Sheeran tops 'most pirated' list

Brit award-winning star Ed Sheeran’s debut release is the year’s most pirated album so far, a report says.

Brit award-winning star Ed Sheeran’s debut release is the year’s most pirated album so far, a report stated.

His album, called '+', tops a list of recordings illegally downloaded from “torrent” websites, in which fragments of electronic files are accessed from numerous sites and then assembled.

The figures suggest that 33.5 million albums and 9.5 million singles were accessed in the UK from bit torrent websites during the first half of 2012.

That compares with 43.6 million albums sold legally – either as downloads or physically – during the same period, and 93.6 million singles.

The research by global analysts Musicmetric is claimed to be the most in-depth study of the digital music industry.

The second-most downloaded album is 'Stereo Typical' by Rizzle Kicks, while Rihanna’s 'Talk That Talk' is third.