Facebook has been steadily growing in the U.S. over the past year but December appeared to set some records according to Compete.com. The company’s latest statistics show the company jumping over 20 percent from around 49 million users in November to approximately 60 million in December. The numbers also show that Facebook has for the first time surpassed MySpace in market share in the U.S.

Yesterday Hitwise released statistics which shows MySpace having a significant lead over Facebook and comScore paints a similar picture stating that MySpace had over 75 million users in the U.S. in November versus 50 million for Facebook. comScore’s December numbers have yet to be published but if Compete’s numbers are close to accurate, Facebook will be overtaking MySpace within weeks if they haven’t already.

This is a huge milestone for Facebook who yesterday announced they surpassed 150 million users globally, extending their lead as the largest social network in the world. Compete provides rough estimates but they are probably one of the most accurate metrics companies outside of Quantcast who has yet to publish their December number for Facebook and MySpace.

As the numbers roll out over the coming days, the picture will become more clear but no matter what, Facebook has clearly closed the gap and continues to extend their position as the most dominant social network. It will be interesting to see if comScore or Quantcast confirms the numbers released by Compete.com today.