BTS Were the Top-Selling Artists in The World Last Year

181

The South Korean pop group, BTS, took the world by surprise as they topped a chart compiled by music industry body the IFPI. The South Korean band with their catchy, upbeat songs have beat the likes of Drake and Adele to achieve this. Their music has won them legions of fans, and have now been thusly rewarded by being named as the world’s best-selling artists for the second year running.

It comes after a hugely successful year for Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook – all of whom topped the US Billboard chart three times, and earned a Grammy nomination for their single, Butter, which drew inspiration from Michael Jackson.

In their home continent Asia, BTS released a Japanese language greatest hits album rightly named BTS: The Best, which was the year’s biggest seller on Japan’s Oricon album chart.

This marks the first time in 37 years that a foreign act had topped the chart. The last artist to do so was the above mentioned Michael Jackson, with his blockbuster 1984 album Thriller.

In BTS’ home country, the CD release of Butter also topped the year end charts – which is the sixth year in succession that the band have been able to manage this feat.

Adding their sales, streams and downloads together makes them the most successful act of 2021 in the world, reported the IFPI. The IFPI awarded them its Global Recording Artist of The Year award.

Chief executive Frances Moore praised the success of BTS calling it phenomenal. “It is their tremendous success over the last year which serves as a testament to their creativity, hard work and ongoing commitment to continuing to find ways to bring their music to the world.”

“Their commitment to perform in three different languages truly demonstrates their extraordinarily unique global appeal. With the help of their dynamic and passionate fanbase has also played a crucial role to make them the first artists in history to top the Global Artist Chart in two consecutive years.”

American songwriter Taylor Swift came second in the chart. Coincidentally, this was the same position she held last year – followed closely by Adele who placed third.