UK music download sales will top £160 million this year - up 50 percent year-on-year - following the entrance of new retailers like Play.com and Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN), reckons the Entertainment Retailers Association’s new ERA Digital arm (release). It said digital album sales were £4.5 million in January (up 76 percent year-on-year) while singles were £6.3 million (up 45 percent year-on-year). And it reckons album downloads will reach £69.4 million over the whole of 2008, while singles will clock up £96.4 million.

A methodology wasn’t given - it’s a forward projection based on Official UK Charts Company sales data. ERA Digital chair Russel Coultart: “We have said for a long time that open standards are the way forward for permanent downloads. It is no coincidence that now the DRM shackles are coming off, more retailers are entering the market.”