The Amy Winehouse Foundation, which was established by her family, is to be eBays charity of the week. Photo: Yui Mok/PA Wire

They say nothing in showbiz delivers a career boost like death – and Amy Winehouse is proving the old adage again.

Sales of the tragic singer’s recordings have hit 1.7m since her untimely demise at her flat in north London, last July.

Since then, more than 1.2m copies of her albums have been sold, along with 500,000 singles.

Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot said: “Many of us will remember where we were when we heard the terrible news about Amy a year ago.

“And the fact that music fans have, since then, bought her music in such large numbers demonstrates just how highly she was regarded by the great British public.”

Second album Back to Album saw a sales surge as it became the biggest seller of the millennium in the wake of Winehouse’s demise from alcohol poisoning.

Adele’s 21 went on to claim that record.