It’s annual-awards time for global music body the IFPI, which as usual is staggering its rankings for artists, tracks and albums over several days. Yesterday it kicked off the announcements for 2022 with its chart of the top artists globally, based on a blend of sales and streams for their entire catalogues in the past year.
BTS ruled the roost in 2020 and 2021, but in 2022 Taylor Swift returned to top spot in the IFPI’s chart, with the K-Pop stars in second place and Drake, Bad Bunny and The Weeknd making up the top five. It’s the third time that Swift has topped the rankings, having previously done so in 2014 and 2019.
It’s good for bragging rights (and super-stan fights online) – even with a lack of actual figures alongside the rankings to understand the methodology – but the most interesting thing about the IFPI’s full chart is its growing diversity in terms of where artists hail from.
The top 20 for 2022 includes two more K-Pop groups – Seventeen and Stray Kids in sixth and seventh spots respectively – with Jay Chou becoming the first Taiwanese artist to break into the chart, in ninth place. Meanwhile, Bad Bunny is the first Latin American artist to crack the IFPI’s annual top five.
Of course, the big western stars still loom large, with Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, Eminem, Billie Eilish and – creeping in to 19th place – a little-known rock combo named The Beatles.
More awkwardly, despite 2022 being the year when Kanye West’s most notable tour was one of TV and podcast studios espousing anti-semitic views, he still placed 12th in the IFPI’s chart, despite not releasing a new album last year.
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