Say whatever you want about One Direction, but the band formed on 2010's X Factor have claimed the world's best selling album, boosting British album sales internationally with home-grown artists accounting for one in eight album sales worldwide.
The group's third album Midnight Memories sold over four million copies in just six weeks last year making it the biggest selling album of 2013 marking the sixth year in the last seven that a British artist has topped the global sales chart.
Midnight Memories became the fastest selling album of 2013 in the UK, shifting a whopping 237,000 copies in its first week alone. Over in the States the record sold 546,000 copies in the same week becoming the boy's third consecutive number one on the US Billboard Top 200 going on to sell over a million albums in just five weeks.
One Direction boost British album sales (Facebook/One Direction)
Robbie Williams' claimed the 18th biggest selling album of 2013 with his Swing When You're Winning collection while David Bowie's surprising comeback, The Next Day, places 35th after hitting the number one spot on both sides of the Atlantic last year.
Adele's 21 and Mumford and Sons' Babel have continued to score enormous sales over the years while new albums from Coldplay and Ed Sheeran look set to make 2014 another roaring success in music for the UK. And we've still got another One Direction album to come before Christmas!
Adele's 21 continues to notch up huge sales (Facebook/Adele)
Gennaro Castldo, spokesman for the BPI says: "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.
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"Aside from the obvious contribution to British exports, this success underlines the vital role our music and artists play in promoting the appeal of British culture around the world."
Last year, British artists made up 52% of album sales domestically.
Unsurprisingly, American artists continue to dominate accounting for a third of all album sold across the world.
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