CHARTS 2008: THE BEST YEAR FOR SINGLES BAR NONE.

Almost 30 years ago, the singles market shipped an all-time-high of 89.1m singles. In 2008, that figure leapt by 26m with a massive 115m units being sold as the once-maligned singles sector exploded in spectacular fashion, thanks largely to the growth of TV talent shows and downloads

By Alan Jones

Written off many times in the past, singles surged to their highest level yet in 2008, sales jumping by 33.01% year-on-year to 115,139,176. According to official BPI data, their previous best year was 1979, when 89.1m singles were shipped; 2008 probably outperformed 1979 by an ever greater margin than the gap of 26m suggests - singles shipped in 1979 were not necessarily all sold and the statistics include some records bound for export. The fast growth of broadband and the rise of MP3 players has aided the singles market in its fast growth, which has seen it almost treble in five years, with OCC data showing sales of just 30,887,869 in 2003.

The explosive growth of the singles market has occurred hand-in-hand with the rise of reality TV, and it is no coincidence that 2008's 10 best singles sales have been achieved by recordings made by graduates of The X Factor, its immediate predecessor Pop Stars: The Rivals and Jeff Buckley, whose Hallelujah was spurred to its top tally after being sung by X Factor contestants.

Female artists took the top five places in the list of the year's biggest-selling acts. Female soloists' share of the Top 100 singles of the year rose sharply from 18% to 28%, and female solo artists were the principal performers on the number one song for 30 weeks in the year, compared to just two for male solo artists.

Rihanna leads the list, with sales of 1,294,093 in 2008, followed closely by Duffy with sales of 1,007,490. Duffy's Mercy was the biggest- selling single for much of the year, though its eventual tally of 535,644 sales was overhauled first by The X Factor Finalists' Hero (751,243) and then by X Factor winner Alexandra Burke's Hallelujah, which sprinted to sales of 887,933 in less than two weeks at the end of the year.

Burke ended up in fourth place in the 2008 artist rankings, just behind 2006 X Factor winner Leona Lewis, who has been the model of consistency since her win in the competition, finishing second in the 2006 artist rankings and first last year.