A record number of transactions led to the most lucrative year in media deal-making since 2000, according to a report to be released tomorrow by boutique investment bank DeSilva & Phillips.

A total of $20.5 billion in media deals – led by the $11.1 billion purchase of VNU, owner of The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Nielsen Media Research – were consummated in 2006, an increase of 242 percent over 2005.

The media industry hasn’t had a bigger year by dollar volume since 2000. Of course, that year was heavily skewed by AOL’s $100 billion purchase of Time Warner.

The number of deals conducted in 2006 – 151 – trumped the previous record of 124 set in 2004 by an astounding 22 percent.

“[Last year] turned out to be not only merely strong, but also a year of extraordinary deal-making in both quality and quantity,” the report noted.

Consumer magazine deals accounted for 33 percent of the total, led by the $2.4 billion purchase of The Reader’s Digest Association by Ripplewood Holdings.

Other notable deals on the Top 15 list for 2006 include: Wenner Media’s $300 million acquisition of Disney’s 50 percent stake in US Weekly, and Forbes Media sale of a 40 percent stake to Elevation Partners, the private-equity firm with U2 frontman Bono as a partner, for $275 million.