Girls Aloud's Cheryl Cole performing at a gig in Weston-Super-Mare

The act, whose latest chart success is Sexy! No No No, have scored a run of 16 hits inside the top 10.

They replace Beyonce's former band Destiny's Child in the compendium, whose record was 11.

Madonna captured the record for the highest-grossing music tour per concert from Cher.

The pop star also sets the standard for most chart-topping albums by a female artist, having reached the chart summit nine times. The title was previously held by Kate Bush.

Highest-paid cast

Despite a downturn in recent fortunes, Robbie Williams shares the 2008 record for most albums to reach number one by a male artist with David Bowie.

The Rolling Stones cement their place in the record books with the highest-grossing tour in history for their Bigger Bang concerts, surpassing their own record set with the Bridges To Babylon tour in 1997-8.

Desperate Housewives takes a record spot from Baywatch

The television world is also honoured in the new record book, with Little Britain being officially recognised as the best-selling TV comedy series on DVD.

The BBC show shifted more than 645,000 units worldwide with revenues of �2.7m.

Hit US comedy series Desperate Housewives is named the best-selling TV drama, being seen in 203 countries - wrestling the record from Baywatch.

Despite award-winning mob drama The Sopranos having reached its conclusion, its cast are listed in the publication as being the highest-paid in TV, amassing �26m for the seventh and last series.