The BBC iPlayer topped 120m requests on all platforms last month as repeat viewings of several Christmas specials and heavy snow combined to drive its popularity to an all-time high.

And the first week of the year was the most popular in the iPlayer's history – with 23.8m requests excluding those on Virgin Media TV. Across January there were more than 100m views excluding those on Virgin Media, statistics for which are not available for the BBC's detailed breakdown.

Of those 100m requests, 68.2m were for TV programmes and 32.3m requests for radio shows.

The top five BBC iPlayer shows in January 2010 were:

1. Top Gear Series 14, Episode 7 - 1,135,000 requests
2. Doctor Who: The End of Time Part 2 - 831,000 requests
3. Gavin and Stacey Series 3 Episode 6 - 700,000 requests
4. Mock the Week Series 8 Episode 1 - 658,000 requests
5. Tracy Beaker Returns Episode 1 - 565,000 requests

The figures show TV on the iPlayer was most popular between 8pm and 10pm in January – similar hours to TV peak time – while noon is the time most people listen to radio on the iPlayer.