Sam Smith, One Direction and Ed Sheeran top British album sales in US
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Sam Smith third overall best-selling artist in the US and top British artist in the US
Sam Smith tops a list of best-selling UK albums in the US.
One Direction and Ed Sheeran have also helped to boost British record sales across the Atlantic.
According to the BPI, external, one in eight albums sold in America last year was by a British artist.
Sam Smith claimed a hat-trick of the best-selling album (In the Lonely Hour), single and most streamed track (Stay With Me) by a British artist in the US in 2014.
In 2013, there weren't any British artists in the US best-selling list.
Ed Sheeran was 11th best-selling artist in the US and third best UK artist in the US
Fast forward a year, Sam Smith's debut album ranked third and One Direction's Four was in ninth place in overall sales in the US.
The Brit Award winners were not the only artists to impress music fans over there - together with Ed Sheeran and Coldplay, the new albums by these four acts accounted for more than a fifth (21%) of all UK albums sales in the US.
Figures show sales across all four titles total more than 3.5 million.
Despite being released four years ago, Adele's 21 is still in the top 10 UK best-selling albums in the US
Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, Bastille, Little Mix, The 1975 and alt-J also contributed to the success of UK artists' sales in the US.
A number of newer artists also broke through, including The 1975, Disclosure, FKA Twigs, London Grammar and Londoner Jasmine Thompson, whose self-released debut album Bundle of Tantrums performed well helped by the support of her one million plus YouTube subscribers.
Four years after its release, Adele's 21 still features in the top 10 best-selling UK albums in the US market and remained within the top 100 overall albums in the US.
Commenting on the continued success of British music, BPI and Brit Awards chief executive, Geoff Taylor, said: "British artists well and truly flew the flag in the world's biggest and most competitive music market last year.
"The sensational achievements of Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, One Direction and the entire class of 2014 demonstrate once again that the UK's music industry is a world-beater."
Top 10 UK artist albums in US in 2014
1. Sam Smith - In The Lonely Hour (third overall in America)
2. One Direction - Four (9)
3. Ed Sheeran - X (11)
4. Coldplay - Ghost Stories (13)
5. Arctic Monkeys - AM (37)
6. Bastille - Bad Blood (40)
7. AC/DC - Rock or Bust (41) Counted as UK artist because of singer Brian Johnson
8. One Direction - Midnight Memories (46)
9. Pink Floyd - The Endless River (47)
10. Adele - 21 (99)
Source: Billboard/Nielsen Music
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