Apple's iTunes 2014 winners include Ed Sheeran, Minecraft and Clash of Clans

Apple's 2014 winners include Ed Sheeran, Minecraft and Clash of Clans
Apple's best selection for 2014

Apple has announced its UK iTunes winners for the past year, with Minecraft, Ed Sheeran and Candy Crush Saga all picking up gongs.

The annual iTunes lists go a long way to showcasing just what the public is up to, polling all the data from millions of Apple devices to pick out the big winners.

According to Apple UK, it was Mojang's Minecraft: Pocket Edition that topped the paid app charts in terms of sales on both iPad and iPhone, although Candy Crush was the top grossing on phone and Clash of Clans on tablet with all those micropayments.

Don't shoot the Messenger

Facebook Messenger was the most downloaded free iPhone app, and it was Skype that bagged the iPad top ranking.

The awards for best app and best games across the two formats are chosen by Apple and it was Replay (app) and Threes! (game) that won out in iPhone with Pixelmator (app) and Monument Valley (game) that stole hearts and minds on iPad.

On the music front, Ed Sheeran's X was the top selling album, and Parrell's Happy topped the singles list.

Apple gave artist of the year to Sam Smith, album of the year to Paolo Nutini and Clean Bandit's Rather Be won best song. Royal Blood was given Best New Artist.

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.