BOWIE’S STILL DEAD GOOD His music beats living stars

ROCK star David Bowie is still selling more music than today’s pop stars more than a year after his death.

He was yesterday named one of the world’s best-selling artists since his death last year – beating British musicians like Adele and Coldplay.

New figures show Bowie became the secondmost popular musician of 2016 following his death in January last year, while his final album Blackstar was named fifth best-selling record worldwide.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry numbers, released this week, named Canadian rapper Drake the most popular singer overall after the release of his hit track One Dance and smash album View.

Coldplay came third, followed by Adele in fourth position and Justin Bieber in fifth.

Prince, who died a year ago, also made the list, coming in ninth place between Rihanna and The Weeknd.

Beyonce’s Lemonade was top of the global best-selling albums list, closely followed by Adele, who enjoyed a second year of success with her 2015 record 25.

Last year saw a number of significant deaths in the world of music, including Leonard Cohen and George Michael as well as the Ziggy Stardust star.

Frances Moore, IFPI’s chief executive, said: “There is no doubt about people’s tendency to buy memorabilia after an BEATEN INTO FOURTH: Brit singer Adele artist has passed away.

“There is a degree of memento, but of course Bowie’s musical legacy is different because he also released a new album at the time of his death.”

Digital sales made up half of overall music revenue for last year – a 5% increase on the previous year’s figure.