Macklemore and Ryan Lewis most successful UK songwriters of 2013

Pharrell Williams and Bruno Mars fell just short of the US hip-hop pairing

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis shifted more than 1.6m copies of hit tracks they had penned in 2013 (Getty Images)

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were the most successful UK songwriters of 2013 with sales close to 1.6 million.

The US hip-hop duo behind hit tracks “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us” beat Oscar-nominated producer Pharrell Williams, who placed second in Music Week’s chart.

Williams hit number one with Robin Thicke on “Blurred Lines”, with Daft Punk on “Get Lucky” and again with the last chart-topper of 2013, “Happy”.

The magazine calculated its results from Official Charts Company data of songwriters’ shares.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis emerged on top, ahead of Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, One Republic’s Ryan Tedder, Avicii and Bastille’s Dan Smith.

Tedder’s best-known writing credits are for Ellie Goulding’s “Burn”, James Blunt’s “Bonfire Heart” and his own band’s “Counting Stars”.

Britain’s highest-ranking songwriter was Mike Rosenberg, known as Passenger, in fifth place after “Let Her Go” shifted over a million copies.

Macklemore – Ben Haggerty to his friends – and Ryan Lewis won four Grammy Awards in January for Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance. They performed “Same Love” with Madonna at the Los Angeles ceremony, as 33 gay and straight couples were married in a mass wedding officiated by Queen Latifah.

“Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were virtually unknown in the UK at the beginning of 2013, so it is quite some feat they finished as the year’s most successful hit songwriters,” said Paul Williams, head of business analysis at Music Week.

“Their victory was bad luck on Pharrell Williams who had his hand in three number one singles last year but, as he shared the writing on “Blurred Lines” and “Get Lucky” with others, ended up with a lower score.”

1. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

2. Pharrell Williams

3. The Smeezingtons (including Bruno Mars)

4. Ryan Tedder

5. Mike Rosenberg (Passenger)

6. Dan Smith (Bastille)

7. Avicii

8. Thomas Bangalter and Guy Manuel (Daft Punk)

9. Jeremy Fraites and Wesley Schultz (The Lumineers)

10. Max Martin