News

20 February 2026 – IFPI has confirmed The Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift as IFPI’s Official Biggest-Selling Global Album of the Year 2025, following an outstanding performance across IFPI’s global album charts.

The album secured the #1 position on the IFPI Global Album Chart, Global Album Sales Chart, and Global Vinyl Album Chart, with Swift breaking her own global vinyl sales record for the fourth consecutive year. Its success reflects a carefully executed global release strategy, combining physical formats, digital distribution and sustained marketing across territories.

Across the wider IFPI Global Album Chart, the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack reached #3, supported by strong cross-media promotion, while Japanese group Mrs. GREEN APPLE achieved their first top 10 global album with their anniversary album 10 at #10.

In the Global Album Sales Chart, K-Pop continued to be the leading genre, with Stray Kids’ KARMA at #2 and SEVENTEEN’s HAPPY BURSTDAY at #3, underlining the importance of physical formats and fan engagement strategies in driving unit sales. The chart also reflected increasing regional diversity, with multiple Japanese and Chinese releases appearing in the global top 20.

The IFPI Global Streaming Album Chart highlighted different consumption patterns, with Morgan Wallen’s I’m The Problem topping the rankings – his second win of the Global Streaming Album award in three years – while Bad Bunny followed at #2 with DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, the fourth biggest global album across all formats, supported by strong digital-first release strategies.

On the Vinyl Album Chart, continued label investment in premium physical products was evident, with Sabrina Carpenter placing two releases in the top five, Kendrick Lamar’s GNX securing a top three position, and Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM entering the top 10. Radiohead’s OK Computer also returned to the top 20, nearly two decades after its original release, following renewed global promotion around the band’s European tour.

Victoria Oakley, CEO, IFPI, said:

“Taylor Swift topping the IFPI Global Album rankings once again is a clear reflection of the strength of her connection with fans around the world.

“This year’s results also show how truly global today’s music market is, with success being driven across streaming and physical formats by artists from a wide range of countries and genres.”

Ends

Note to editors

The Global Album of the Year Award is calculated according to the album’s worldwide sales and consumption across streaming, download and physical music formats during the calendar year.

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.

Top 20 IFPI Global Album Chart 2025 

This chart includes consumption of an album 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. To qualify as an album for charts purposes, a release must contain a minimum of five tracks (exclusive of remixes or alternative versions of the same track).

Position	Artist	Album
1	Taylor Swift	The Life of a Showgirl
2	Morgan Wallen	I’m The Problem
3	KPop Demon Hunters	KPop Demon Hunters
4	Bad Bunny	DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS
5	Sabrina Carpenter	Short n’ Sweet
6	Stray Kids	KARMA
7	SZA	SOS
8	Billie Eilish	HIT ME HARD AND SOFT
9	Lady Gaga	MAYHEM
10	Mrs. GREEN APPLE	10
11	Kendrick Lamar	GNX
12	SEVENTEEN	HAPPY BURSTDAY
13	Tate McRae	So Close To What
14	The Weeknd	Hurry Up Tomorrow
15	Sabrina Carpenter	Man’s Best Friend
16	ENHYPEN	DESIRE : UNLEASH
17	Chappell Roan	The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
18	Gracie Abrams	The Secret of Us
19	ROSÉ	rosie
20	Taylor Swift	THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT

(source: IFPI)

Top 20 IFPI Global Album Sales Chart 2025 

This chart considers sales of physical albums and full album downloads, and is calculated based on the number of units sold. To qualify as an album for charts purposes, a release must contain a minimum of five tracks (exclusive of remixes or alternative versions of the same track).

Position	Artist	Album	Units
1	Taylor Swift	The Life of a Showgirl	6.05m
2	Stray Kids	KARMA	3.49m
3	SEVENTEEN	HAPPY BURSTDAY	2.63m
4	ENHYPEN	DESIRE : UNLEASH	2.13m
5	Snow Man	THE BEST 2020 – 2025	1.67m
6	TOMORROW X TOGETHER	The Star Chapter: TOGETHER	1.62m
7	ZEROBASEONE	NEVER SAY NEVER	1.52m
8	Hua Chen Yu	Liang Bian Lin Jie Dian	1.49m
9	IVE	IVE EMPATHY	1.49m
10	G-Dragon	Übermensch	1.37m
11	NCT WISH	COLOR	1.36m
12	ZEROBASEONE	BLUE PARADISE	1.33m
13	&TEAM	Back to Life	1.30m
14	Snow Man	Onkochishin	1.21m
15	RIIZE	ODYSSEY	1.17m
16	aespa	Rich Man	1.13m
17	NCT WISH	poppop	1.13m
18	BOYNEXTDOOR	No Genre	1.12m
19	Mrs. GREEN APPLE	10	1.11m
20	IVE	IVE SECRET	1.07m

(source: IFPI)

Top 20 IFPI Global Streaming Album Chart 2025  

This chart includes consumption of an album across both free and paid streaming formats, translated into chart units by IFPI according to a rigorous methodology based on the relative economics of each format in each region globally. To qualify as an album for charts purposes, a release must contain a minimum of five tracks (exclusive of remixes or alternative versions of the same track).

Position	Artist	Album
1	Morgan Wallen	I’m The Problem
2	Bad Bunny	DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS
3	KPop Demon Hunters	KPop Demon Hunters
4	SZA	SOS
5	Sabrina Carpenter	Short n’ Sweet
6	Billie Eilish	HIT ME HARD AND SOFT
7	Lady Gaga	MAYHEM
8	Taylor Swift	The Life of a Showgirl
9	Tate McRae	So Close To What
10	Kendrick Lamar	GNX
11	Mrs. GREEN APPLE	10
12	The Weeknd	Hurry Up Tomorrow
13	PARTYNEXTDOOR & Drake	$ome $exy $ongs 4 U
14	Taylor Swift	THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
15	ROSÉ	rosie
16	Gracie Abrams	The Secret of Us
17	Noah Kahan	Stick Season
18	Chappell Roan	The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
19	Alex Warren	You’ll Be Alright, Kid
20	Sabrina Carpenter	Man’s Best Friend

(source: IFPI)

Top 20 IFPI Global Vinyl Album Chart 2025

This chart considers sales of vinyl albums only, and is calculated based on the number of units sold. To qualify as an album for charts purposes, a release must contain a minimum of five tracks (exclusive of remixes or alternative versions of the same track). 

Position	Artist	Album	Units
1	Taylor Swift	The Life of a Showgirl	2,336k
2	Sabrina Carpenter	Man’s Best Friend	539k
3	Kendrick Lamar	GNX	504k
4	Sabrina Carpenter	Short n’ Sweet	441k
5	Billie Eilish	HIT ME HARD AND SOFT	428k
6	Lady Gaga	MAYHEM	367k
7	The Weeknd	Hurry Up Tomorrow	319k
8	Tyler, The Creator	IGOR	296k
9	Fleetwood Mac	Rumours	296k
10	Michael Jackson	Thriller	277k
11	Pink Floyd	The Dark Side of The Moon	223k
12	Taylor Swift	Lover – Live From Paris	220k
13	The Beatles	Abbey Road	218k
14	Chappell Roan	The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess	197k
15	Radiohead	OK Computer	193k
16	Wicked Movie Cast	Wicked: For Good – The Soundtrack	190k
17	Nirvana	Nevermind	188k
18	Morgan Wallen	I’m The Problem	187k
19	KPop Demon Hunters	KPop Demon Hunters	185k
20	Queen	Greatest Hits	184k

(source: IFPI)

High-res images of the Top 10 Global Album Charts are available on request. Contact press@ifpi.org.

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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.

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