More about: Bruno Mars

Bruno Mars, Rihanna and Daft Punk have been revealed as the most pirated music stars of 2013, with millions of illegal downloads reported over the past 12 months.

The Top 20 artists who had music downloaded illegally through BitTorrent was topped by Bruno Mars, who had 5,783,556 tracks pirated, while Rihanna followed closely behind with 5,414,166 illegal downloads.

Aside from the huge numbers on the countdown, it is also notable what terrible taste in music illegal downloaders have, with Flo Rida, Maroon 5 and Pitbull all featuring in the most pirated.

"Of course we don’t condone piracy, but what is clear is that Bit Torrent data offers a granular insight into a band’s fan engagement," says Gregory Mead of Musicmetric of the chart. "You can see where people live and if you know where your fans are, you can plan a tour and engage with them."

Iron Maiden have previously used illegal download data to plan their live shows, the first major band to turn music piracy to their advantage.

Check out the most pirated artists of 2013 below.

1. Bruno Mars – 5,783,556
2. Rihanna – 5,414,166
3. Daft Punk – 4,212,361
4. Justin Timberlake – 3,930,185
5. Flo Rida – 3,470,825
6. Kanye West – 3,199,969
7. Eminem – 3,176,122
8. Jay Z – 3,171,358
9. Drake – 3,139,408
10. Pitbull – 3,138,308
11. One Direction – 2,920,445
12. Maroon 5 – 2,857,652
13. Zedd – 2,828,764
14. Nicki Minaj – 2,681,177
15. Adele – 2,594,275
16. Avicii – 2,562,151
17. David Guetta – 2,441,235
18. Linkin Park – 2,352,385
19. Pharrell Williams – 2,336,996
20. Katy Perry – 2,318,740

Below: the ten biggest earning rappers of 2013 - and yes, Pitbull is one of them

More about: Bruno Mars