Adele was only around for two months in 2015, but she has absolutely dominated the end of the year conversation. Having been named the highest selling artist in just about every country, she unsurprisingly was the most popular artist in the world last year. The IFPI, the global body representing the recording industry has named the "When We Were Young" singer their global artist of the year, followed by Ed Sheeran at No. 2, and Taylor Swift at No. 3.
"I'm delighted to be able to honor Adele as the most popular global recording artist of 2015. Her album 25 has been the runaway global sensation of the year, breaking records across the world and reaching a vast audience of fans," says IFPI chief executive Frances Moore in a statement. "All of the artists in our top 10 chart have achieved incredible success - and Adele's achievement is simply phenomenal."
Adele's 25 has racked up over 15 million worldwide sales and counting following its November release date. It has passed the 8 million mark in the United States. This was driven in part to the October release of her lead single "Hello," which went to No. 1 in over 30 countries and became the fastest song to 1 billion views on Vevo.
She takes over the top spot from two other previous winners still in the top five, Taylor Swift, who was No. 1 in 2014 and One Direction, who held the top spot in 2013.
See the rest of the top 10 below, which includes other dominant artists like Drake, Coldplay and Justin Bieber.
IFPI's Top 10 Global Recording Artists of 2015
1. Adele
2. Ed Sheeran
3. Taylor Swift
4. Justin Bieber
5. One Direction
6. Coldplay
7. Maroon 5
8. Sam Smith
9. Drake
10. The Weeknd
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