Taylor Swift beats One Direction to world's most popular act title
Five British acts feature in the Top 10
Pop megastar Taylor Swift has beaten One Direction to the Global Recording Artist of the Year title.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) list honours the most popular artists based on physical sales, downloads and streaming worldwide across an entire calendar year.
Testament to her unrivalled popularity, Taylor topped the 2014 chart despite the fact she infamously removed all her music from streaming powerhouse Spotify.
Commenting on the move last November, Taylor said: "I'm not willing to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists and creators of this music."
Taylor’s latest record ‘1989’ has sold over 4million copies in her native America and has spawned a string of huge global anthems including ‘Blank Space’ and ‘Shake It Off’.
The Pennsylvanian songstress toppled last year’s winners One Direction who slipped to second spot on the countdown.
Proving the strength of UK music at the moment, a further four more British acts made the list – Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Pink Floyd and Sam Smith.
Representing America are the late Michael Jackson, Katy Perry and Beyoncé, while hard-rock legends AC/DC are Australia’s sole representative.
The IFPI said that if Disney’s Frozen was a music act instead of a movie/soundtrack it would have topped the 2014 countdown.
Top 10 global recording artists of 2014 are:
1. Taylor Swift 2. One Direction 3. Ed Sheeran 4. Coldplay 5. AC/DC 6. Michael Jackson 7. Pink Floyd 8. Sam Smith 9. Katy Perry 10. Beyonce