16 December 2012
Newsdesk
Adele's Grammy-winning album 21 has been named the top-selling record on iTunes in the US this year.
The 24-year-old just beat Taylor Swift's album Red, followed by fellow Brits Mumford & Sons' Babel.
British boy band One Direction's debut album Up All Night and current Grammy nominees fun.'s debut Some Nights completed the five biggest sellers.
Adele's second album was also the fourth best seller in the UK iTunes chart of the year, with Emeli Sande's Our Version of Events taking top spot.
Following its release in February 2011, 21 performed strongly in the US music charts after Adele's Grammy-sweeping win in six categories in February this year.
Adele also landed Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nominations for her James Bond theme song Skyfall this week, becoming a strong contender in the best song category for Hollywood's awards season.
The top-selling iTunes track in the US for 2012 was Call Me Maybe, by Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen.
Post-apocalyptic action film The Hunger Games was the best-selling movie while the second season of aristocratic drama Downton Abbey, another Hollywood awards favourite, was iTunes' top-selling television series.
iTunes did not reveal actual sales or download figures.
