The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has been slowing rolling out their five charts for the year 2021. The first category – “Global Recording Artist of the Year” – was announced on February 24, 2022. “Global Digital Single” followed on February 28th.
The top honors for “Global Recording Artist of the Year Award” went to South Korean supergroup BTS. The two-time Grammy-nominated group is no stranger to grabbing the top honors in this category, coming in first for the year 2020 as well. Their 2021 win marks the first time an act has nabbed the top spot two consecutive years.
According to IFPI, the “Global Recording Artist of the Year Award” is calculated according to an artist’s or group’s worldwide performance across digital and physical music formats throughout the year, from streams to vinyl, and covers their entire body of work.
Weighing in on the news, Chief Executive of IFPI Frances Moore stated, “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.”
Rounding out the top five artists are Ed Sheeran at number five, Drake, Adele, and sitting at number two is Taylor Swift.
The 2021 “Global Digital Single Award” winner is Grammy Award-winner The Weeknd with his smash hit “Save Your Tears.” This is the second consecutive year The Weeknd has received the award in this category. In 2020, his mega-hit “Blinding Lights” was number one as well.
The “Global Digital Single Award” is given to the bestselling single of the year across all digital formats – including paid subscription streaming, ad-supported platforms, and single-track downloads and streams.
The “Global Digital Single Award” top five:
- The Weeknd – “Save Your Tears”
- The Kid Laroi ft. Justin Bieber – “Stay”
- Dua Lipa – “Levitating”
- BTS – “Butter”
- Olivia Rodrigo – “Driver’s License”
“It has been another brilliant year for The Weeknd and ‘Save Your Tears’ has unquestionably been one of the world’s most loved songs,” said Frances Moore. “We’d like to send huge congratulations to The Weeknd and all of his team on winning our ‘Global Digital Single of The Year Award’ for the second year in a row – an incredible achievement.”
On March 1, 2022, the final winners were announced in the “Global Album Sales Chart,” “Global Album All Format Chart,” and “Global Vinyl Album Chart” categories. British power vocalist and songwriter Adele took home awards in all three categories for her album 30. Adele managed this with less than two months left in the tracking year when her much-anticipated fifth album dropped in November 2021.
IFPI Chief Executive Frances Moore said, “It has been wonderful to have Adele back and releasing music over the second half of last year. Her dominance of all three IFPI Album Charts speaks to her unique song-writing talent, her iconic voice and unrelenting global popularity.”
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