December 29, 2008

By By Andre Paine, London

Duffy has scored the biggest-selling album of 2008 in the U.K. with "Rockferry" (A&M/Universal), according to the Official Charts Company.

The pop vocalist's debut set moved 1,685,000 copies, beating off a late challenge from revived boy band Take That. The pop act's album "The Circus" (Polydor), released Dec. 1, sold rapidly enough to register a total sale of 1,446,000.

There were three other million-selling artists. Kings Of Leon's "Only By The Night" (Hand Me Down/RCA) is third followed by Leona Lewis' "Spirit" (Syco) in fourth place. Coldplay's "Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends" (Parlophone) was the fifth biggest seller.

Alexandra Burke? winner of TV music talent show "The X Factor," has the biggest-selling single of 2008 with her cover of "Hallelujah" (Syco). In two weeks, it sold 888,000 copies.

Burke pushed "The X-Factor" finalists' "Hero" into second place for the year, with sales of 751,000. In third place, Duffy sold 536,000 copies of her "Mercy" single (A&M/Universal).

The "Mamma Mia" movie soundtrack (Polydor) was the biggest-selling compilation, with sales of 1,007,000 - the only million-selling set by various artists.

Subscribe to Billboard magazine today!