Adele and Ed Sheeran help put Britain on top of the world: Stars from UK make up half of most popular chart acts on the planet
- Her place at the top of chart was driven by the October release of 'Hello'
- Song was number one in more than 30 countries including US, Germany
- British acts in top ten included Ed Sheeran, One Direction and Sam Smith
- List compiled by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry
Adele has topped another chart - a top 10 of the most popular acts in the world.
The Hello singer has been named as the most popular recording artist across the globe in 2015, according to an international music trade body.
British acts make up half of the top 10 artists on the list compiled by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
Adele, 27, is the third recipient of the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the year award - an accolade that reflects an artist's worldwide popularity across physical formats, downloads and streams.
Adele (pictured) has topped another chart - a top 10 of the most popular acts in the world
Her place at the top of the chart was driven by the October release and subsequent global success of lead single Hello from the album.
The track was number one in more than 30 countries worldwide, including the US, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and the UK.
Adele's album 25 followed in November and has notched up worldwide sales of over 15 million.
Other acts in the top 10 include Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Coldplay and Sam Smith.
Sheeran took second place, one up from the third spot he occupied on the 2014 ranking.
The singer, who released his second studio album x in June 2014, sold out Wembley stadium on three consecutive nights last summer.
He also kept a high profile in 2015 due to a busy schedule of touring, award wins and personal appearances, while launching his own record label, Gingerbread Man Records, an imprint of Atlantic Records UK.
Other British acts in the top 10 include Ed Sheeran (pictured), One Direction, Coldplay and Sam Smith
In February last year he received the award for British Male Solo Artist and the top accolade for British Album of the Year for x at the 2015 Brit Awards, and in May picked up an Ivor Novello Award for songwriter of the year.
In third place this year was Taylor Swift, who was the recipient of the 2014 IFPI Global Recording Artist award.
Swift had a busy year with her October 2014 release 1989 continuing to dominate the worldwide charts in 2015 after notching up 1.3 million sales in the first week of release in the US alone, and she also embarked on the 85-date 1989 world tour.
Justin Bieber took the fourth spot and One Direction (recipients of the 2013 Global Recording Artist award) were placed fifth.
Coldplay are at six, Maroon 5 at seven, Sam Smith is at eight, Drake is at nine, and The Weeknd at 10.
IFPI's Global Recording Artist award and top 10 chart is the only ranking to accurately capture the popularity of artists across streaming channels, alongside digital and physical album and singles sales on a global basis.
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