The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has today confirmed that 2006 was a record-breaking year for UK gaming, with a rise in software sales of around 7% to 65.1 million units.

The increase in the number of sales meant a 1% rise in income compared to 2005, to £1.36 billion.

Paul Jackson, Director General of ELSPA, said: "We are thrilled to see the industry growing and software sales continuing to rise. With the new generation consoles and new handhelds there are some amazing titles out there and consumers are continuing to enjoy them. There are new and exciting games available and more and more family orientated and mentally stimulating titles to grasp and hold the interest of all ages. This is also a testament to the industry and it will continue to gain momentum."

Jackson continued: "Although there are new consoles and handhelds for gamers it is great to see that the PC market is doing so well."

Somewhat unsurprisingly given the platform's mammoth userbase, PlayStation2 software sold the greatest proportion of units, followed by Xbox 360, Xbox, and GameCube. Away from the home consoles, both DS and PSP sold huge amounts of software, coming second to PS2 overall (and DS nipping PSP to the post). Sales in PC gaming also enjoyed an increase of 7% over the course of 2006, perhaps an indication that the platform isn't quite in the final death throws - not yet at least.

ELSPA also released a list of the top 10 best-sellers in the UK for 2006, headed by EA Sports' FIFA 07 and Pro Evolution Soccer 6 from Konami:

• FIFA 07 - EA Sports
• Pro Evolution Soccer 6 - Konami
• Need For Speed: Carbon - EA Games
• Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories - Rockstar
• Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy - Lucas Arts
• The Sims 2: Pets - EA Games
• Cars - THQ
• Tomb Raider Legend - Eidos
• The Sims 2 - EA Games
• WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007 - THQ