Australians are world’s biggest Torrent users

The world’s biggest downloaders of BitTorrent files have been revealed – with the US, UK and Italy the worst offenders in terms of sheer volume.

Musicmetric’s first ever Digital Music Index looks at the volume of file-sharing on the BitTorrent portal across the world in the first six months of 2012.

The US leads the way with little under 100 million separate downloads in the period. Because many of these downloads would have been made up of multiple songs, it is estimated that a whopping 775 million separate tracks were downloaded in the US in the six months.

However, when the statistics are looked at in terms of downloads per capita – i.e the average number of downloads per head – Australia is No.1 in the world, with more than 19 million downloads shared amongst a population of 21 million people.

Oz is ahead of Ireland (3.4m downloads), Slovenia (1.4m), Canada (23m) and the UK (43m) in the per capita list, making its citizens the heaviest illegal downloaders in the world.

Rihanna’s Talk That Talk was the world’s most-pirated album on BitTorrent in the six-month period.

Matt Mason, executive director at BitTorrent said: “Musicmetric’s findings offer a fascinating insight into the realities of the market which are essential if we want to see the music industry get back to its peak. These figures show for the first time that blocking the Pirate Bay had zero effect on piracy.

“It’s short-sighted to think that we can simply tell people to stop and they will, but great data like this will help companies build better services and platforms that empower artists to distribute their work into the BitTorrent ecosystem in ways that make sense for them,.

“Consumers have used the BitTorrent protocol for over decade because it’s the best way to move large files. That’s true for musicians too. The challenge is building the right business models on top of the technology, which is something we’re very committed to.”

Top 50 countries for total BitTorrent downloads during first half of 2012 from Jan to June, ranked by total volume:

Country Name Total downloadsApprox Songs+ Population

1

United States

96,681,133

775,382,687

313,232,044

2

United Kingdom

43,263,582

346,973,928

62,698,362

3

Italy

33,158,943

265,934,723

61,016,804

4

Canada

23,959,924

192,158,590

34,030,586

5

Brazil

19,724,522

158,190,666

194,037,075

6

Australia

19,232,252

154,242,661

21,766,711

7

Spain

10,303,633

82,635,137

46,754,784

8

India

8,964,360

71,894,167

1,189,172,906

9

France

8,398,550

67,356,371

65,102,719

10

Philippines

8,380,208

67,209,268

101,833,938

11

Mexico

7,522,056

60,326,889

115,017,631

12

Netherlands

6,671,624

53,506,424

16,847,007

13

Portugal

5,607,910

44,975,438

10,760,305

14

Poland

5,052,277

40,519,262

38,441,588

15

Greece

4,933,478

39,566,494

10,760,136

16

Hungary

4,460,855

35,776,057

97,976,062

17

Chile

4,213,851

33,795,085

16,888,760

18

Romania

4,155,863

33,330,021

21,904,551

19

Sweden

4,083,279

32,747,898

9,088,728

20

Belgium

3,878,173

31,102,947

10,431,477

21

Ireland

3,434,737

27,546,591

4,670,976

22

Germany

3,281,449

26,317,221

81,471,834

23

Israel

2,874,749

23,055,487

7,473,052

24

Russia

2,831,255

22,706,665

138,739,892

25

Norway

2,827,508

22,676,614

4,691,849

26

Argentina

2,802,927

22,479,475

41,769,726

27

Thailand

2,640,961

21,180,507

66,720,153

28

Turkey

2,568,942

20,602,915

78,785,548

29

Algeria

2,339,244

18,760,737

34,586,184

30

Croatia

2,305,095

18,486,862

4,483,804

31

United Arab Emirates

1,986,051

15,928,129

8,264,070

32

Singapore

1,952,233

15,656,909

4,740,737

33

South Africa

1,854,976

14,876,908

49,004,031

34

Finland

1,702,397

13,653,224

5,259,250

35

Malaysia

1,660,040

13,313,521

28,728,607

36

South Korea

1,641,653

13,166,057

48,754,657

37

Saudi Arabia

1,546,147

12,400,099

26,161,703

38

Morocco

1,524,650

12,227,693

31,968,361

39

Switzerland

1,476,702

11,843,150

7,639,961

40

Slovenia

1,416,433

11,359,793

2,000,092

41

Japan

1,373,101

11,012,270

126,475,664

42

Austria

1,338,287

10,733,062

8,217,280

43

Indonesia

1,313,495

10,534,230

245,613,043

44

Serbia

1,223,308

9,810,930

7,310,555

45

Egypt

1,210,463

9,707,913

82,079,636

46

Colombia

1,197,248

9,601,929

44,725,543

47

Pakistan

1,083,145

8,686,823

187,342,721

48

China

1,048,722

8,410,750

1,336,718,015

49

New Zealand

984,079

7,892,314

4,290,347

50

Puerto Rico

846,877

6,791,954

3,989,13

Top 60 countries ranked by total unique downloads during the first half of 2012:

Worldwide

Unique downloads

Percentage

1

United States

18,690,819

16.9

2

United Kingdom

9,193,593

8.3

3

Italy

8,281,086

7.5

4

Brazil

7,096,462

6.4

5

Australia

4,386,232

4.0

6

Canada

4,184,900

3.8

7

India

4,003,870

3.6

8

Spain

3,568,069

3.2

9

France

3,539,075

3.2

10

Mexico

2,287,113

2.1

11

Poland

2,064,847

1.9

12

Greece

1,852,284

1.7

13

Russia

1,771,740

1.6

14

Turkey

1,763,755

1.6

15

Portugal

1,718,844

1.6

16

Sweden

1,508,076

1.4

17

Germany

1,475,373

1.3

18

Netherlands

1,413,420

1.3

19

Chile

1,367,972

1.2

20

Belgium

1,308,089

1.2

21

Argentina

1,283,110

1.2

22

Saudi Arabia

1,121,590

1.0

23

Romania

1,111,064

1.0

24

Hungary

1,055,290

1.0

25

Philippines

1,003,416

0.9

26

Thailand

984,806

0.9

27

South Korea

932,611

0.8

28

Israel

867,354

0.8

29

Malaysia

832,647

0.8

30

Norway

808,058

0.7

31

Croatia

801,748

0.7

32

Ireland

748,910

0.7

33

Pakistan

735,284

0.7

34

China

714,208

0.6

35

South Africa

681,125

0.6

36

Finland

675,865

0.6

37

United Arab Emirates

624,319

0.6

38

Serbia

619,620

0.6

39

Algeria

573,565

0.5

40

Egypt

558,446

0.5

41

Colombia

519,842

0.5

42

Singapore

509,200

0.5

43

Japan

507,323

0.5

44

Austria

471,310

0.4

45

Switzerland

464,402

0.4

46

Ukraine

442,792

0.4

47

Morocco

421,720

0.4

48

Indonesia

413,028

0.4

49

Taiwan

382,666

0.3

50

Iran

337,761

0.3

51

Denmark

333,585

0.3

52

New Zealand

333,430

0.3

53

Vietnam

332,602

0.3

54

Slovenia

315,150

0.3

55

Peru

245,692

0.2

56

Tunisia

242,654

0.2

57

Venezuela

240,927

0.2

58

Hong Kong

232,061

0.2

59

Slovakia

205,054

0.2

60

Bulgaria

204,621

0.2

Top 50 countries for total BitTorrent downloads during first half of 2012 per capita:

Country Name Total downloadsApprox Songs+Population

1

Australia

19,232,252

154,242,661

21,766,711

2

Ireland

3,434,737

27,546,591

4,670,976

3

Slovenia

1,416,433

11,359,793

2,000,092

4

Canada

23,959,924

192,158,590

34,030,586

5

United Kingdom

43,263,582

346,973,928

62,698,362

6

Norway

2,827,508

22,676,614

4,691,849

7

Italy

33,158,943

265,934,723

61,016,804

8

Portugal

5,607,910

44,975,438

10,760,305

9

Croatia

2,305,095

18,486,862

4,483,804

10

Greece

4,933,478

39,566,494

10,760,136

11

Sweden

4,083,279

32,747,898

9,088,728

12

Singapore

1,952,233

15,656,909

4,740,737

13

Netherlands

6,671,624

53,506,424

16,847,007

14

Israel

2,874,749

23,055,487

7,473,052

15

Belgium

3,878,173

31,102,947

10,431,477

16

Finland

1,702,397

13,653,224

5,259,250

17

United States

96,681,133

775,382,687

313,232,044

18

Chile

4,213,851

33,795,085

16,888,760

19

United Arab Emirates

1,986,051

15,928,129

8,264,070

20

New Zealand

984,079

7,892,314

4,290,347

21

Spain

10,303,633

82,635,137

46,754,784

22

Puerto Rico

846,877

6,791,954

3,989,133

23

Switzerland

1,476,702

11,843,150

7,639,961

24

Romania

4,155,863

33,330,021

21,904,551

25

Serbia

1,223,308

9,810,930

7,310,555

26

Austria

1,338,287

10,733,062

8,217,280

27

Poland

5,052,277

40,519,262

38,441,588

28

France

8,398,550

67,356,371

65,102,719

29

Brazil

19,724,522

158,190,666

194,037,075

30

Philippines

8,380,208

67,209,268

101,833,938

31

Algeria

2,339,244

18,760,737

34,586,184

32

Argentina

2,802,927

22,479,475

41,769,726

33

Mexico

7,522,056

60,326,889

115,017,631

34

Saudi Arabia

1,546,147

12,400,099

26,161,703

35

Malaysia

1,660,040

13,313,521

28,728,607

36

Morocco

1,524,650

12,227,693

31,968,361

37

Hungary

4,460,855

35,776,057

97,976,062

38

Germany

3,281,449

26,317,221

81,471,834

39

Thailand

2,640,961

21,180,507

66,720,153

40

South Africa

1,854,976

14,876,908

49,004,031

41

South Korea

1,641,653

13,166,057

48,754,657

42

Turkey

2,568,942

20,602,915

78,785,548

43

Colombia

1,197,248

9,601,929

44,725,543

44

Russia

2,831,255

22,706,665

138,739,892

45

Egypt

1,210,463

9,707,913

82,079,636

46

Japan

1,373,101

11,012,270

126,475,664

47

India

8,964,360

71,894,167

1,189,172,906

48

Pakistan

1,083,145

8,686,823

187,342,721

49

Indonesia

1,313,495

10,534,230

245,613,043

50

China

1,048,722

8,410,750

1,336,718,015

Music Business Worldwide

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