GMR
ISRC
18th February 2026
18 February 2026 – Taylor Swift has been confirmed by IFPI, the organisation that represents the recorded music industry worldwide, as the Official Biggest-Selling Global Artist of the Year 2025.
This marks the sixth time Taylor Swift has won the award, and her fourth consecutive year at the top of the IFPI Global Artist Chart. Swift has now won the award as many times as all other artists combined over the past ten years, which reflects both her creative consistency and the long-term global strategies supporting her releases.
2025 was another landmark year, driven by exceptional worldwide engagement across streaming, physical and digital formats with the release of her 12th album The Life of a Showgirl and the documentary of her tour The End of an Era.
Across the wider IFPI Global Artist Chart, Korean group Stray Kids achieved their highest ever ranking at #2, marking a third consecutive year in the global top five. Bad Bunny placed at #5, recording his sixth consecutive year on the chart and joining an exclusive group of artists, including Taylor Swift, Drake, SEVENTEEN, The Weeknd, and Eminem, to appear on the chart in each of the last five years, highlighting the importance of sustained artist development and global release strategies.
Elsewhere, Tyler, The Creator marked his first appearance on the chart at #12 as the rapper continued to generate strong vinyl sales across his catalogue, while Japanese group Mrs. GREEN APPLE entered the chart for the first time at #13 following the success of their anniversary album 10. Lady Gaga returned to the chart for the first time since 2020 at #10, while Ed Sheeran (#18), SZA (#19) and Justin Bieber (#20) also re-entered the rankings.
Today’s chart result successes are underpinned by coordinated international label teams, whose investment in global marketing, distribution and fan engagement has ensured music reaches audiences at scale across every major market.
Victoria Oakley, CEO, IFPI, said:
“Taylor Swift’s sixth IFPI Global Artist of the Year award is a truly historic achievement.
“The IFPI Global Artist Chart is comprised of remarkable artists across the globe and also represents the teams and long-term commitment behind each release, ensuring fans around the world can connect with music in meaningful ways.”
Ends
Note to editors
The Global Artist of the Year Award is calculated according to an artist’s or group’s worldwide sales across streaming, download and physical music formats during the calendar year and covers their entire body of work.
About the IFPI Global Charts
IFPI’s Global Charts provide the most complete picture of artist, album and track performance worldwide. The Charts capture streaming, downloads and physical formats in every country directly from the participating record labels, which is then converted using IFPI’s unique methodology to a single, global chart figure. The methodology, developed in partnership with IFPI’s member record labels, reflects global commercial success by combining the most exhaustive reporting of unit sales and streams with the country-level economics of each consumption type.
IFPI will release the results of the IFPI Global Single Chart and IFPI Global Album Chart later this week.
Top 20 IFPI Global Artist Chart 2025
This chart includes consumption of an artist’s entire catalogue across all formats, including physical album sales, downloads and streaming across both free and paid platforms, translated into chart units by IFPI according to a rigorous methodology based on the relative economics of each format in each region globally.
| Position | Prior Year | Artist |
| 1 | 1 | Taylor Swift |
| 2 | 5 | Stray Kids |
| 3 | 2 | Drake |
| 4 | 7 | The Weeknd |
| 5 | 20 | Bad Bunny |
| 6 | 9 | Kendrick Lamar |
| 7 | 13 | Morgan Wallen |
| 8 | 10 | Sabrina Carpenter |
| 9 | 4 | Billie Eilish |
| 10 | RE (2020) | Lady Gaga |
| 11 | 11 | Ariana Grande |
| 12 | NEW | Tyler, The Creator |
| 13 | NEW | Mrs. GREEN APPLE |
| 14 | 3 | SEVENTEEN |
| 15 | 8 | Eminem |
| 16 | 19 | Linkin Park |
| 17 | 6 | Zach Bryan |
| 18 | RE (2023) | Ed Sheeran |
| 19 | RE (2023) | SZA |
| 20 | RE (2021) | Justin Bieber |
(source: IFPI)
Previous IFPI Global Recording Artist Chart #1 Artists
| Year | Artist |
| 2024 | Taylor Swift |
| 2023 | Taylor Swift |
| 2022 | Taylor Swift |
| 2021 | BTS |
| 2020 | BTS |
| 2019 | Taylor Swift |
| 2018 | Drake |
| 2017 | Ed Sheeran |
| 2016 | Drake |
| 2015 | Adele |
| 2014 | Taylor Swift |
| 2013 | One Direction |
About IFPI
IFPI is the voice of the recording industry worldwide, representing over 8,000 record company members across the globe. We work to promote the value of recorded music, campaign for the rights of record producers and expand the commercial uses of recorded music around the world.
For further information please contact:
press@ifpi.org | +44 (0)20 7878 7979
@IFPI_ORG