【Mike Horner Archives】

The Mike Horner ArchivesGrand Tourhas snatched another record -- this time an unwanted one.

Jeremy Clarkson's motor showThe Grand Tourhas become the most illegally downloaded show in history, according to newly released figures.

The first episode of the series, which features former Top Gearpresenters Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, had been illegally downloaded 7.9 million times, according to data from Muso, data analysts of the piracy market.

The data, shared with the Mail on Sunday, reveal that the second episode has been ripped off 6.4 million times, while the third 4.6 million.

British viewers were overwhelmingly responsible for the illegal downloads, making up 13.7 percent of the total.

The new show, which debuted Nov. 18 after Clarkson was sacked by the BBC, cost Amazon $160 million (£130 million) for three series. Muso estimated that Amazon could have lost £3.2 million in revenue in Britain alone on Episode 1.

“It is the most illegally downloaded programme ever. It is off the scale in terms of volume,” Chris Elkins, the chief commercial officer at the company, said.

"It has overtaken every big show, including Game Of Thrones, for the totals across different platforms. We monitor thousands of campaigns and this one really stands out.”

“The Grand Tourhas become the biggest show premiere ever on Amazon Prime Video, with the new Amazon Original Series breaking viewership records around the world," Amazon said in a statement to Mashable. "We're excited to launch the show on Amazon in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide very soon.”

Amazon's online streaming service, Amazon Prime, costs £79 a year and has been extended to 200 countries.

According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, 19 million more people signed up to the service from last year. Amazon Prime customers now make up more than half of Amazon's customer base.

Mashablehas reached out to Muso for comment.