British music smashing global album sales

One Direction's Four and Ed Sheeran's X were the biggest British albums globally in 2014

One Direction, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay helped UK artists account for one in seven of the albums sold globally during 2014.

The figures have been put together by the BPI, the group which represents the UK's record labels and recorded music.

British music now makes up 13.7% of worldwide sales.

It's the highest British share since the BPI began recording those figures in 2000.

Sales of albums by British artists rose in Canada, Australia, Italy and Sweden, as well as the US.

Albums from Sam Smith and Pink Floyd also made the top ten list of the world's biggest-sellers of 2014.

Ed Sheeran's X was one of the biggest selling albums of 2014 globally

According to the BPI's Music Market 2015 report, Taylor Swift topped the list of global recording artists, after shifting six million copies of her album 1989.

Taylor has sold six million copies of her album 1989

The figures, which take into account album sales, track sales and streams, put One Direction in second place and Sheeran in third.

The BPI also found that streaming had doubled in the UK during 2014.

Other British artists making a global impact in 2014 include London Grammar in France and Australia, James Blunt in Germany, Paloma Faith in Australia and Arctic Monkeys in countries including the US.

BPI and Brit Awards chief executive, Geoff Taylor, said the figures showed the UK is a "creative powerhouse".

"Music is a tremendous exports success story for the UK - all around the world, fans are listening to the records we produce, supporting not only our balance of trade but a positive image for Britain overseas," he said.

Coldplay's album Ghost Stories sold 3.7 million copies worldwide in 2014