A cult American indie band topped the UK's first internet chart today with a song that has not even been released as a conventional single.

The Pixies Bam Thwok is available exclusively through Apple's iTunes, which was launched earlier this month in Britain and Europe. It is the band's first release in 13 years.

The Pixies decided to release Bam Thwok through the internet to cut down on costs and allow the maximum distribution of the single.

The Official Download Chart will reflect what is sold on the biggest legal sites in the UK. The chart, from the Official Chart Company (OCC), is set to be broadcast on Radio 1.

Apple's iTunes will be among the sites used to compile the chart. iTunes was launched two weeks ago and has been a major success, selling 450,000 songs during its first week.

Songs are priced at 79p in the UK (99 cents in France and Germany) and follows in the footsteps of the popular US service, through which users downloaded more than 70 million songs in its first year.

Tracks can then be downloaded on to a computer, copied onto a CD or played on an iPod digital music player. Other websites with similar downloading facilities include those operated by HMV, Virgin, MSN, Playlouder, Coca-Cola, and 7 Digital Media.

The music industry is hoping that legal downloads can save the singles chart which has suffered from plummeting sales in the last two decades.

Peter Jamieson, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which represents British record labels, said: "Accessing music through legal downloading is a major part of the future of music and should be represented with its own chart.

"The launch of the Official Download Chart this September demonstrates the growing maturity of the legal download market in the UK."

Omar Maskatiya, the OCC charts director, said: "The Official UK Download Chart marks the most significant development in the charts since the advent of the compact disc 20 years ago."

Coca-Cola and the OCC, which is behind the Official UK Singles and Album Charts, is launching the chart on September 1.

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