PARIS (Reuters) - A music video by Beyonce and Jay-Z set in the Louvre helped boost visitor numbers to a record 10.2 million in 2018, the Louvre said.

A rebound in tourist numbers to Paris, following a drop after Islamist militants killed 130 people in the French capital in November 2015, also helped the museum achieve a 25 per cent increase in visitors on the previous year.

The Louvre said it was happy at the response to the video by Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z for the song Apes***, in which they perform in front of the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and other famous artworks.

It has been viewed nearly 150 million times on YouTube.

"It is good to see that these American artists, creators of today, are interested in a museum of archaeology and ancient art," Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez said.

The Louvre's previous record was 9.7 million visitors, in 2012, when the museum inaugurated its Islamic Art section and held exhibitions on Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael.

Three-quarters of the visitors are foreigners, with about 1.5 million American and one million Chinese tourists.