Today, January 18, has become an important day for EA, Harmonix, and MTV  It's only been eight weeks (feels a lot longer, doesn't it?) since their music game Rock Band was released back in November, and the game is already paying off based on sales of downloadable content.

The companies expressed their excitement over the success of their love child in this press release:

OVER TWO AND A HALF MILLION SERVED!

ROCK BAND™ DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT GOES “DOUBLE PLATINUM,” SELLING MORE THAN 2.5 MILLION SONGS IN JUST OVER EIGHT WEEKS

MUSIC FANS/GAMERS BURN UP XBOX LIVE® MARKETPLACE AND PLAYSTATION®NETWORK DOWNLOADING CHART-BUSTING HITS FROM METALLICA, FOREIGNER, WEEZER & MORE

I don't know about you, but that sure gets me excited.

Meanwhile, Rock Band is still trickling off the shelves at a steady pace.  Van Toffler, president of MTVN Music Group/Logo/Films, is tickled pink over how well their experimental joint project with Harmonix and EA has been doing:

"Our goal with Rock Band was to create an entirely new way for people to interact with the music they love.  The incredible response to the downloadable content we've released to date motivates us even more to establish this platform as a way for people to discover new, up and coming artists through the game - in addition to delivering great game play experiences set to the music of mega-artists."

Not surprisingly, the best selling downloads consist of music by rock legends with Metallica topping the list, followed by The Police, Queens of the Stone Age, David Bowie (a personal favorite), and a collection of Black Sabbath covers. 

As for the most popular singles, we have "Juke Box Hero" by the Foreigner, a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son," Weezer's "Buddy Holly," and The Knack's "My Sharona."  Weezer feels a little out of place to me, but more power to them for making the list.