For the first time in the UK music charts, British artists have completely dominated the top ten best-selling album chart.
Ed Sheeran was crowned top of the 2014’s album chart with his second album X, selling over 1.7 million copies. Even with their vast array of fangirls, One Direction could not crush Ed’s ascending success to worldwide fame as they came in at a surprisingly low 7th place.
Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour, was the first album ever to shift 1 million copies in the UK and the US and was also nominated for six Grammy Awards.
Other top ten spaces have been filled with the swinging pop sounds of Olly Murs, George Ezra and Paloma Faith.
It is somewhat surprising that music behemoths such as Taylor Swift and Beyonce did not reach the top ten since they have had a lot of success and exposure in the UK music industry in the last year.
The BBC Music Sound of 2015 has always led the way for upcoming talent with previous list toppers including the likes of Adele, Jessie J and Ellie Goulding.
2015 saw synth-pop londoners, Years & Years top the list of upcoming artists. The trio are currently working on their debut album.
Front man Olly Alexander told The Guardian they try not to compare themselves to previous list toppers.
“It’s probably not a good idea to spend too much time thinking whether we will have the same success as those artists.
“It’s better to keep your head down and try and focus on making the best music you can.”
With anticipation building over the release of Adele’s third album as well as more music from Ellie Goulding and Emeli Sande to look forward to, 2015 could not only be another year of British music, but the year fo female artists.
After the astonishing amount of success from British artists last year, 2015 surely can only hold good things?
With respected artists like Adele and Sam Smith are putting British music on the map once again I’m feeling optimistic that this decade of music won’t be remembered for its boyband clusters and unimaginative club anthems.
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