2018 was the year movie cast recordings took over, with three huge Number 1 soundtracks dominating Ireland's Top 40 biggest albums of 2018.

The Greatest Showman's collection featuring songs by the cast, including Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and Keala Settle, tops the end of year chart with 64,400 combined sales. The album, which logged  16 weeks at Number 1 over the course of the year, performed well across all formats – it’s the year’s biggest across physical, download and streaming formats.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born is 2018's runner-up, ending the year with 37,000 combined sales. The album has so far notched up 11 weeks at Number 1, first hitting the top spot in October.

Elsewhere in the Top 5, 2017's biggest album Ed Sheeran's ÷ lands at Number 3, George Ezra's Number 2-peaking Staying at Tamara's is at Number 4, and US rapper Post Malone rounds off the Top 5 with his chart-topping record Beerbongs & Bentleys.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again's cast recording impacts at 6, while Picture This claim the biggest album by an Irish act; their self-titled debut released in 2017 appears at 7.

Drake's Scorpion – a Number 1 in July - is at 8, and Anne-Marie claims the biggest debut album released in 2018 with Speak Your Mind, just outside the Top 10 at 11.

More Irish acts in the year-end Top 40 include Christy Moore's On The Road (14), Dreams: The Collection from The Cranberries (21), Niall Horan’s debut Flicker (22), and Politics of Living, the 2018 Number 1 from Kodaline (31).

The Official Irish Top 40 biggest albums of 2018

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