Monday 23 February 2015

Taylor Swift IFPI Global Recording Artist of 2014

Taylor Swift has been named the IFPI Global Recording Artist of 2014, receiving the annual award honouring the most popular recording artist across music downloads, streaming and physical format sales worldwide.

Taylor Swift released her fifth studio album, 1989, in October 2014 and it sold more than 1.2 million copies in its first week of release in the US alone, the highest debut sales week since Eminem’s The Eminem Show in 2002.  1989 also sold well worldwide, becoming a top five hit in Germany, Japan and the UK, the next largest recorded music markets.  The album’s lead single, Shake It Off, was a top five hit in more than 20 countries, from Canada to Japan, and its accompanying video was viewed more than 350 million times on YouTube. 

The second position on the chart was taken by One Direction, the UK/Irish band who topped the inaugural IFPI Global Recording Artist Chart last year.  The band released their fourth studio album FOUR in November 2014, which topped the Billboard 200 chart, meaning One Direction became the first group to have all their first four studio albums debut at the top of the US charts.  FOUR, which contained the hit singles Steal My Girl and Night Changes, also topped the charts internationally in markets from Argentina to the UK.   

Third place was claimed by singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, who released his second studio album x in June 2014 and which topped the chart in 12 countries and reached the top five in a further 11 markets.  The album contained the hit singles SingDon’t and Thinking Out Loud.  Streaming service Spotify announced that x was its most streamed album in the world in 2014.

Music Business Worldwide pointed out that the average age of the ten best-selling recorded music artists of 2014 was 38-years-old.

Top 10 Global Recording Artists 2014

Rank
Artist
1
Taylor Swift
2
One Direction
3
Ed Sheeran
4
Coldplay
5
AC/DC
6
Michael Jackson
7
Pink Floyd
8
Sam Smith
9
Katy Perry
10
Beyoncé

Top 10 Global Recording Artists 2013

1
One Direction
2
Eminem
3
Justin Timberlake
4
Bruno Mars
5
Katy Perry
6
P!nk
7
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
8
Rihanna
9
Michael Bublé
10
Daft Punk

Source: IFPI.  

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