ifpi

Taylor Swift topped the IFPI 2023 list of bestselling artists across streaming, downloads, and physical. Photo Credit: Raph_PH

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has officially deemed Taylor Swift 2023’s “biggest-selling global recording artist.”

The IFPI today announced last year’s 20 bestselling artists, factoring for recorded revenue generated via streaming, downloads, and physical sales including vinyl. Unsurprisingly, the ever-prominent Swift, who released re-recorded editions of Speak Now (July) and 1989 (October) on the year, once again secured the list’s uppermost spot, as noted.

That achievement, besides bringing with it the IFPI’s Artist of the Year Award, means Swift has now topped the list for four years overall. Of course, with another (original) album slated to debut 58 days from now, Swift may well outsell the competition in 2024.

Returning to the IFPI’s 2023 bestsellers list, K-pop mainstay Seventeen took the second spot, Stray Kids followed in third, Drake ranked fourth, and The Weeknd rounded out the top five. Meanwhile, the next five positions were claimed by Morgan Wallen, Tomorrow X Together (TXT), NewJeans, Bad Bunny, and Lana Del Rey, respectively.

And outside the top 10, Ed Sheeran took 11th, trailed by IVE, SZA, Eminem, NCT Dream, Zach Bryan, Travis Scott, Kanye West, Post Malone, and King & Prince, respectively.

Running with the information – and particularly the presence of Seventeen, Stray Kids, TXT, and NewJeans – perhaps the most noteworthy takeaway is the apparent commercial relevance of K-pop. And that relevance, which has prompted each of the majors to make high-profile moves in the K-pop arena, is fueled in large part by diehard supporters’ physical purchases.

IFPI Top-10 Bestselling Artists of 2023 – Spotify Monthly Listeners As of February 21st, 2024

  1. Taylor Swift – 105.00 million
  2. Seventeen – 7.04 million
  3. Stray Kids – 8.95 million
  4. Drake – 84.71 million
  5. The Weeknd – 116.81 million
  6. Morgan Wallen – 25.22 million
  7. Tomorrow X Together – 9.28 million
  8. NewJeans – 19.03 million
  9. Bad Bunny – 70.92 million
  10. Lana Del Rey – 58.88 million

To be sure, second-ranked Seventeen currently has the fewest Spotify monthly listeners of any artist on the top-10 list. And the combined Spotify monthly listener total of all four featured K-pop acts is less than the sum attributed to each other top-10 artist except Wallen.

But last month, Circle Chart data revealed that Seventeen had moved an astonishing 16.08 million physical albums during 2023. Stray Kids (10.87 million units) followed, with TXT placing third (6.44 million) and NewJeans taking fifth with 4.40 million. Needless to say, given these points and leading platforms’ widely discussed royalty rates, physical products are far more lucrative than straight streams.