Adele wins IFPI's best-selling artist award for 2015

Adele's 25 had broken the records for first-week sales in both the US and UK

Adele best selling artist 2015
British singer Adele performs the song "Skyfall" from the film "Skyfall," nominated as best original song, at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 2 Reuters

Singer Adele has been declared the top selling musical artist of 2015.

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said her song Hello and the latest album 25, which was released n November, propelled the ballad singer to the top of the charts in the last year.

Adele's 25 had broken the records for first-week sales in both the US and UK.

The Grammy Award-winning singer's Hello became the first musical act to be downloaded more than a million times in the US in one week.

The global music industry body said 25 was a "runaway global sensation of 2015" and that Adele was "simply phenomenal".

25 is the sixth album to sell 8 million in the US since 2001, Nielsen Music said.

It also reveals Adele followed Celine Dion and Britney Spears as the third woman to produce two hits in the 8 million-range.

IFPI's annual award considers an artist's physical and digital sales as well as streaming.

Number two in the list for 2015 is British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, while last year's winner, US pop superstar Taylor Swift, came in at the third spot.

This article was first published on February 8, 2016