. It took just 12 days to get to a half billion. That's over 1.3 million songs being downloaded per day. [Bill Fox]