Music label BMG has bought the rights to some of the best-selling pop music of recent years, including hits from Take That and Nirvana.

The German-owned label bought Virgin Music's entire back catalogue, including chart-topping tracks by Robbie Williams, Duffy and Tears for Fears, for an undisclosed sum.

The catalogue was formerly owned by EMI, but when Sony/ATV agreed to buy EMI's publishing arm this summer, they were obliged to sell the catalogue as part of the deal.

BMG has signed a deal to acquire selected music publishing catalogues from Virgin Music Publishing, Famous UK Music Publishing and selected titles from Sony/ATV and EMI Music Publishing.

Regulators allowed a group led by Sony to buy EMI's music publishing arm for $2.2bn (£1.36bn) on the condition that the stated catalogues were sold in order to ensure fair competition.