The downloads are the most successful on licensed websites during 2007, among a total of 60m songs analysed by MCPS-PRS Alliance, the body that collects and pays royalties to composers and songwriters.
It looked at websites ranging from YouTube to iTunes and Bebo in order to pay royalties accurately to its 60,000 members.
The number of online performances of tracks such as 'Bleeding Love', which represented 6% of all analysed performances, and Crank Dat Soulja, were boosted by user-generated videos that often featured fans performing the songs themselves to camera.
Andrew Shaw, managing director of broadcast and online at the Alliance, said: "The trend for posting self-made videos is driving the number of performances on the websites we license.
"Hairbrush divas are not only helping to generate royalties for the writers of their favourite music but could also prove to have the X Factor themselves and be our stars of tomorrow."
The Alliance also said that the trend for posting group dance videos also contributed to the findings.
The most performed songs online were as follows:
1. Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
2. Crank Dat Soulja - Soulja Boy Tellem
3. Apologize - Timbaland / OneRepublic
4. Umbrella - Rihanna ft. Jay-Z
5. Beautiful Girl - Sean Kingston
6. Gimme More - Britney Spears
7. Heartbroken - T2 ft. Jodie Aysha
8. About You Now - Sugababes
9. You Are The Music in Me (reprise) - High School Musical
10. The Way I Are - Timbaland ft. Keri Hilson
Shaw added: "Lots more performances of music are needed online to generate meaningful royalties since each download or stream is individual, in comparison to the wider audience numbers achieved by broadcasts on traditional media channels such as radio or TV.
"As more and more music is consumed online, we need to continually develop increasingly sophisticated tracking systems in order to ensure that the songwriter and creator community is sustained, enabling a continued future for music," Shaw said.
The Alliance said that a typical radio station plays 12,000 pieces of music in a three-month period. During the same timeframe, on services like YouTube, there are some 2bn performances of 14m different videos.