(CelebrityAccess) — The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry announced that K-pop superstars BTS are the winners of the 2021 FPI Global Recording Artist of the Year Award.
The accolade is a milestone for the recording industry as the South Korean boy band become the first act to ever win the award for two years running as well as the first winner to perform primarily in a language other than English.
Award recipients are selected based on a calculation of the group’s worldwide performance across digital and physical music formats during the year, from streams to vinyl, and covers their entire body of work.
The group, which includes members RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook first entered the IFPI Global Artist Chart at #2 in 2018.
In 2021, BTS released “Butter” in May, which immediately landed at #1 in the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart and lingered there for seven consecutive weeks. It was BTS who finally knocked the single from the top of the charts in July with the release of their new single, new single Permission to Dance which also debuted at #1 on Hot 100.
In September, Coldplay and BTS teamed up for a new single “My Universe” which also stormed the charts, landing at #1 in the U.S.
In Asia, BTS released their Japanese language greatest hits album BTS, THE BEST, which topped the Oricon Year End Album Chart, a first for a non-Japanese act in 37 years.
““BTS’ phenomenal success over the last year is a testament to their creativity, hard work and ongoing commitment to continuing to find ways to bring their music to the world. By performing in three different languages, they demonstrate their extraordinarily unique global appeal and their dynamic and passionate fanbase has helped to make them the first artists in history to top the Global Artist Chart in two consecutive years,” said IFPI Chief Executive Frances Moore.
