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British music still popular the world over

By | Published on Friday 1 August 2014

One Direction

British artists remain super popular around the world, responsible for one in eight of all albums sold worldwide in 2013, according to new figures from the BPI. That’s 13% of the global market.

One Direction, unsurprisingly, led the charge again, shifting four million copies of their ‘Midnight Memories’ album in the final six weeks of 2013, following its November release, making them the world’s overall best-selling artist. Their second album, ‘Take Me Home’, was also the fifth biggest-selling British album worldwide, while their debut, ‘Up All Night’, came in tenth.

The other top five highest selling Brit albums were ‘Babel’ by Mumford & Sons, Adele’s ’21’ and Robbie Williams’ ‘Swings Both Ways’.

BPI’s Gennaro Castaldo said in a statement: “For home-grown talent to have recorded the world’s biggest-selling album six out of the last seven years is a phenomenal achievement that says a great deal about the popularity of British music around the world, especially taking into account the fact that one in every eight albums sold globally are by UK artists. Aside from the obvious contribution to British exports, this success underlines the vital role that our music and artists play in promoting the appeal of British culture around the world”.

The ten best selling British albums worldwide in 2013 are as follows (world positions in brackets):

1 (1) One Direction – Midnight Memories
2 (13) Mumford & Sons – Babel
3 (17) Adele – 21
4 (18) Robbie Williams – Swings Both Ways
5 (30) One Direction – Take Me Home
6 (33) Emeli Sandé – Our Version of Events
7 (35) David Bowie – The Next Day
8 (36) Black Sabbath – 13
9 (37) Depeche Mode – Delta Machine
10 (40) One Direction – Up All Night



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