Don't let nostalgia cloud reality over Woolies move.

The physical singles market is not dead yet, but for the high-street retailer it is time to move cautiously forward

It was 1980 when I purchased my first-ever single. I would like to say it was something groundbreaking like Love Will Tear Us Apart, but in truth it was a Europop hit called D.I.S.C.O. by long-forgotten French act Ottawan. I bought that and, like millions of other people, many subsequent singles from Woolworths.

So the announcement that Woolies is to stop selling physical singles outside the likes of X-Factor winners is one greeted with sadness as it marks another part of our musical coming-of-age disappearing. But the reality is the chain had in all practical purposes given up on the CD single a long time ago.

Anyone who has gone into a Woolworths recently would have probably needed to have taken Indiana Jones with them if they wanted to find the rack displaying the week's singles chart.

Long gone are the days when this would have taken up a big part of the wall, proudly exhibiting the week's hits. These days it is a tiny, floor-standing cardboard display supposedly housing the Top 20 CD singles, but - if my own local Woolworths is anything to go by - is more full of holes than Gordon Brown's decision to axe the 10p tax rate. This hardly lures you in and, even if you are tempted, the chances are your choice will be out of stock anyway.

As it is, it is hard to argue with the chain's commercial director Jim Batchelor's observation that, while many (including himself) will be sad about the decision to stop selling CD singles from August, the truth is that most people cannot even remember the last time they bought a physical single. The figures really do speak for themselves: around 95% of the singles market each ...