Top selling albums from Lady Gaga, Lily Allen and Robbie Williams gave pop music sales a massive boost in 2009, newly released statistics reveal.

According to figures from the BPI (British Phonographic Industry), obtained by Music Week, 29.9% of albums sold in 2009 were pop compared to 25.3% the year before – the genre's highest percentage in six years.

Rock music continues to dominate album sales with 31% of the market, however the genre slipped notably from 2008 when it accounted for 35.7% of sales.

Considering that only 13.7% of all new releases were pop compared to the 40.2% of rock, then pop music's gains are even more significant.

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor commented to Music Week: “There’s no doubting that 2009 was a vintage year for pop – some fantastic records led to a strong performance by the genre in both albums and singles.”

Thanks to Cheryl Cole, La Roux and of course Lady Gaga, pop was the most popular music genre in the singles chart last year with 33% of sales.

In fact, the only rock act to feature in the end of year top ten was Rage Against The Machine's Christmas number one 'Killing In The Name'.

(by Scott Colothan)