Aldi said sales were more than £1.5bn in the four weeks to 24 December.

The company, which has 1,010 stores across the country, said the figure represented a rise of 8% year-on-year and was its "best ever" for the festive season.

Meanwhile, its rival Lidl reported year-on-year sales growth of 12% during the same period, which it described as its "best Christmas yet".

The chain said around 4.5 million more shoppers visited its 960 UK stores over the month, and said Friday 22 December was its busiest-ever trading day.

The figures come after supermarket brands battled over the festive period to market themselves as the best value-for-money for shoppers amid cost of living pressures.

However, some of the growth can be attributed to food price inflation and the percentage increases are down on those the supermarkets reported last Christmas.

Aldi posted a 26% jump in sales over December 2022, while Lidl saw sales increase by 24.5%.

The German-owned firms are the first supermarket companies to announce their figures for the festive period.

Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer are due to publish their Christmas sales numbers next week.

Aldi said its performance over the festive season "capped a remarkable year" for the group, which now has a 9.6% share of the UK's supermarket sector, according to recent data from Kantar.

It said alternative roasting joints were particularly popular, with a 25% spike in sales of its Specially Selected crackling gammon joint.

The chain also sold 42 million pigs in blankets in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

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Lidl, which has an estimated 7.8% share of the market, said shoppers had been increasingly trading up to its premium own-label products over the season.

Sales across its Deluxe range jumped 11% year-on-year between September and December.

Lidl also said it sold the equivalent of a British turkey every two seconds in the week before Christmas, while 2,000 tonnes of potatoes and 1,600 tonnes of carrots were snapped up by its customers. Sales of Christmas jumpers were also up 40% in December.