More than half a million buyers chose the colour last year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said.
This equates to a fifth of all registrations.
Black was the second most common colour, followed by grey and blue.
Yellow appeared in the top 10 for the first time since 2013, replacing mauve at number 10.
Here are the top 10 new car colours of 2016 (market share in brackets):
1. White (20.5%)
2. Black (20.2%)
3. Grey (17.3%)
4. Blue (15.4%)
5. Red (11.3%)
6. Silver (10.2%)
7. Green (1%)
8. Orange (0.7%)
9. Brown (0.6%)
10. Yellow (0.5%)