1D best-selling act worldwide in 2013--BPI

ENGLAND SWINGS: One Direction were named as Britain's “most triumphant musical export of 2013” in a BPI report released today, ensuring that British artists have now accounted for the top-selling global album in six of the last seven years. We did not know that. Amy Winehouse topped the list in 2007 with Back to Black, Coldplay in 2008 with Viva La Vida, Susan Boyle in 2009 and Adele in 2011 and 2012. The only non-Brit to attain the top spot in the past seven years was Eminem with his 2010 album Recovery. Here’s another interesting stat: One out of every eight albums sold worldwide in 2013 was by a British act—and that’s a slight dip from previous years. One more tidbit: When Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith took the top two spots in the U.S. chart earlier this summer, it was the first time a pair of Brits had done so since Eric Clapton and Sting more than two decades ago. (8/8/a)