Ireland sees 17% increase in premium streaming in 2021 with the singles sector enjoying 15.5% year on year growth to 81.2 million chart sales across all formats according to IRMA (Irish Recorded Music Association) and the Official Charts Company. Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habits is officially the biggest single released in Ireland in 2021 with 11 weeks at the top of the Irish Singles Chart, as well as 140,000 combined chart sales and 18.8 million streams. Bad Habits sees off competition from Olivia Rodrigo’s Driver’s License and Good 4 U which took second and third place respectively.
Ireland’s Top 50 singles of 2021chart can be found here.
The albums sector has grown 11% to 4.16 million combined units across all formats, including impressive year-on-year growth of vinyl album sales – up 38% compared to 2020. Vinyl accounted for nearly one tenth of the Irish albums market in 2021 (9.8%) with 407,000 vinyl records sold, up from 309,000 in 2020 and 218,000 in 2019. Resurgence of the vinyl format has helped power growth of 35% in the overall value of Ireland’s albums market to €18.477m, up from €13.676m in 2020. The biggest new vinyl release was 30 by Adele, with the top seller overall being Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 classic Rumours.
This year’s global breakthrough artist Olivia Rodrigo dominated both the Irish Singles and Albums Charts in 2021, and the US star caps off an incredible year as her Number 1 debut album Sour finishes at the top of the end-of-year Irish Albums Chart Top 50.
Ireland’s Top 50 albums of 2021 chart can be found here.
IRMA spokesperson, Willie Kavanagh said, “During challenging times for many businesses and sectors, we’re delighted to see resilience and growth in the Irish music market. While premium audio has powered the expansion of the singles landscape, the continued adoption and collectability of vinyl means the format now makes up one tenth of album consumption, and has played an important role in driving up the value of Ireland’s albums market by over a third this year.”
