Drake Named IFPI Global Recording Artist 2016

PRESS RELEASE:
Drake has been named by IFPI as
the world’s best-selling recording artist of 2016, highlighting the huge success
of his fourth album, Views, which was released last year.

Drake is the fourth recipient of the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year
Award, the unique and authoritative accolade that reflects an artist’s worldwide
success across physical and digital formats, including downloads and streams.

Views became the first album to reach one billion streams on Apple Music, while
One Dance, the album’s second single, was the first song to be played one
billion times on Spotify. The follow-up singles Pop Style, Controlla and Too
Good also all found huge success across the globe.

IFPI chief executive Frances Moore said: “I’m delighted to be able to honour
Drake as the IFPI Global Recording Artist 2016. Drake’s phenomenal success
reflects how deeply his unique sound appeals to an enormous global audience. The
Global Top 10 list features a number of amazing artists, and the variety and
vibrancy of their art speaks volumes about the exciting state of music today.”

In conjunction with the Global Recording Artist award, IFPI issued its annual
Global Top 10 list. David Bowie, who took second place on the global chart, had
released his album Blackstar two days before his death in January 2016. The
album reached number one in 24 countries.

In third and fourth place on the chart, respectively, were Coldplay and Adele
whose 2015 albums A Head Full of Dreams and 25 remained immensely popular
throughout 2016.

The IFPI Global Recording Artist award and Top 10 chart is the first and only
ranking to accurately capture the global sales of artists’ music across
streaming channels, as well as sales of digital and physical albums, and digital
and physical singles. The previous recipients of this prestigious award are One
Direction (2013), Taylor Swift (2014) and Adele (2015). The full 2016 list includes:

Top 10 Global Recording Artists of 2016

1 Drake

2 David Bowie

3 Coldplay

4 Adele

5 Justin Bieber

6 Twenty One Pilots

7 Beyoncé

8 Rihanna

9 Prince

10 The Weeknd

(source: IFPI)
The independently verified IFPI Global Recording Artist chart includes sales of
albums – across digital, CD and vinyl formats; singles, both downloaded and
physical; and on-demand audio streams and music videos 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.