Rihanna was the biggest seller over the Christmas period. While the Christmas No.1 album title was lifted by One Direction with their debut Take Me Home, the Barbadian superstar outdid the world's biggest boy band over the final four days before Christmas day, to snatch the No.1 slot this week with Unapologetic.

The top Irish album was #3 by The Script which climbed one position to make the final Top 10 of the year by a whisker. Meanwhile, honorary Irishman Ed Sheeran made it back into the Top 5 with +, which is currently in its 68th week in the charts. The Dubliners fell away slightly to occupy the No.12 spot. There were no brand new entries, with Katy Perry's Teenage Dream being the highest re-entry at No.82.

The longest running current Irish chart success is Abba's Greatest Hits – up to No.57 this week – which has been an astonishing 569 weeks in the charts since it was first released (that's almost 11 years in total!).