BTS Beats Adele, Taylor Swift & Wins IFPI Global Recording Artist Of The Year For The Second Time

South Korean boyband BTS have won the IFPI Global Recording Artist Of The Year for 2021, beating out international artists like Adele and Taylor Swift. Earlier this week, The International Federal of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced the winner on Twitter.

This is BTS's second win and the first any artist to win the Global Recording Artist Of The Year two years in a row. BTS leader RM in a video said, "We are truly honoured to receive the IFPI Global Recording Artist Of The Year award. We heard this is the first time ever any artist received [the] Artist Of The Year two years in a row, so we feel blessed for such a significant title."

Apart from BTS, Taylor Swift, Adele, Drake and Ed Sheeran had been mentioned on the Top Five of the IFPI's Global Artist Chart. Other artists included The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo and fellow K-pop band SEVENTEEN.

IFPI chief executive Frances Moore in a statement praised BTS. The statement read, "BTS' phenomenal success over the last year is a testament to their creativity, hard work and ongoing commitment to continuing to find ways to bring their music to the world."

"By performing in three different languages, they demonstrate their extraordinarily unique global appeal and their dynamic and passionate fanbase has helped to make them the first artists in history to top the Global Artist Chart in two consecutive years," he added.

According to the IFPI, the ranking is determined by an act's global performance across digital and physical music formats, including streaming and vinyl, spanning their entire discography.