On the back of her record-breaking Eras tour and multi-platinum album The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift won the Global Artist of the Year Award for a staggering fifth time in 2024, according to a press release from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
Swift scooped up four other major awards – Global Album Chart, Global Vinyl Album Chart, Global Streaming Album Chart and Global Album Sales Chart – as the sonic retrospective of the Eras tour sparked renewed interest in the beloved songstress’ nearly two-decade back catalogue. Lover (2019), Evermore (2020), Folklore (2020), Midnights (2022) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version), a 2023 re-recording of her 2014 album, all landed in the top 20 of the Global Vinyl Album Chart, most also appearing on other charts – alongside the chart-topping The Tortured Poets Department (2024).
While Swift again topped the Global Album Sales Chart for 2024, the other 19 albums were all from Asian acts, including fellow top 20 Global Artist winners Seventeen (3), Stray Kids (5) and Enhyphen (14). Zhou Shen, the only Chinese artist to make any of the charts, came in at 11 on the Global Sales Chart for his album shenself.
“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,” said IFPI CEO Victoria Oakley, who praised Swift for continuing “to redefine the limits of global success.”
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The Global Recording Artist Chart saw three new entries to the top 20: K-pop boy group Enhyphen, pop darling Sabrina Carpenter and nu metal giants Linkin Park, making new music for the first time since singer Chester Bennington’s death in 2017. Linkin Park is also one of only two bands to make any of the top 20 lists, soloists accounting for nearly every other entry outside of K-pop, which is almost exclusively represented by groups. Country made its mark on the global charts with Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallen, and crossover hits Post Malone and Beyoncé, whose album Cowboy Carter (2024) recently took home Grammys for Country Album and Album of the Year.
Western artists shined on the Global Album Streaming Chart, a mix of pop, R&B, hip-hop and country soloists, the collaboration album We Don’t Trust You from rapper Future and record producer Metro Boomin the closest thing to a group on the chart. The Global Vinyl Album Chart, while still thoroughly Western, mixes new releases with classics like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Bob Marley’s Legend, heavily favouring women soloists who accounted for 15 of the top 20 spots.
The IFPI represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide, operating in over 70 markets with some 8,000 members globally.
The Global Recording Artist of the Year is determined using an artist or group’s worldwide sales across streaming, download and physical music formats during the calendar year and covers their entire body of work, with the IFPI Global Charts claiming to “provide the most complete picture of artist, album and track performance.” The winners for IFPI Global Single Chart and Global Single Award will be announced later this week.
