UK Charts: Need for Speed Underground 2 tops chart through Xmas

Electronic Arts' Need for Speed Underground 2 made it five weeks at number one in the UK over Christmas, with a sales boost of 13 per cent in the week leading up to Christmas Day giving the title a comfortable lead.

The chart for the week ended December 25th saw little change, with not a single new entry to be found in the ranking and only one change in the top ten - with The Incredibles up one place to number three, and Call of Duty: Finest Hour down one place to number four.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas held steady at number two, and made it nine consecutive weeks at number one in the PlayStation 2 chart - having held on to the top spot there since its launch day.

Halo 2 was the top ranked Xbox title in the chart, coming in at number 12 in the ranking, while Need for Speed Underground 2 topped the GameCube chart, with top-ranked Cube exclusive Metroid Prime 2 Echoes nowhere to be found in the all-formats top 40.

Electronic Arts had three titles in the top ten ranking - NFSU 2 at No.1, FIFA 2005 at No. 5 and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent at No. 8 - and seven in the top twenty, while no other publisher managed more than one title in the top ten, although Activision did have three in the top twenty.

The chart for the last week of 2004, which ended on January 2nd, should be announced shortly, and is likely to reflect the massive discounting which some high street retailers applied to titles in the week after Christmas - with some games being reduced to under UKP 10 only weeks after they were launched at full price.