UK-signed acts including Ed Sheeran, One Direction and The Script helped US one-track digital sales hit a new high with a record 55.74 million tracks downloaded in the last week of 2012.

The figure easily smashes the previous record set in the week ending December 28 2008 when 47.73 million tracks were sold and represent a 118.6% weekly rise, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Sales were also up an impressive 20.1% compared to the corresponding week in 2011.

While Taylor Swift led ...