The annual Global Digital Music Report released by the IFPI, the organization that represents record companies across the globe, revealed that for the first time in history of music business worldwide digital music sales equaled physical sales.

The report indicates a huge increase of 46% in the number of paying streaming subscribers, which is estimated at over 41 million. Last year streaming brought in around $1.6 billion in revenue, or about 26% of the digital market. The study sites another 100 million users now subscribe to a free music streaming tier as well.

Overall, the global revenue for music stayed roughly the same in 2014 as the previous year, coming in at $15.03 billion, which was down just 0.4%. Still, some might consider that a victory considering that digital music sales continue to increase at a level that offsets the decline of physical sales. Digital revenues grew 6.9% last year to $6.9 billion USD, which represents 46% of total revenue, exactly the same as physical sales of CDs and vinyl.

Follow this link to the full article on Forbes.