Ed Sheeran’s + most pirated album in the UK
A new study by Musicmetric has revealed that Ed Sheeran’s + is the most illegally downloaded album in the UK, and Manchester is the UK capital of music piracy.

A new study by Musicmetric has revealed that Ed Sheeran’s + is the most pirated album in the UK.
The company, who monitor the global activity of BitTorrent files found that, during the first half of 2012, 43 million albums and singles were illegally downloaded in the UK. This means Britain is second only to the US, who topped the poll with 96,681,133 illegal music downloads for the same period.
Rizzle Kicks’ Stereo Typical is the second most illegally downloaded album in the UK, with Rihanna’s Talk That Talk in third place. Jessie J’s Who You Are and Olly Murs’ In Case You Didn’t Know also feature in the Top 5.
Manchester topped the poll for the most amount of illegal downloads per city or town (395,516) with Nottingham, Southampton, Liverpool and Sheffield making up the rest of the Top 5.
"According to their data, there are more illegal downloads in the UK still than there are legal purchases," Geoff Taylor, chief executive of The BPI, told the BBC. "[It] compares to about 240 million tracks that were sold legally. A lot of people are getting very rich from stealing other people's things. That's wrong, and we think that musicians deserve to be paid for what they do, just like everyone else."
The Top 20 most pirated albums in the UK are as follows:
01 | Ed Sheeran | + |
02 | Rizzle Kicks | Stereo Typical |
03 | Rihanna | Talk That Talk |
04 | Jessie J | Who You Are |
05 | Olly Murs | In Case You Didn't Know |
06 | Emeli Sandé | Our Version of Events |
07 | Ben Howard | Every Kingdom |
08 | Chase & Status | No More Idols |
09 | Chris Brown | F.A.M.E |
10 | Gotye | Making Mirrors |
11 | Noel Gallagher’a High Flying Birds | Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds |
12 | Drake | Take Care |
13 | Adele | 21 |
14 | Kanye West | Watch The Throne |
15 | Beyonce | 4 |
16 | Snow Patrol | Fallen Empires |
17 | The Script | Science & Faith |
18 | James Morrison | The Awakening |
19 | JLS | Jukebox |
20 | Florence And The Machine | Ceremonials |
According to the Official Charts Company’s sales data, the UK’s Top 20 biggest selling digital albums (ie; legally purchased) for that same period are as follows:
01 | BORN TO DIE | LANA DEL REY |
02 | OUR VERSION OF EVENTS | EMELI SANDE |
03 | + | ED SHEERAN |
04 | 21 | ADELE |
05 | NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 81 | VARIOUS ARTISTS |
06 | MYLO XYLOTO | COLDPLAY |
07 | NOTHING BUT THE BEAT | DAVID GUETTA |
08 | NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL RUNNING | VARIOUS ARTISTS |
09 | EVERY KINGDOM | BEN HOWARD |
10 | WHO YOU ARE | JESSIE J |
11 | CEREMONIALS | FLORENCE & THE MACHINE |
12 | WATCH THE THRONE | JAY-Z & KANYE WEST |
13 | LONELY ARE THE BRAVE | MAVERICK SABRE |
14 | KEEP CALM AND RELAX | VARIOUS ARTISTS |
15 | NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS | NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS |
16 | WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM THE VACCINES | VACCINES |
17 | TALK THAT TALK | RIHANNA |
18 | MAKING MIRRORS | GOTYE |
19 | NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 80 | VARIOUS ARTISTS |
20 | EL CAMINO | BLACK KEYS |
© 2012 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
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