A BLOCKBUSTER auction of Contemporary art in New York, including a record US$58.4 million for a Jackson Pollock drip painting, fetched nearly half a billion dollars on Wednesday - the biggest haul ever at an art auction.

Christie's said its sale raised a "staggering" total of US$495,021,500, with 94 percent of lots finding buyers. Nine of the works sold went for above US$10 million and 23 for more than US$5 million.

It wasn't just the most successful auction of Contemporary art at Christie's, but the biggest haul from an art auction anywhere at all, the auction house said.

It was "the highest total in auction history," Brett Gorvy, head of post-war and Contemporary art, said. "The remarkable bidding and record prices set reflect a new era in the art market, wherein seasoned collectors and new bidders compete at the highest level within a global market."

Leading the frenzied charge were the Pollock and a work by one-time graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, which set another record at US$48.8 million.

Pollock's "Number 19, 1948, executed in his iconic drip-paint style with a shimmering mixture of silver, black, white, red and green, had been expected to sell for between US$25 million and US$35 million.

But it shot up to set a new auction high for the artist. The previous top auction price for a Pollock had been US$40.4 million last year.

Christie's called the painting the fruit of "a legendary three-year burst of creativity between 1947 and 1950 that completely revolutionized American painting and reshaped the history of twentieth century art."

The sale at Christie's came a day after rival Sotheby's sold Barnett Newman's "Onement VI" for US$43.84 million and a Gerhard Richter painting called "Domplatz, Mailand" for US$37.1 million -- the highest auction price for any living artist.