UK online music sales grew 47 percent from 52.5 million in 2006 to 77.6 million last year, according to British Phonographic Industry data. Sales during the all-important pre-Christmas week almost doubled on the previous year, too. Week 51 2007 saw 1.93 million downloads - 45 percent up on the 1.33 million downloads shifted that week in 2006, FT.com reports.

SEE ALSO: Music Retailers To Labels: ‘Drop DRM By Christmas’

More interesting are the figures for the week after Christmas, when online sales grew 100.2 percent from 1.47 million in 2006 to a record 2.94 million (it was just one million in 2005). Clearly, all those new iPods - and other variants thereof left under the tree by Santa - were desperate for some tunes to play. But this post-Christmas growth is faster than ever, suggesting more MP3 player recipients are indeed turning to commercial downloads.

Meanwhile, the British Video Association said it has started to register its first trickle of sales for digital movie downloads. Separately, entertainment retailer Play.com, which is shortly to expand in to digital downloads, said Q4 sales grew 24 percent, thanks to a 29 percent December growth spurt (via Telegraph.co.uk)