Global Recording Artist of the Year
The Global Recording Artist of the Year is an award presented by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry to honor the most popular recording artist based on a total of album-equivalent units, which include music downloads, streaming and physical format sales. It has been awarded every year since January 2014, with British boy band One Direction becoming the first act to receive the accolade for Global Recording Artist of 2013. This success was attributed to the band's third studio album, Midnight Memories, which became the best-selling album of the year with sales of four million copies worldwide. Taylor Swift was awarded the Global Recording Artist of 2014 after the commercial success of her fifth studio album, 1989. During the year, the album became the second global bestseller with sales of six million copies and spawned two international number-one singles, "Shake It Off" and "Blank Space".
Adele received the award for the Global Recording Artist of 2015 with the release of her third studio album, 25. It became the best-selling album of the year worldwide, selling 17.4 million copies. The album's lead single, "Hello" reached number one in nearly all countries where it charted, and became the seventh biggest digital song of the year with 12.3 million track-equivalent units. The Global Recording Artist of 2016 went to Drake, whose fourth studio album, Views, was the third best-selling album of the year with 2.3 million copies. View was more successful on streaming service, becoming the first album ever to accumulate one-billion streams on Apple Music. The album's second single, "One Dance", which became the biggest digital song of the year, with 12.5 million track-equivalent units worldwide.
Ed Sheeran received the award for the Global Recording Artist of 2017 with the release of his third studio album ÷ and its singles including "Shape of You", "Castle on the Hill", "Galway Girl" and "Perfect". He became the first IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year to have both the best-selling album and single of the year. Drake was awarded the Global Recording Artist of 2018, making him the first artist to win the award more than once. Despite not being among the top-ten best-selling albums of the year, his album Scorpion was the first album to reach one billion streams across all platforms worldwide. Swift matched Drake's achievement by receiving the award again for 2019. Her album Lover was the second best-selling album of 2019.
Top 10 Global Recording Artists of the Year
2013
| Rank | Artist | IFPI Top 10 Album of the Year | IFPI Top 10 Single of the Year |
| 1 | One Direction | Midnight Memories | |
| 2 | Eminem | The Marshall Mathers LP2 | |
| 3 | Justin Timberlake | The 20/20 Experience | |
| 4 | Bruno Mars | Unorthodox Jukebox | "When I Was Your Man" |
| 5 | Katy Perry | Prism | "Roar" |
| 6 | Pink | "Just Give Me a Reason" | |
| 7 | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis | "Thrift Shop" | |
| 8 | Rihanna | "Stay" | |
| 9 | Michael Bublé | To Be Loved | |
| 10 | Daft Punk | Random Access Memories | "Get Lucky" |
2014
| Rank | Artist | IFPI Top 10 Album of the Year | IFPI Top 10 Single of the Year |
| 1 | Taylor Swift | 1989 | |
| 2 | One Direction | Four | |
| 3 | Ed Sheeran | X | |
| 4 | Coldplay | Ghost Stories | |
| 5 | AC/DC | Rock or Bust | |
| 6 | Michael Jackson | ||
| 7 | Pink Floyd | The Endless River | |
| 8 | Sam Smith | In The Lonely Hour | |
| 9 | Katy Perry | "Dark Horse" | |
| 10 | Beyoncé |
2015
| Rank | Artist | IFPI Top 10 Album of the Year | IFPI Top 10 Single of the Year |
| 1 | Adele | 25 | "Hello" |
| 2 | Ed Sheeran | X | "Thinking Out Loud" |
| 3 | Taylor Swift | 1989 | "Blank Space" |
| 4 | Justin Bieber | Purpose | |
| 5 | One Direction | Made in the A.M. | |
| 6 | Coldplay | A Head Full Of Dreams | |
| 7 | Maroon 5 | "Sugar" | |
| 8 | Sam Smith | In The Lonely Hour | |
| 9 | Drake | ||
| 10 | The Weeknd | Beauty Behind The Madness |
2016
| Rank | Artist | IFPI Top 10 Album of the Year | IFPI Top 10 Single of the Year |
| 1 | Drake | Views | "One Dance" |
| 2 | David Bowie | Blackstar | |
| 3 | Coldplay | A Head Full of Dreams | |
| 4 | Adele | 25 | |
| 5 | Justin Bieber | "Love Yourself" "Sorry" | |
| 6 | Twenty One Pilots | Blurryface | "Stressed Out" |
| 7 | Beyoncé | Lemonade | |
| 8 | Rihanna | "Work" | |
| 9 | Prince | ||
| 10 | The Weeknd |
2017
| Rank | Artist | IFPI Top 10 Album of the Year | IFPI Top 10 Single of the Year |
| 1 | Ed Sheeran | ÷ | "Shape of You" "Perfect" |
| 2 | Drake | ||
| 3 | Taylor Swift | Reputation | |
| 4 | Kendrick Lamar | Damn | "Humble" |
| 5 | Eminem | Revival | |
| 6 | Bruno Mars | 24K Magic | "That's What I Like" |
| 7 | The Weeknd | ||
| 8 | Imagine Dragons | "Believer" | |
| 9 | Linkin Park | ||
| 10 | The Chainsmokers | "Something Just like This" "Closer" |
2018
| Rank | Artist | IFPI Top 10 Album of the Year | IFPI Top 10 Single of the Year |
| 1 | Drake | "God's Plan" | |
| 2 | BTS | ' ' | |
| 3 | Ed Sheeran | ÷ | "Shape of You" "Perfect" |
| 4 | Post Malone | "Psycho" | |
| 5 | Eminem | Kamikaze | |
| 6 | Queen | ||
| 7 | Imagine Dragons | ||
| 8 | Ariana Grande | ||
| 9 | Lady Gaga | A Star Is Born | |
| 10 | Bruno Mars |
2019
| Rank | Artist | IFPI Top 10 Album of the Year | IFPI Top 10 Single of the Year |
| 1 | Taylor Swift | Lover | |
| 2 | Ed Sheeran | No.6 Collaborations Project | "I Don't Care" |
| 3 | Post Malone | "Sunflower" | |
| 4 | Billie Eilish | When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? | "Bad Guy" |
| 5 | Queen | ' | |
| 6 | Ariana Grande | Thank U, Next | "7 Rings" |
| 7 | BTS | ' | |
| 8 | Drake | ||
| 9 | Lady Gaga | A Star Is Born | "Shallow" |
| 10 | The Beatles | Abbey Road |