[attach id=406993 size="medium"]U2 star Bono. Photo: Anthony Devlin/PA Wiree[/attach]

U2’s Bono has said he is ‘knocked out’ by an independent survey claiming their songs were more popular on Apple iOS devices than any other musician.

The news will come as little surprise to many Apple users as the band’s latest album Songs of Innocence was added automatically to their iTunes digital libraries last September.

A Kantar Group survey claimed U2 was the most popular band among Apple users, with 23 per cent listening to at least one U2 song in January 2015.

“This is fantastic news. If these figures suggest that these songs still matter to people, then we’re knocked out. That’s all any songwriter wants,” lead singer Bono said.

The survey also claimed that iOS users listened more often to U2 than to Taylor Swift (11 per cent) and Katy Perry (eight per cent) combined.

The band apologised last October after its decision to hand over the their album Songs of Innocence to iTunes’ estimated 500 million users for free caused a backlash.

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