Lady Gaga and Cheryl Cole put pop back on top

Don't mess with her: Lady Gaga is beating the pop out of rock

Pop became king of the dancefloor with a 33.5% share of all singles sales in 2009, up from 28.1% in 2008.

It toppled rock's 24.5% share in 2009, which was down from 31.2% the previous year.

The shift marks five years since pop last held the crown as the dominant genre in the market.
Releases by the likes of Lily Allen and Robbie Williams also gave pop a big albums boost.

The genre claimed 29% of album sales - its biggest share since 2003 - up from 25.3% in 2008, according to figures released by music industry body the BPI.

Rock music remains the album sales ruler, despite a fall in its share of the market.

Its share spiralled from 35.7% to 31% in 2009, the lowest proportion of sales since 2004.

Kings Of Leon's Only By The Night was the genre's only release to shift more than a million copies during the year, although titles by artists including Snow Patrol, Queen and Kasabian all topped the half a million sales mark.

Figures are being published in the BPI's Statistical Handbook 2010, set to be published on May 10.

Geoff Taylor, BPI chief executive said: "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.

"British urban talent shone in the R&B sector, virtually doubling their sales last year thanks to Tinchy Stryder, Dizzee Rascal, Chipmunk, N-Dubz and Taio Cruz.

"This strong performance looks like carrying into 2010 with hits from Taio again, Tinie Tempah, Plan B and Professor Green, amongst others."

R&B accounted for 9.6% of album sales, down from 10.5% in 2008, with JLS and Beyonce both featuring in the year-end top 10.

Dance's share decreased slightly from 7.9% to 7.3% in 2009 - despite strong sales of The Prodigy's Invaders Must Die.

The figures are based on data from the Official Charts Company.