The Global Recording Artist Of The Year Award Goes To BTS

The Global Recording Artist of the Year is an award presented by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) to honour the best performing recording artist based on the total album equivalent units, this includes music downloads, streaming, and physical format sales. This award was first presented in 2014 and has never had an artist or a group win two or more consecutive Global Recording Artist of the Year awards; however, BTS have changed that this year, winning the award for the second time in a row.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) recently announced BTS as the winners of 2021’s IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year Award. This news marks a landmark moment for the recording industry as the South Korean group became the first act to win the award for two consecutive years. According to the IFPI, “the unique award is calculated according to an artist’s or group’s worldwide performance across digital and physical music formats during the year, from streams to vinyl, and covers their entire body of work.”

Alongside this announcement, the IFPI Global Artist Chart revealed the top ten bestselling artists globally of the year. “In the latest chart, BTS were joined by fellow K-pop superstars SEVENTEEN who made their first chart appearance at #9, demonstrating the growing popularity of K-Pop with music fans across the globe.”

Frances Moore, Chief Executive, IFPI, said, “BTS’ phenomenal success over the last year is a testament to their creativity, hard work and ongoing commitment to continuing to find ways to bring their music to the world. By performing in three different languages, they demonstrate their extraordinarily unique global appeal and their dynamic and passionate fanbase has helped to make them the first artists in history to top the Global Artist Chart in two consecutive years. We would like to wish RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook and all who work on their team huge congratulations on winning the Global Recording Artist of the Year Award and on another year of brilliant success.”

Top 10 Global Recording Artists 2021:

1. BTS
2. Taylor Swift
3. Adele
4. Drake
5. Ed Sheeran
6. The Weeknd
7. Billie Eilish
8. Justin Bieber
9. Seventeen
10. Olivia Rodrigo