Downloads reach new high point.(The Market)

Despite holdovers with reduced sales at the top of both the singles and albums charts, both sectors remained extremely healthy last week.

Overall, singles sales declined just 0.7% to 902,208 weekly sales, beating the 900,000 mark for the third week in a row. It is the first time sales have sustained this level for more than a fortnight since June 2002. Sales then, of course, were only physical but now include downloads.

Physical singles last week of 347,642 represented just 38.53% of total sales, with downloads reaching a record high (out of 24 weeks since they were counted) of 554,566 and a record share of 61.47%.

Singles sales for the past three weeks total 2.72m--an 80.7% increase over the same period last year, although physical-only sales, at 1.10m, are 27% down.

Meanwhile, the start of new clearance sales in HMV and Woolworth gave the albums market a significant boost, in terms of units if not value.

Artist album sales surged ahead 17.6% week-on-week to 2.24m, while compilations improved by 2% to 477,003. Overall album sales--at 2.72m--were at their highest level for eight weeks and 13.3% above the same week in 2004.

While there were new entries to the Top Five for Bon Jovi, Barbra Streisand and Ian Brown, it ...