Adele leads British albums boost
But even without her, sales would have been the highest since 2007 with acts such as Coldplay, Jessie J, Ed Sheeran, Olly Murs and the late Amy Winehouse among those who had shifted more than half a million copies of their releases.
Brits made up 56 of the top 100 biggest selling album artists for the past year, including acts as varied as Plan B, The Vaccines, Kasabian and actor Hugh Laurie with his blues album.
US artists represented almost a third of sales, the lowest share since 1999, but accounting for the second biggest share of acts.
Canada was third while Barbados was fourth, solely on the back of Rihanna's success.
In the singles market, the US had the upper hand with almost 44% or all singles sold in the UK, while British stars represented nearly 43%.
Figures were compiled by the Official Charts Company and analysed by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry).
BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said: "A string of great albums by British artists has delivered the strongest performance in the domestic albums market since the days of Brit Pop and the Spice Girls in 1997."