Taylor Swift Wins IFPI’s 2022 Global Recording Artist of the Year Award

LONDON – Taylor Swift has added another title to her already overflowing trophy cabinet with the star being crowned 2022’s Global Recording Artist of the Year by international trade group IFPI. It is the third time that the singer-songwriter has won the annual award, which recognizes the year’s best-selling act across physical sales, downloads and streaming worldwide, making Swift the most successful artist in the award’s 10-year history.

Swift previously won the honor in 2014 and 2019 and placed second in last year’s chart behind K-pop group BTS. She also charted in the top three of IFPI’s global artist rankings in 2015, 2017 and 2020. BTS and Drake are the only other acts to have collected the award more than once, with two wins apiece, while Swift becomes the first artist to receive it three times.

Announcing the award, IFPI chief executive Frances Moore called Swift “a truly magnificent international star, who continues to grow and evolve as an artist whilst maintaining an incredibly strong connection with her fans around the world.”

Swift’s 10th studio album, Midnights, was released in October, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and moving 1.578 million equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week – the biggest sales week for any album in nearly seven years, according to Luminate. Midnights spent five weeks atop the Billboard 200, as well as topping charts around the world, including five weeks at No.1 in the United Kingdom. IFPI did not provide global sales figures for Swift.

Second in IFPI’s 2022 Global Artist Chart, which measures worldwide consumption across all formats and an artist’s entire body of work, not just music released last year, was K-pop superstars BTS. It is the group’s third consecutive year in the Top 3 following back-to-back wins in 2020 and 2021.

Drake placed third, ahead of Bad Bunny, who becomes the first-ever artist from Latin America to enter IFPI’s Top 5. It was also a successful year for acts from South Korea with boy bands SEVENTEEN and Stray Kids charting at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, while Jay Chou is the first Taiwanese artist to feature in the Top 10. The United Kingdom is represented by Harry Styles (No. 8) and Ed Sheeran (No. 10), with Canada’s The Weeknd charting at No. 5. The full Top 20 chart can be seen below.

IFPI Top 20 Global Recording Artist Chart 2022
1/ Taylor Swift 
2/ BTS 
3/ Drake 
4/ Bad Bunny 
5/ The Weeknd 
6/ SEVENTEEN 
7/ Stray Kids 
8/ Harry Styles 
9/ Jay Chou 
10/ Ed Sheeran 
11/ Eminem 
12/ Kanye West 
13/ YoungBoy Never Broke Again 
14/ Kendrick Lamar 
15/ Lil Baby 
16/ Billie Eilish 
17/ Post Malone 
18/ Juice WRLD 
19/ The Beatles 
20/ Imagine Dragons