Robbie Williams took three Platinum Adwards in 2006

Artists such as The Kooks, Sugababes and Katie Melua have scooped 19 of the year's 36 IFPI Platinum Awards for selling one million copies or more.

The top performer was Robbie Williams who took three awards, including one for his latest album, Rudebox, which sold two million copies in one week.

The US had 12 acts on the list, including UK-signed Scissor Sisters.

The British Phonographic Institute (BPI) said the results underlined the current boom in new British music. Six of the 19 UK Platinum Award winners are 2006 releases.

Euro Top Sellers 1. Robbie Williams - Greatest Hits - 5m 2. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam - 5m 3. Robbie Williams - Intensive Care - 5m 4. Coldplay - X&Y - 4m 5. Madonna - Confessions on a Dancefloor - 4m

BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson said: "These latest figures confirm that we are going through a golden age for new British music, even by our own high standards.

"The success UK music is enjoying today bodes well for future years because, as ever in music, it's the hits of today which pay for the hits of tomorrow."

He also said the UK's haul of Platinum Awards for 2006 is likely to go even higher when releases by Arctic Monkeys, Snow Patrol, Corinne Bailey Rae, Keane and Razorlight are finally calculated.

A Platinum Award is given for any album which exceeds one million sales, or a multiple thereof, within the given period.