SUPERMARKET giant Asda is ditching the CD single in a move which is set to spark a new price war for albums.

The step will signal an end to Britain's 25-year love affair with the format.

Asda, which accounts for 15% of the market, will stop selling singles as stock runs out and replace the shelf space with albums slashed to around £7.97.

Extra space will also be doubled for up-and-coming artists such as Glasgow's Amy Macdonald and bands like The Twang.

Sales of CD singles, costing around £3, have slumped in the wake of the download revolution, where individual tracks are bought from online services for around 79p.

Singles on CD now make up just 22% of the market with almost all of the rest being downloads, and many new chart hits released solely online or even a memory stick, such as the last single from Keane.

Having been introduced in 1982, CDs replaced the traditional vinyl 45rpm format which had been the main format since 1955.

But since March last year, legal downloads have counted towards official charts, leading to a boom in the online sales which have gone from 23% to 77% of the market in just two years.

Asda music buyer Andy Powell today said: "We're saying goodbye to one of the most important products in music history.

"The single will always be a historic icon in the music world, but the fact of the matter is customers just aren't buying them anymore.

"Instead they want to pick up the latest album at an affordable price."

Asda is one of the top five sellers of CD singles in the UK along with Woolworths, HMV, Virgin and Tesco.

Woolworths has gradually cut the amount of shelf space it gives to CD singles over the past year and was believed to be considering a move similar to Asda.

But it may wait to see what the reaction is to the decision before following suit.