A record number of singles were sold in the final week of 2009, partially down to the Rage Against The Machine vs. X Factor chart battle earlier in the month.

According to the Official Charts Company, 4.22 million singles were sold in the week of Christmas, beating 2008's record of 4.03million.

The main contributing factor is cited as the amount of MP3 players and mobile phones given as presents over Christmas, however, Music Week editor Paul Williams believes the RATM vs X Factor battle helped open the download market.

He told the BBC: "We have in the market one particular outlet in iTunes that really dominates, but what happened with Rage Against The Machine was that other online players were cashing in - and therefore they were not only generating more business for themselves but increasing the size of the market overall."

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) believes that around 150million singles were sold in 2009 - 98% of which are downloads.

If this estimate is correct when final figures are published next week, it will smash 2008's record of 115.1million.

(by Scott Colothan)