Ireland's official biggest singles of 2021 revealed

Ireland’s singles sector has enjoyed 15.5% year-on-year growth in 2021.
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Ed Sheeran has claimed the biggest single in Ireland of 2021 with his blockbuster hit Bad Habits.

New Official Charts and IRMA (Irish Recorded Music Association) data shows that Ireland's singles has enjoyed 12 months of continued year-on-year growth, the Official Charts can reveal today.

Ireland’s singles sector has enjoyed 15.5% year-on-year growth in 2021 to 81.2 million chart sales across all formats, largely driven by a 17% rise in premium audio streaming. 

This includes paying for such premium subscription audio streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Youtube Music and more.

MORE: Ireland's biggest albums of 2021

Ed Sheeran's Bad Habits is officially the biggest single released in Ireland in 2021. With 11 weeks in total. With 11 weeks at the top of the Irish Singles Chart, as well as 140,000 combines chart sales and 18.8 million streams, Bad Habits sees off competition from Olivia Rodrigo's Drivers License and Good 4 U to claim the top spot.

Olivia takes second and third place respectively with her emotional debut single and raucous, pop-punk third single from Sour. Drivers License earned 138,000 chart sales, while Good 4 U topped the Irish Singles Chart for six weeks. Two more hits from Sour - Deja Vu (20) and Traitor (30) - also earn spots in the Top 50.

Dermot Kennedy continued to enjoy huge success in 2021 – his single Giants claims the top homegrown track at 11, while his Meduza collaboration Paradise is at 14, Better Days places at 33.

IRMA spokesperson, Willie Kavanagh comments:

“During challenging times for many businesses and sectors, we’re delighted to see resilience and growth in the Irish music market.

“While premium audio has powered the expansion of the singles landscape, the continued adoption and collectability of vinyl means the format now makes up one tenth of album consumption, and has played an important role in driving up the value of Ireland’s albums market by over a third this year.
There’s never been more ways for Irish music fans to access their favourite music, and these robust market numbers for 2021 demonstrate the ability of both digital and physical formats to coexist and thrive.”

“A special mention also to Inhaler for an outstanding breakthrough year, bringing home the biggest Irish debut album of the year, as well as becoming the first homegrown debut act to top the UK chart in over a decade too. Congratulations!”

MORE: The UK's biggest singles of 2021

Ireland's Top 10 biggest songs of 2021

Position Title Artist
1 BAD HABITS ED SHEERAN
2 DRIVERS LICENSE OLIVIA RODRIGO
3 GOOD 4 U OLIVIA RODRIGO
4 LEVITATING DUA LIPA
5 SAVE YOUR TEARS WEEKND
6 HEAT WAVES GLASS ANIMALS
7 STAY KID LAROI & JUSTIN BIEBER
8 MONTERO (CALL ME BY YOUR NAME) LIL NAS X
9 THE BUSINESS TIESTO
10 BED JOEL CORRY/RAYE/DAVID GUETTA
11 GIANTS DERMOT KENNEDY
12 KISS ME MORE DOJA CAT FT SZA
13 FRIDAY RITON/NIGHTCRAWLERS/MUFASA
14 PARADISE MEDUZA & DERMOT KENNEDY
15 WITHOUT YOU KID LAROI
16 HEAD & HEART JOEL CORRY FT MNEK
17 EASY ON ME ADELE
18 LITTLE BIT OF LOVE TOM GRENNAN
19 COLD HEART ELTON JOHN & DUA LIPA
20 DEJA VU OLIVIA RODRIGO
21 BLACK MAGIC JONASU
22 SHIVERS ED SHEERAN
23 PEACHES JUSTIN BIEBER/CAESAR/GIVEON
24 REMEMBER BECKY HILL & DAVID GUETTA
25 BLINDING LIGHTS WEEKND
26 BODY TION WAYNE & RUSS MILLIONS
27 GOOSEBUMPS TRAVIS SCOTT & HVME
28 YOUR LOVE (9PM) ATB/TOPIC/A7S
29 HEARTBREAK ANTHEM GALANTIS/GUETTA/LITTLE MIX
30 TRAITOR OLIVIA RODRIGO
31 INDUSTRY BABY LIL NAS X & JACK HARLOW
32 GET OUT MY HEAD SHANE CODD
33 BETTER DAYS DERMOT KENNEDY
34 HAPPIER THAN EVER BILLIE EILISH
35 WELLERMAN NATHAN EVANS/220KID/BILLEN TED
36 BEGGIN MANESKIN
37 MOOD 24KGOLDN FT IANN DIOR
38 LET'S GO HOME TOGETHER ELLA HENDERSON & TOM GRENNAN
39 GOOD WITHOUT MIMI WEBB
40 ANOTHER LOVE TOM ODELL
41 DREAMS FLEETWOOD MAC
42 YOU BROKE ME FIRST TATE MCRAE
43 SOMEONE YOU LOVED LEWIS CAPALDI
44 RAPSTAR POLO G
45 OUT OUT JOEL CORRY/JAX JONES/XCX
46 I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE MANESKIN
47 OUTNUMBERED DERMOT KENNEDY
48 AFTERGLOW ED SHEERAN
49 FLY AWAY TONES & I
50 ASTRONAUT IN THE OCEAN MASKED WOLF

© 2022, IRMA / Official Charts Company

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