Adele has best-selling album as global music revenue rises

Adele’s “25” is world’s best-selling album in 2015. INQUIRER file

LONDON— Adele had the world’s best-selling album last year, a global smash that helped music revenues record their first significant growth in almost two decades.

The British singer’s “25” sold 17.4 million copies — five times more than the runner up, Ed Sheeran’s “X,” which sold 3.5 million copies.

Figures released Tuesday by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry show global revenues from recorded music rose 3.2 percent in 2015 from the year before, as an industry decimated by the advent of the digital age returned to growth.

The group says the rise, to $15 billion, marks “the industry’s first significant year-on-year growth in nearly two decades.”

Chief executive Frances Moore said the figures “reflect an industry that has adapted to the digital age and emerged stronger and smarter.” TVJ