Largest ever release: U2's surprise new album given away free to half a BILLION people

A new U2 album entitled Songs of Innocence was offered for free in its entirety on iTunes to mark Apple’s iPhone 6 launch.

18:00 10 September 2014

U2 has given away their surprise new album, Songs of Innocence, for free to 500 million iTunes customers at Apple’s iPhone 6 launch. The Irish rock band performed in California where they announced the news about their new record.

Frontman Bono described the album as “mind-blowing” while Rolling Stone called it the largest album release of all time.

“The most personal album we’ve written could be shared with half a billion people – by hitting send,” he said. “If only songwriting was that easy.”

The album, which will be available in 119 countries worldwide, is described on iTunes as “rooted in the band’s early and lifelong influences including The Ramones, Bob Dylan and The Clash”. One song, “Iris (Hold Me Close)” is a “beautiful homage to Bono’s mother”, with other standout tracks including “Raised by Wolves” and “Volcano”.

For months, there has been persistent rumour that the band was sitting on another album however, nobody suspected that it will be released for free.

Details of the group’s financial deal with iTunes remain unknown but the New York Times suggested that Apple secured the band's services for $100m.