Ireland's biggest Irish artist albums of 2018 so far

It's been a strong year for Irish music – check out the acts leading the way so far in 2018.

2018 has been a strong year for Irish music, with five albums by Irish acts featuring in the country’s overall Official Top 40 biggest albums of the year to date.

Out in front so far is Picture This, the self-titled debut from the Co. Kildare band, which went straight in at Number 1 upon release in August 2017.

Picture This was recorded at Nashville’s famous Blackbird Studios, and spawned two Top 50 hits on the Official Irish Singles Chart, Never Change and Addicted To You. The album’s total combined sales to date stand at 45,000.

Legendary Irish folk singer Christy Moore is second with On The Road, his 28th solo studio album, with his career retrospective The Christy Moore Collection is ninth biggest album of the year.

In third, One Direction singer Niall Horan with his solo debut Flicker. The collection topped the Official Irish Albums Chart last October and was a huge success internationally, reaching Number 1 on America’s Billboard 200.

The Cranberries’ retrospective Dreams: The Collection is fourth. The greatest hits album re-entered the chart at 3 in January following the untimely death of the band’s singer Dolores O’Riordan.

Completing the Top 5 are Northern Irish band Snow Patrol with Wildness, their first studio album in seven years, while indie rockers The Academic finish just outside with debut collection Tales From The Backseat, which hit Number 1 in January.

Ireland's Official Top 10 biggest Irish artist albums of 2018 so far

	TITLE	ARTIST
1	PICTURE THIS	PICTURE THIS
2	ON THE ROAD	CHRISTY MOORE
3	FLICKER	NIALL HORAN
4	DREAMS - THE COLLECTION	CRANBERRIES
5	WILDNESS	SNOW PATROL
6	TALES FROM THE BACKSEAT	THE ACADEMIC
7	HOZIER	HOZIER
8	IN A PERFECT WORLD	KODALINE
9	BITTER PILL	GAVIN JAMES
10	THE CHRISTY MOORE COLLECTION	CHRISTY MOORE