Amy Winehouse was named best female at this year's Brit Awards

Winehouse and Take That had the top sellers from January to March, followed by albums by Mika and Kaiser Chiefs.

Excluding compilations, overall album sales were down 10% in the first three months of 2007 compared with last year.

The figures show sales plummeted in March and no album matched the frenzy the Arctic Monkeys enjoyed in 2006.

Back to Black by Amy Winehouse sold more than 467,000 copies in the first three months of the year - half the amount the Arctic Monkeys' debut sold in the same period of 2006.

TOP UK ALBUMS JANUARY-MARCH 1. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black 2. Take That (above) - Beautiful World 3. Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion 4. Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob 5. Snow Patrol - Eyes Open Source: BPI

In total, 25.3 million albums were sold between the start of January and the end of March 2007 - the lowest figure for the first three months of a year since 2002, according to Music Week magazine.

Much of the slump was down to "particularly poor" sales in the last two weeks of March, according to UK music industry body the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

"Though trading conditions are tough, the UK market has not experienced the declines seen globally," a spokesman said.

"Remember that last year the overall albums market was still up almost 45% by volume on 1997. We shouldn't place too much emphasis on two weeks of disappointing CD album sales."

The UK was performing well compared with the US, where CD sales were down 20% in the first three months of the year, he added.

And more positive figures came from the compilations market, which was up 10%, and downloads, with digital single sales up 62%.