UK Charts: Need for Speed still in pole position

Electronic Arts' Need for Speed Underground made it a second week at the top this week, becoming the first number one title of 2004 in the process, in a week which saw the software market suffer its customary post-Christmas drop off.

However, the decline was less notable this year than in previous years, partially because of the fact that the last week of December was really only half a week in retail terms, but also because of more aggressive discounting than usual in the January sales.

The market's unit sales were down 30 per cent (37 per cent by value) week on week, but this still represents a year on year improvement of almost 34 per cent (38 per cent by value) over the first week of 2003.

EA continued to dominate the top of the charts, with only Vivendi's Simpsons Hit & Run, up two places to number two, challenging the US publisher's dominance of the top six; while the only new entertainment title in the top ten was Take Two's Grand Theft Auto Double Pack, now officially released on the Xbox (although some retailers broke street to the extent that it was on shelves before Christmas) and climbing from number 18 to number seven.

The other big riser of the week, going from last week's number 29 to this week's number nine, is Norton Internet Security 2004 - an oddity in the charts, but one which reflects the public awareness of the need for security and anti-virus features on the many new PCs purchased over the Christmas period.

Elsewhere in the charts, several titles benefit greatly from post-Christmas discounting, including Namco's Soul Calibur II, which rises to number 19 from last week's number 32, and SCi's Conflict Desert Storm II, which re-enters the full price top 40 at number 35.

In terms of the Xbox, the top selling exclusive title was Project Gotham Racing 2 - at number two in the Xbox chart, and number 25 in the full price chart - while the top ranked GameCube title is Mario Kart Double Dash, at number one in the Cube chart and number 34 in the full price chart.

Next week's chart is likely to be dominated once again by the big Christmas titles, as retail continues to aggressively discount them in order to clear stock in preparation for the new year's games.