Digital music sales fell 5.7 per cent in 2013, with experts attributing the drop to an increase in online streaming services.

Individual song downloads dropped from 1.34 billion in 2012 to 1.26 billion in 2013, the largest drop since the launch of the iTunes store in 2003, music industry magazine Billboard reported on Friday.

Albums fared substantially better during 2013, with sales seeing a minor drop of 0.1 per cent to 117.6 million units.

Industry experts have attributed the decrease to the rise of ad-supported and paid music subscription services – available for an average of $US10 ($A11) per month.

Experts said that the growth in streaming revenue was offsetting the decline in music downloads.

Billboard, which referenced figures provided by music sales tracker Nielsen Soundscan, also reported that CD sales dropped by 14.5 per cent to 165.4 million units in 2013.

Vinyl continued its year-on-year ascension, rising from 4.6 million unit sales in 2012 to 6 million in 2013.