The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced this week their Global charts for the year 2020. The categories of the annual charts include Global Recording Artists of the Year, Global Album Sales Chart, Global Digital Single Award, and the newly added Global Album All Formats Chart.
IFPI provides music sales numbers at the end of the year by tracking sales around the globe. Their motto is “IFPI is the voice of the recording industry worldwide.”
The Global Artist of the Year chart was the first announced, with the top 10 artists in this category revealed on March 4th. The artists ranking in the top five were Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, Drake, Taylor Swift, and – coming in at number one – Kpop superstars BTS. The award’s calculated according to an artist’s or group’s worldwide performance across digital and physical music formats during the year. BTS’ win marks their first-ever number one on this chart. In 2019 the group came in at number seven and in 2018 that came in at number two.
With their top place finish BTS became the first Korean act to win the accolade, as well as the first winners to perform primarily in a language other than English. “BTS are a global phenomenon. They have had another outstanding year, releasing three albums, and continually finding creative and engaging ways to share their story with the world. They truly show the power that music has to bring joy and happiness to people the world over,” stated Frances Moore, Chief Executive of IFPI.
The top 10 in the Global Digital Single Award category are:
10. BTS – Dynamite
9. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
8. Da Baby ft. Roddy Ricch – Rockstar
7. Xiao Zhan – Made to Love
6. Future ft. Drake – Life Is Good
5. Dua Lipa – Don’t Start Now
4. SAINt JHN – Roses
3. Roddy Ricch- The Box
2. Tones and I – Dance Monkey
1. The Weeknd – Blinding Lights
The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” was the second single off his fourth studio album, After Hours. The song peaked at number one in more than 30 countries and shattered records for most weeks in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100. According to IFPI, it’s the world’s best-selling single of 2020 across all digital formats, including single-track downloads and streams on both paid subscription services and ad-supported platforms.
Just added to IFPI’s annual charts is the Global Album All Formats Chart celebrating the best-selling albums of the year across all consumption formats, spanning physical sales, digital downloads, and streaming. Coming in at number one on the new chart is BTS’ MAP OF THE SOUL: 7. The supergroup’s album broke records and topped charts all over the world after its release in February 2020. MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 broke a record in their home country of South Korea as the number one selling album of all time. Their smash hit album also topped the charts in the world’s five largest music markets: USA, Japan, UK, Germany, and France. In addition, MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 reached number one on iTunes charts in over 90 countries.
BTS’ album BE (Deluxe Edition) came in at number four with less than two months of tracking. (BE was released near the end of November 2020.) The Weeknd’s After Hours came in at number two and Billie Eilish’s 2019 release, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, came in at number three.
The final chart to be announced was IFPI’s Global Album Sales Chart. Once again, MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 by BTS came in at number one. The chart combines global sales of physical and digital album downloads. Not only did the group grab number one on this chart, but they also snatched up number two with their album BE (Deluxe Edition) and number eight with their Japanese album MAP OF THE SOUL: The Journey.
For those keeping track, BTS has managed to make all four of IFPI’S charts with three different languages: Korean, English, and Japanese. They’re the first act in history to earn the top two best-selling albums on IFPI’s year-end chart. They’re also the first act to rank three albums in the top 10 on IFPI’s year-end global chart since Michael Jackson did so in 2009.
For a full list of the top 10 on all four charts visit ifpi.org.
