British boy band One Direction were named the top recording artists of 2013 on Wednesday (Jan 29th). The fivesome were voted the Global Recording Artist of 2013 by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the recording industry worldwide.

One Direction
One Direction are the top recording artists of 2013

1D beat rapper Eminem and pop-star Justin Timberlake, who both finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. 

This was the first year the IFPI also including figures from streaming services such as Spotify, which boosts 24 million users, as well as CD sales and downloads. 

IFPI communications manager Alex Jacob said (via Reuters), "Streaming has become so much more mainstream within the music industry worldwide over the last couple of years we thought it was time we integrated the streams-on services such as Deezer and Spotify and YouTube as well." 

Watch one of 'Midnight Memories' lead singles, 'Story Of My Life' here

A major reason for the boy's being awarded this honor is due to the success of 'Midnight Memories', their 3rd studio album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, making them the first group in history to achieve a debuting No.1 with their first three albums. 

IFPI chief executive Frances Moore said, "Many congratulations to One Direction who topped a talented field to become the IFPI Global Recording Artists of 2013.

"This is a global IFPI award for a new era of music consumption, based on a new metric of global success. Our chart for the first time measures the popularity of artists across the many different ways in which fans choose their music."

Band mate Naill Horan also commented on the award, on behalf of the rest of the band, as he said, "Incredible news! It's great to have a chart that includes everything from iTunes and record stores, to YouTube and Spotify," in a statement. "Again a huge thank you to all of our fans for such an amazing 2013."

One Direction
One Direction will hope 2014 is as equally as successful

Below are the IFPI top 10 global recording artists 2013:

1 - One Direction

2 - Eminem

3 - Justin Timberlake

4 - Bruno Mars

5 - Katy Perry

6 - Pink

7 - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

8 - Rihanna

9 - Michael Buble

10 - Daft Punk