Investors flocked to the big names of the British high street in 2025, with beleaguered high street retailers among the breakout stocks of the year. 

Investment platform IG analysed the stocks that saw the biggest surge in the number of people holding them, and found that Sainsbury's saw a huge 156 per cent jump. 

Sainsbury's shares have risen some 18 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Also making it into the top ten was sausage roll maker Greggs, which saw a 148 per cent increase in stockholders and newsagent WH Smith which saw holders grow by 123 per cent.

Greggs shares are down some 38 per cent over the year, while WH Smith has fallen 44 per cent, with the latter having seen its shares crash in the summer after an accounting error saw it overstate trading profits in North America by some £50million.

Both stocks could be seen as good value with big drops seen in share prices.

Marks and Spencer, while not in the top ten, saw a 76 per cent hike in the number of people holding the stock.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: 'The Magnificent Seven have dominated headlines for the past few years, their valuations surging on the back of AI fever.

'But while US tech grabbed the attention, British stocks have quietly attracted solid interest from investors on IG's platform, a reminder that quality companies aren't the exclusive preserve of Silicon Valley.'

He added: 'The numbers tell an interesting story. The FTSE 100 has actually outperformed the S&P 500 over the past year, returning 20.5 per cent versus 15.6 per cent, with the latter only up some 8.6 per cent if priced in sterling.

'Some of that relative strength came from international flows following tariff announcements earlier this year, but it's also worth noting that UK investors themselves have been putting more money to work at home rather than automatically chasing US names.'

Investors eye AI boom 

Investors still bought heavily into US stocks, IG said, with the top breakout firm being US health insurance group UnitedHealth. 

It saw a 504 per cent surge in holders during the past twelve months.

Similar to WH Smith and Greggs, UnitedHealth shares have fallen considerably this year and are trading down around 34 per cent.

Beauchamp said: 'Whether this marks a genuine turning point or just a temporary shift remains to be seen. 

'The FTSE's gains have been helped by currency moves and energy stocks, not just a sudden renaissance in British corporate performance.

'But after years of underperformance, any period where UK equities hold their own against US indices deserves attention.'

Meanwhile the AI boom has also seen investors pile into firms set to benefit off the back of AI demand growth.

BigBear AI, an AI security firm, saw holders grow 224 per cent over the year.

Despite reporting a 20 per cent drop in revenue year-on-year, the firm's shares have still grown some 33 per cent this year so far.

At the same time, other tech stocks were in the sights of investors, particularly those set to benefit form the surge in AI.

In particular, quantum computing firms saw large numbers of investors piling into what is a high-potential sector.

US firm Quantum Computing saw a 153 per cent surge, while investors holding D Wave Quantum rising 126 per cent, Oracle Corp 124 per cent and Rigetti Computing 190 per cent.