BTS Makes History As 1st Asian Artist To Be Crowned IFPI’s Global Recording Artist Of The Year

 BTS’s “dynamite” 2020 has led to them scoring the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year Award!

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is a non-profit organization that represents the recorded music industry worldwide. Its annual Global Recording Artist of the Year Award recognizes an act’s worldwide popularity across digital and physical music formats (from streaming to vinyl), and it covers their entire collection of work.

On March 4 local time, it was announced that BTS has grabbed the win for 2020. BTS is now the first winner to perform primarily in a language other than English, and they’re the first South Korean and Asian act to achieve the feat. All previous recipients have been from either North America (Taylor Swift, Drake) or the United Kingdom (One Direction, Adele, Ed Sheeran).

BTS’s hugely successful 2020 included the release of their Billboard 200-topping album “Map of the Soul: 7,” which IFPI notes are one of the most pre-ordered albums of all time. They went on to share their Japanese language album “Map of the Soul: 7 ~ The Journey ~” in July, which surpassed 500,000 copies within just two days of its release.

The group then made history with their smash hit single “Dynamite,” becoming the first all-Korean act to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song has also been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. BTS continued their success with the release of their album “BE” in November, which became their fifth album to top the Billboard 200.

IFPI’s Top 10 Global Recording Artists of 2020 are:

BTS previously took No. 2 on the IFPI’s Global Recording Artist of the Year chart in 2018 and No. 7 in 2019.

Congratulations to BTS!