A glimpse at piracy in the UK and beyond
Data collected by monitoring firm Musicmetric, and seen exclusively by the BBC, has given some insight into patterns of illegal downloading across the UK.
Using this tool, you can find out who, according to the research, is the most pirated artist near you - as well as learn which other acts are particularly popular nearby.
Continue reading the main storyWho is the most illegally shared artist near you?
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Illegal file sharing in the UK
The most illegally shared artist near you is
shared on average times per month in
People here also share a lot compared to the UK average
Piracy ranking (shares per person)
- 1. Manchester
- 2. Nottingham
- 3. Southampton
- 4. Liverpool
- 5. Sheffield
- 6. Leicester
- 7. Stoke-on-Trent
- 8. Glasgow
- 9. Cardiff
- 10. Leeds
See below for global ranking
Top 3 illegal shares in the UK
1 | ![]() |
Ed Sheeran + 55,512 shares on average per month |
2 | ![]() |
Rihanna Talk That Talk 35,838 shares on average per month |
3 | ![]() |
Frank Ocean Channel ORANGE 28,239 shares on average per month |
*Not your area? The search will show results for the closest town or city to you in the list of data collected by Musicmetric.
All of the data used has been released under a creative commons licence and can be downloaded here.
Top 20 sharing countriesThe United States tops the bill as the country with the most illegal shares, with the UK in second position.
Here we show the top 20 downloading countries, the total number of torrent downloads over the past six months and the most popular shared artist in each country.
Continue reading the main story-
1
United States
96,868,398 total shares
Most popular artist
Drake
-
2
United Kingdom
43,314,568 total shares
Most popular artist
Ed Sheeran
-
3
Italy
33,226,258 total shares
Most popular artist
Laura Pausini
-
4
Canada
23,953,053 total shares
Most popular artist
Kanye West
-
5
Brazil
19,677,596 total shares
Most popular artist
Billy Van*
-
6
Australia
19,104,047 total shares
Most popular artist
Hilltop Hoods
-
7
Spain
10,306,829 total shares
Most popular artist
Pablo Alboran
-
8
India
8,965,271 total shares
Most popular artist
Billy Van
-
9
France
8,400,869 total shares
Most popular artist
Sexion d'assaut
-
10
Philippines
8,351,260 total shares
Most popular artist
Maroon 5
-
11
Mexico
7,522,865 total shares
Most popular artist
Jesse y Joy
-
12
Netherlands
6,671,428 total shares
Most popular artist
Birdy
-
13
Portugal
5,597,198 total shares
Most popular artist
Pablo Alboran
-
14
Poland
5,059,204 total shares
Most popular artist
Gotye
-
15
Greece
4,919,567 total shares
Most popular artist
Billy Van
-
16
Hungary
4,470,948 total shares
Most popular artist
Pitbull
-
17
Chile
4,210,641 total shares
Most popular artist
Los Bunkers
-
18
Romania
4,152,252 total shares
Most popular artist
Billy Van
-
19
Sweden
4,074,594 total shares
Most popular artist
Laleh
-
20
Belgium
3,880,900 total shares
Most popular artist
Gotye
*Billy Van allows album to be downloaded by torrent, encouraging donations from fans
Photos: Getty Images, AFP, AP, Sargent House, Chris Stanford Warner Bros Records, Dog Day Press, PA, Reuters, Random Records, The Collective, Billy Van.
Data provider: Musicmetric
Produced by: Dominic Bailey, Harjit Kaura, Steven Connor, Marina Shchukina
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