He may divide opinion here, but Blunt's a big hit on the Continent

He may not be the most fashionable artist in the UK, but in Europe James Blunt is leading a surge of British album sales.

Figures from the BPI, the record-industry body, revealed a huge increase last year in the number of albums by British artists sold in Europe, with musicians such as Blunt, Katie Melua, Robbie Williams and Coldplay featuring prominently in the charts. British artists accounted for one in five album sales in Germany and one in ten in France, the highest figures in four years.

The Beatles also became one of last year's most popular exports, thanks to Love, the remix album of their hits put together by their former producer Sir George Martin and his son Giles.

In 2006, British acts sold 27 million albums in Germany and France, the world's fourth and fifth largest music markets. Albums by artists such as Blunt helped to boost Britain's share of the German music market to nearly 20 per cent, up from 14.7 percent in 2005.

Blunt, 33, achieved rapid success when he released his debut album, Back to Bedlam, two years ago. He became the first British artist to top the American singles chart in nearly a decade when his song "You're Beautiful" reached No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006. In the same year, he won two Brit Awards and was nominated for four Grammys.

His meteoric rise and commercial success has surprised many in the music industry and his European success will serve to cement his international standing.

Blunt turned his attention to pop music in 2004 after serving as a commissioned officer in the Life Guards, part of the Household Cavalry, in which he rose to the rank of captain and served as an armoured reconnaissance officer in the Nato peace-keeping force in Kosovo. It was while on duty in Kosovo that he wrote his song "No Bravery". Within a year of leaving the Army, Blunt signed a contract with EMI as a singer-songwriter.

In France, the Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini and the British bands Muse and Placebo, were big sellers, an impressive feat in a country where the law dictates that 40 per cent of tracks on national radio must be in the native language. Depeche Mode and Yusuf Islam proved popular in Germany, where debut albums from Corinne Bailey Rae and James Morrison also featured in the German top 100. Katie Melua's second album, Piece By Piece, was the second-best-selling record in Germany.

Love, marketed as the first "new" Beatles album in 26 years, was the fourth-biggest British seller in both Germany and France. The album contains Beatles tracks remixed for the soundtrack of the Cirque du Soleil stage show.

Albums by British artists account for more than half of all albums sold domestically and one in 12 in the US.

Top 10 UK albums in France and Germany

* GERMANY

1. Piece By Piece, Katie Melua

2. Back To Bedlam, James Blunt

3. Rudebox, Robbie Williams

4. Love, The Beatles

5l Greatest Hits, Robbie Williams

6. X&Y, Coldplay

7. Intensive Care, Robbie Williams

8. An Other Cup, Yusuf Islam

9. The Best of Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode

10. Playing the Angel, Depeche Mode

* FRANCE France

1. Back To Bedlam, James Blunt

2. Intensive Care, Robbie Williams

3. Black Holes & Revelations, Muse

4. Love, The Beatles

5. Meds, Placebo

6. Piece By Piece, Katie Melua

7 Chasing Time, James Blunt

8. X&Y, Coldplay

9. These Streets, Paolo Nutini

10. Rudebox, Robbie Williams