Entertainment

Taylor Swift tops the charts

March 22, 2023 6:42 pm

Taylor Swift [Source: BBC]

The IFPI report highlighted the increasingly global nature of music consumption, with seven countries represented in last year’s top 10 artists.

Taylor Swift was the biggest seller of 2022, thanks to the success of her 10th album, Midnights, and the ongoing popularity of her back catalogue.

It’s the third time Swift has topped the annual worldwide chart since its inception 10 years ago, having previously been number one in 2014 and 2019.

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She usurped the 2021 winners, South Korean pop group BTS, who took the runners-up position this time.

Two other K-pop bands made the top 10 – with Seventeen and Stray Kids in sixth and seventh places respectively.

Harry Styles had the biggest-selling song of the year, with his Grammy and Brit-Award winning hit As It Was.

UK artists were responsible for another seven of the top 20 songs, with Glass Animals’ sleeper hit Heat Waves at number two; Elton John and Dua Lipa’s collaboration Cold Heart at four; and further tracks from Ed Sheeran, Adele and Dua Lipa making the chart.

Kate Bush’s 1985 hit Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) ended the year as the 16th most successful song, thanks to its use in sci-fi show Stranger Things.

Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny claimed the number one album around the world with Un Verano Sin Ti, the first Spanish-language album to top that chart.

Swift’s Midnights came second, with Styles’ Harry’s House at three.