Ireland's official biggest singles of 2021 revealed

Ed Sheeran has claimed the biggest single in Ireland of 2021 with his blockbuster hit Bad Habits.

New Official Charts and IRMA (Irish Recorded Music Association) data shows that Ireland's singles has enjoyed 12 months of continued year-on-year growth, the Official Charts can reveal today.

Ireland’s singles sector has enjoyed 15.5% year-on-year growth in 2021 to 81.2 million chart sales across all formats, largely driven by a 17% rise in premium audio streaming. 

This includes paying for such premium subscription audio streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Youtube Music and more.

MORE: Ireland's biggest albums of 2021

Ed Sheeran's Bad Habits is officially the biggest single released in Ireland in 2021. With 11 weeks in total. With 11 weeks at the top of the Irish Singles Chart, as well as 140,000 combines chart sales and 18.8 million streams, Bad Habits sees off competition from Olivia Rodrigo's Drivers License and Good 4 U to claim the top spot.

Olivia takes second and third place respectively with her emotional debut single and raucous, pop-punk third single from Sour. Drivers License earned 138,000 chart sales, while Good 4 U topped the Irish Singles Chart for six weeks. Two more hits from Sour - Deja Vu (20) and Traitor (30) - also earn spots in the Top 50.

Dermot Kennedy continued to enjoy huge success in 2021 – his single Giants claims the top homegrown track at 11, while his Meduza collaboration Paradise is at 14, Better Days places at 33.

IRMA spokesperson, Willie Kavanagh comments:

“During challenging times for many businesses and sectors, we’re delighted to see resilience and growth in the Irish music market.

“While premium audio has powered the expansion of the singles landscape, the continued adoption and collectability of vinyl means the format now makes up one tenth of album consumption, and has played an important role in driving up the value of Ireland’s albums market by over a third this year.
There’s never been more ways for Irish music fans to access their favourite music, and these robust market numbers for 2021 demonstrate the ability of both digital and physical formats to coexist and thrive.”

“A special mention also to Inhaler for an outstanding breakthrough year, bringing home the biggest Irish debut album of the year, as well as becoming the first homegrown debut act to top the UK chart in over a decade too. Congratulations!”

MORE: The UK's biggest singles of 2021

Ireland's Top 10 biggest songs of 2021

© 2022, IRMA / Official Charts Company