Ed Sheeran, Rihanna And Rizzle Kicks Among Most Illegally Downloaded Albums Of 2012

17 September 2012, 13:24 | Updated: 17 September 2012, 13:33

The 'Lego House' star's debut record '+' has topped the list for 2012 with Olly Murs, Jessie J and Chris Brown also featuring.

Ed Sheeran's debut album '+' has been announced as the most illegally downloaded record of 2012 in a new survey.

The 'Small Bump' star's album has been pirated 55,000 times a month so far this year, according to the study by MusicMetric.

Rizzle Kicks' record 'Stereo Typical' came in at number two with Rihanna's latest release 'Talk That Talk' taking the third spot.

The top ten also features Chris Brown's Grammy Award winning 'FAME', Jessie J's debut 'Who You Are' and Emeli Sande's 'Our Version Of Events'.

The new study also analysed which areas of the UK contained the most illegal downloads, which saw Manchester top the list with almost 400,000 items downloaded a month.

The UK came second in the world for most illegal downloads behind the USA with reports around 15 per cent of the UK population having downloaded illegal music this year.

You can check out the top ten of the most illegally downloaded albums in the UK for 2012 below:

• 1. Ed Sheeran - '+'
• 2. Rizzle Kicks - 'Stereo Typical'
• 3. Rihanna - 'Talk That Talk'
• 4. Jessie J - 'Who You Are'
• 5. Olly Murs - 'In Case You Didn't Know'
• 6. Emeli Sande - 'Our Version Of Events'
• 7. Ben Howard - 'Every Kingdom'
• 8. Chase & Status - 'No More Idols'
• 9. Chris Brown - 'FAME'
• 10. Gotye - 'Making Mirrors

Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran is currently working on his second studio album and is also set to feature on Taylor Swift's upcoming release 'Red'.

He recently teased a new collaboration with one of his "favourite" artists and will head back on the road in the UK for a new autumn tour next month.