UK record companies are celebrating their best ever year for album sales, with a record 237 million sold in the 12 months to September.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) trade body said albums by the likes of Keane and The Streets had helped drive a 3% rise compared with last year.

It also said sales of single tracks were up thanks to the availability of legal download services.

Download sales would be added to the singles chart from next year, it added.

Around 1.75 million individual tracks were purchased from online services such as MyCokeMusic and Wippit between July and September 2004 - helping sales of single tracks increase by 9% on the previous quarter.

With online sales stripped out, singles sales were down by 12%.

However, sales of traditional 7″ singles were up for the 11th quarter in a row, with sales topping one million in the year to September - an increase of 74.8%.