Now! 70 breaks weekly sales record, giving the market a welcome rise.

It's a case of so near but so far at the top of both the artist and compilations chart this week, with Now! That's What I Call Music 70 setting a new record, and Abba's Gold:Greatest Hits missing out on a record by tiny margins. And in a further twist, the number one compilation album recorded the highest sale to date for an album of its kind, while the number one artist album scored the lowest sale on that tally for more than six years.

In a close three-way tussle for chart supremacy at the top of the artist albums chart, Basshunter's Now You're Gone, Abba's Gold: Greatest Hits and Coldplay's Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends all took turns at topping the chart at various stages of the week, with Coldplay's Viva La Vida eventually securing a return to number one on sales of 26,205, leading Abba by 363 sales, and Basshunter by 1,277.

Viva La Vida already holds the record for the best sale of the year by a number one artist, selling 302,074 copies on its debut at the summit some six weeks ago. Now, it narrowly takes the record for the year's lowest tally from Amy MacDonald's This Is The Life, number one 28 weeks ago on sales of 26,396. And its sales were the lowest for a number one album since the chart of May 18 2002, when the Last Broadcast by Doves held sway with a puny sale of 22,437.

Abba's Gold first topped the chart in 1992, remaining in pole position for just one week, and then returned three times in 1999 to add a further five weeks at number one. Had it returned to number one this week, after 16 years on the market, it would have become the oldest hits ...