The debut single by Italian band Planet Funk, called 'Stop Me', will be released on May 8 and follows previous sales success by the band on 3's sister music service in their home country.
The move comes shortly after the music industry witnessed the first single reaching number one in the charts on online sales alone. The single, 'Crazy' by Gnarls Barkley, was later made available in shops on traditional CD format. Morrissey's new album, 'Ringleader of the Tormentors', is topping the first album chart to include downloads.
'Crazy' was still at number one yesterday for the second week, after it sold over 10 times more than anything else in the charts, racking up sales of 194,000. Last week it sold 18,000 downloads, which was enough to propel it to number one.
The success is seen as a proof positive that digital downloads can be a major success for the music industry, despite the continuing problem of illegal downloads.
It also comes amid a boom in mobile downloads for 3, which launched the service four months ago and now has average monthly sales of more than 200,000 tracks.
Graeme Oxby, 3 marketing director, said: "Mobile is a great way to reach impulsive consumers who want to buy and listen to music wherever they are."
The release of the single will be backed with a marketing campaign aimed at 3's 3.5m customers. This includes a dedicated microsite and promotion on 3's 'Today on 3' portal.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .