Adele Officially Named The Biggest Selling Artist Of 2015
By Ed Biggs in Music / Festivals on 08 February 2016
She's been named the IFPI's Global Recording Artist of the Year.
Adele has been officially named as the best-selling artist worldwide in 2015, after smashing chart records to smithereens by releasing her third album 25.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced on Sunday (February 7th) that the 27 year old British singer was the highest selling musical act based on worldwide sales of music recordings in the whole of 2015, despite not releasing 25 until November.
The figure can partially be explained by Adele’s refusal to put the new record on streaming sites such as Spotify or Apple Music, a rare move that can only realistically be negotiated by the very biggest artists.
Adele was declared the biggest-selling artist of 2015 by the IFPI
However, her figures were also driven by ‘Hello’, the trailing lead single for 25 which came out at the end of October and which hit Number 1 in more than 30 countries around the world. Frances Moore, the CEO of the IFPI, issued a statement on Monday describing Adele as the “runaway global sensation of 2015” adding that the achievement was “simply phenomenal.”
More: Adele joins list of artist who won’t let Donald Trump use their music at rallies
Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks sales in the US, said recently that 25 had sold eight million copies in the States alone in the three weeks since its release. That makes one of only six albums to cross that threshold since 2001, when iTunes and downloading revolutionised the industry and made such figures much harder to achieve.
Fellow British star Ed Sheeran, who embarked on a massive world tour last year in support of his album X, was second in the list. Taylor Swift, who won the same award for 2014, was still in third place one year later, fuelled by continuing healthy sales of 1989.
Rounding the top five were Justin Bieber, who even had the critics crowing about his comeback album Purpose, released a fortnight before Adele, and One Direction, who released their fifth album Made In the A.M. before going on hiatus.
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