IFPI, the organisation that represents the recorded music industry worldwide, has announced three additional Global Album Charts, highlighting the biggest releases of 2023 by sales and the top selling vinyl and streaming albums of the year.
The news follows last week’s launch of the IFPI Global Music Report, which announced annual growth in recorded music revenues of 10.2% globally, including acceleration in subscription streaming revenues and double-digit growth across physical formats.
Fresh from their IFPI Global Album Chart success, Korean group SEVENTEEN also took #1 in the IFPI Global Album Sales Chart, which measures unit sales across all physical formats, as well as full album downloads – a combination sometimes known as “pure sales”. Their album FML sold 6.4 million units globally in 2023, breaking the record for most pre-orders ever for an album in South Korea.
The IFPI Global Album Sales Chart saw an unprecedented 19 of the Top 20 albums come from South Korean acts, demonstrating their global dominance of the physical album format. The only non-Korean artist present in the Top 20 was IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year, Taylor Swift, whose album 1989 (Taylor’s Version) also topped the IFPI Global Vinyl Album Chart.
Taylor Swift held each of the top three places in the IFPI Global Vinyl Album Chart, and had an incredible seven albums reach the Top 20 of that Chart overall, with the releases of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (#1), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (#2) and Midnights (#3) joined by folklore (#7), Lover (#9), evermore (#13) and Red (Taylor’s Version) (#15).
Fellow American artist Morgan Wallen scored his first ever IFPI Global Chart #1 in the IFPI Global Streaming Album Chart, which counts global streams from both ad-supported and subscription platforms and calculates a weighted global unit number taking into account differing economics across regions. Wallen’s 2023 album One Thing at a Time was the biggest streaming album of the year on this basis, with Wallen also appearing at #9 with Dangerous: The Double Album.
Lewis Morrison, Director of Global Charts & Certifications at IFPI said: “Congratulations to SEVENTEEN and Taylor Swift for their second IFPI Global Charts awards of 2023, and to Morgan Wallen for his first ever global #1. Each of these artists created (or in the case of Taylor, reimagined) incredible music which found a global audience and achieved enormous commercial success in 2023, and the charts themselves highlight the multitude of ways in which music fans are engaging with their favourite albums all over the world.
“As highlighted in IFPI’s Global Music Report, revenues from both digital and physical music formats continue to see healthy growth, and the combination of fantastic artistry, format variety and the tireless work of record labels is the foundation on which this growth is built. Well done to everyone who featured in each of the album charts, which are a great summary of a fantastic year for global recorded music.”
IFPI Global Album Sales Chart 2023
1 SEVENTEEN FML 6.4m
2 Stray Kids 5-STAR 5.3m
3 NCT DREAM ISTJ 4.6m
4 SEVENTEEN SEVENTEENTH HEAVEN 4.5m
5 Stray Kids ROCK-STAR 4.2m
6 Taylor Swift 1989 (Taylor’s Version) 2.8m
7 Jung Kook GOLDEN 2.7m
8 EXO EXIST 2.3m
9 IVE I’ve MINE 2.2m
10 V Layover 2.2m
11 ZEROBASEONE YOUTH IN THE SHADE 2.2m
12 aespa MY WORLD 2.1m
13 TOMORROW X TOGETHER The Name Chapter : FREEFALL 2.0m
14 (G)I-DLE I feel 2.0m
15 NCT 127 Fact Check 1.9m
16 ENHYPEN DARK BLOOD 1.7m
17 IVE I’ve IVE 1.7m
18 Jimin FACE 1.7m
19 ENHYPEN ORANGE BLOOD 1.7m
20 aespa Drama 1.5m
IFPI Global Vinyl Album Chart 2023
1 Taylor Swift 1989 (Taylor's Version) 1,400k
2 Taylor Swift Speak Now (Taylor's Version) 684k
3 Taylor Swift Midnights 562k
4 Travis Scott UTOPIA 415k
5 Pink Floyd The Dark Side of The Moon 402k
6 Olivia Rodrigo GUTS 398k
7 Taylor Swift folklore 377k
8 Lana Del Rey Did you know that… 352k
9 Taylor Swift Lover 323k
10 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 323k
11 The Rolling Stones Hackney Diamonds 305k
12 Lana Del Rey Born To Die 256k
13 Taylor Swift evermore 237k
14 Queen Greatest Hits 227k
15 Taylor Swift Red (Taylor’s Version) 225k
16 Tyler, The Creator IGOR 218k
17 Michael Jackson Thriller 217k
18 Metallica 72 Seasons 206k
19 Harry Styles Harry's House 204k
20 boygenius the record 200k
IFPI Global Streaming Album Chart 2023
1 Morgan Wallen One Thing At A Time
2 SZA SOS
3 Taylor Swift Midnights
4 Bad Bunny Un Verano Sin Ti
5 Metro Boomin HEROES & VILLAINS
6 Taylor Swift Lover
7 The Weeknd Starboy
8 KAROL G Mañana Será Bonito
9 Morgan Wallen Dangerous: The Double Album
10 Taylor Swift 1989
11 Miley Cyrus Endless Summer Vacation
12 Travis Scott UTOPIA
13 Harry Styles Harry's House
14 Taylor Swift folklore
15 Drake & 21 Savage Her Loss
16 Drake For All The Dogs
17 The Weeknd After Hours
18 Taylor Swift reputation
19 Zach Bryan American Heartbreak
20 Olivia Rodrigo SOUR
