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Taylor Swift Was the World’s Biggest-Selling Recording Artist for Three Consecutive Years

The US pop superstar is crowned once more as the IFPI’s Biggest-Selling Global Recording Artist of the Year

Taylor Swift

Emma McIntyre/TAS23/Getty Images/TAS Rights Management

It’s pointless arguing. Resistance is futile. Taylor Swift was the hottest recording artist on the planet last year.

The US pop superstar is crowned once more as the IFPI’s Biggest-Selling Global Recording Artist of the Year, while Australian acts are locked out of the trade body’s various year-end charts.

According to the Federation, Swift was the biggest-selling artist worldwide, based on streams, plus digital and physical sales (album and singles) across the calendar year, doing so for a record fifth time, and for the third consecutive year.

For context, since the award was created 12 years ago, no other artist has won three times; Drake and BTS each have a brace. Swift is, by the cold, hard numbers presented by the IFPI, the runaway #1 recording artist of the past decade. It’s not even close.

With her best-selling album release The Tortured Poets Department, the pop superstar dominates the IFPI’s Global Album Chart, Global Streaming Album Chart, and Global Album Sales Chart.

Swift has five of the top 10 on the Global Vinyl Album Chart, including the top spot.

“We are immensely proud to award the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year Award to Taylor Swift for the fifth time, as she continues to redefine the limits of global success,” comments Victoria Oakley, CEO of the IFPI.

“This has been a huge year for Taylor, and it has been incredible to see the extent to which fans all over the world are connecting with her superb catalogue of music.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Swift was, of course, in record-busting form in Australia when her ‘Eras Tour’ visited Sydney and Melbourne.

Those seven shows broke pre-sale marks, and created never-before-seen action on the ARIA Charts, including sweeps of the albums chart top 5 and a lock-up of the entire singles chart top 10.

If you’re looking for Australian gold in the IFPI’s 2024 charts, good luck. K-pop, country and artists from the United States reign. Stray Kids, the K-pop boyband, have an Australian connection through singers Felix and Bang Chan, and land at #5 on the main tally with two titles impacting the Global Album Sales Chart: ATE (#5) and HOP (#6).

The charts capture streaming, downloads and physical formats in every country directly from the participating record labels, which is then converted using the IFPI’s “unique methodology” to a single, global chart figure.

The results of the IFPI Global Single Chart and the winner of the IFPI Global Single Award for 2024 will be published later this week.

Top 20 IFPI Global Recording Artist Chart 2024

PositionPrior YearArtist
11Taylor Swift
24Drake
32SEVENTEEN
4Re-entry (2022)Billie Eilish
53Stray Kids
616Zach Bryan
75The Weeknd
814Eminem
9Re-entry (2022)Kendrick Lamar
10NEWSabrina Carpenter
11Re-entry (2021)Ariana Grande
1219Post Malone
136Morgan Wallen
14NEWENHYPEN
1517Travis Scott
1618Kanye West
1710Lana Del Rey
18Re-entry (2016)Beyoncé
19NEWLinkin Park
209Bad Bunny

Previous IFPI Global Recording Artist Chart No. 1 Artists

YearArtist
2024Taylor Swift
2023Taylor Swift
2022Taylor Swift
2021BTS
2020BTS
2019Taylor Swift
2018Drake
2017Ed Sheeran
2016Drake
2015Adele
2014Taylor Swift
2013One Direction