Apple Quietly Ends Free iTunes 'Single of the Week' Promotion After 11 Years

Apple has seemingly ended its weekly iTunes "Single of the Week" promotion that gave out a free music single download each week on the iTunes storefront. As noted by Business Insider, a member of the Apple discussion forums claims an Apple support employee informed him the company decided to drop the weekly promotion.

Screenshot (109)

I contacted iTunes Support and they told me the decision was made to drop the free Single of the Week. Seems they don't want people browsing the Store anymore. I told them that the free single each week got me to the Store and I usually bought a few songs. Now, there's less reason to go. They've stopped the free single in other countries too.

The "Single of the Week" promotion began in 2004, and in a similar vein to Apple's "App of the Week" promotion on the App Store, it gave out free singles every week from artists and bands of varying genres and popularity. Though forum user Bob Foss' confirmation of the promotion's end remains unverified, Apple also recently decided to end its annual "12 Days of Christmas" iTunes Store giveaway.

Volunteers in our forums have tracked the free iTunes Store content in several countries for a number of years, but the 2015 music thread remains empty as evidence of Apple's apparent decision to cancel the promotions.

Related Forum: Mac Apps

Popular Stories

Verizon New

Verizon is Down: iPhones Show 'SOS' Mode Due to Network Outage [Resolved]

Wednesday January 14, 2026 10:18 am PST by
Verizon is experiencing a major outage across the U.S. today, with hundreds of thousands of customers reporting issues with the network on the website Downdetector. There are also complaints across Reddit and other social media platforms. iPhone users and others with Verizon service are generally unable to make phone calls, send text messages, or use data over 5G or LTE due to the outage....
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature Purple

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Thursday January 15, 2026 10:56 am PST by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another eight months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped 12 features rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro models, as of January 2026: The same overall design is expected, with 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes, and a "plateau" housing three rear cameras Under-screen Face ID...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature Purple

New Leak Reveals iPhone 18 Pro Display Sizes, Under-Screen Face ID, and More

Wednesday January 14, 2026 7:09 am PST by
While the iPhone 18 Pro models are still around eight months away, a leaker has shared some alleged details about the devices. In a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo this week, the account Digital Chat Station said the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will have the same 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes as the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Consistent with previous...
2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Adjusts Trade-In Values for iPhones, Macs, and More

Thursday January 15, 2026 11:19 am PST by
Apple today updated its trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models. Trade-ins can be completed on Apple's website, or at an Apple Store. The charts below provide an overview of Apple's current and previous trade-in values in the United States, according to the company's website. Most of the values declined slightly, but some of the Mac values increased. iPhone ...
maxresdefault

Google Gemini-Powered Siri Will Reportedly Have These 7 New Features

Tuesday January 13, 2026 7:52 pm PST by
Apple and Google this week announced that Gemini will help power a more personalized Siri, and The Information has provided more details. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. As soon as this spring, the report said the revamped version of Siri will be able to… Answer more factual/world knowledge questions in a conversational manner Tell more stories Provide...

Top Rated Comments

ELMI0001 Avatar
144 months ago
Apple is so damn greedy. It would be nice if they appreciated their customers.

Non-hardware examples;

No 12 days of Christmas. Not a huge deal but no real explanation behind it.

iTunes prices are ridiculous. Yes, they do sales occasionally. But I don't need all the Harry Potter movies for $55. I would like to see some older movies for less than $14.99 occasionally. Perhaps a price more competitive with Blu-Rays or Amazon.

$3.99 and $4.99 to rent a movie? For 24 hours? C'mon. That's ridiculous when there is a Redbox in every McDonalds in the US.

I really wanted to own a copy of The Prestige. I figured iTunes was an easy choice. Until the movie was $17.99. It's $9.99 on Blu-Ray.

I understand there is no need to push product since these files are not taking up any real estate but a sale or competitive prices would be nice.

We're all in the ecosystem, just throw us a bone with some incentives and real sales.

This is coming on the heals of an unfortunate incident last night in which I was unable to stream Capt America on my Apple TV (a movie I purchased on iTunes), but the Netflix app on my Apple TV worked fine. I just remember when it felt like Apple cared about their few customers instead of ripping off all of their customers.

/end rant
Score: 50 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lars666 Avatar
144 months ago
They are probably sick of having to be insulted for giving out some little things for free.
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MartinAppleGuy Avatar
144 months ago
With no "12 days of Christmas" and now this, they must be saving up to be making the 12" Macbook Air real affordable ;)
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
al256 Avatar
144 months ago
Tim must still be upset about the whole U2 Songs of Innocence pushback...
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Crosscreek Avatar
144 months ago
Well hey.....times are tough.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2457282 Avatar
144 months ago
I used to download the free songs, but after a while realized that I almost never liked the songs, rated them as 1 star and lost them in my library. It's been a year or so since I even thought of the free song. I wonder if this is also true for many other users rendering the freebie no longer essential. I also wonder how Apple was compensating the artist and if there is some issue in the contracts. My final wonder of this morning is how the streaming has affected the need for a free song as a way to discover new music/artists.

I wonder a lot.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)