The group will axe the CD single from its shelves from August as demand for the format has plummeted in recent years amid the soaring popularity of digital downloading.

But Woolworths will stock CD singles for one-off event releases, such as the X-Factor winner, which still sell hundreds of thousands of copies, according to the group.

Industry figures show that sales of CD singles have plunged by a third this year compared with 2007 and the market is less than a sixth of the size it was eight years ago.

Eight million CD singles were bought in the UK last year, a fraction of the sales seen at the height of the physical single's popularity in 1999, when a record 78 million CD, tape and vinyl singles were sold.

Woolworths is the biggest seller of CD singles in the UK, but has already trimmed availability of the format to half of its 820 stores.

It is instead to focus on offering customers music tracks to download, with a revamped site launched at www.woolworthsdownload.co.uk, covering music, games, video and mobile content.

Jim Batchelor, Woolworths commercial director, said: "Digital downloading is now the true customer choice for listening and purchasing single music tracks.

"CDs are alive and well for album sales, but unfortunately the physical singles market is in terminal decline."

Top 40 CD singles were removed from the goods basket used to measure the cost of living in the UK earlier this year as the waning popularity of the physical single format was recognised by official inflation statisticians.