Ed Sheeran Tops World’s 10 Best Selling Musicians 2017
Global recorded music industry trade group IFPI has named Ed Sheeran as the world’s best-selling recording artist of 2017 following the record-breaking success of his third studio album ÷ (Divide) and its global single hits Shape of You, Castle on the Hill, Galway Girl and Perfect.
Sheeran is the fifth recipient of the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year Award; the unique and authoritative accolade that reflects an artist’s worldwide success across digital and physical music formats, from streams to vinyl. Previous recipients of this prestigious award are One Direction (2013), Taylor Swift (2014), Adele (2015) and Drake (2016).
Recipient of the award in 2016, Drake, takes second place after a successful year which saw his More Life mix tape break records for the most streams in 24 hours for an album on Apple Music and best first-day streams for an album on Spotify. Taylor Swift’s sixth studio album, Reputation, which was released in November 2017, has helped the artist take third place.
Top 10 Global Recording Artists of 2017
1 Ed Sheeran
2 Drake
3 Taylor Swift
4 Kendrick Lamar
5 Eminem
6 Bruno Mars
7 The Weeknd
8 Imagine Dragons
9 Linkin Park
10 The Chainsmokers
(source: IFPI)
Previous winners
2016 Drake
2015 Adele
2014 Taylor Swift
2013 One Direction
(source: IFPI)
The independently verified IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year chart includes sales of albums – across digital, CD and vinyl formats; singles, both downloaded and physical; and on-demand audio streams across the calendar year. The chart includes all the music of each artist featured, not just one track or album. It uses album equivalent units to combine measurements of downloads, physical sales and streams.
