Global Artists — Ranked
The music industry today continues to evolve due to the new technological advances in social media including the use of different music platforms such as Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, and Tiktok that have provided artists with the ability to further connect with their fans as well as collaborate with other artists. Streaming services have made it possible for artists to consistently share their music with with more fans in different regions around the world each year. Due to this, there has been a rise in global artist popularity as they now have the ability to reach a global audience like never before.
There are thousands of talented musical artists in the world, however only the best can achieve top rankings and success globally. But what sets these top artists apart from everyone else? Artists such as Justin Bieber and Celine Dion achieved incredibly high sales and numerous hit songs, with a strong nation-wide fanbase. They broke world records and established fame through their sheer talent and uniqueness. Newer popular artists such as Drake, Ariana Grande, and Ed Sheeran have built their careers through social media, Spotify streams, and dance challenges that encompass distinct moves that go along with their music causing their songs to spread like an epidemic.
By global artists, we mean that artists from various regions who have risen to fame not only in their home countries, but also around the world; we are focusing on artists from a range of continents who have been able to spread their music and culture by being present on social media platforms that allow them reach a global audience. When creating this list, we also considered how these global artists have been able to become so successful and ranked them based off of criteria including top sales, fan following and interactions, and Spotify Top Global streams based on different countries top charts that indicate the selected artists’ overall international popularity.
9. Justin Bieber (Canada)
Justin Bieber was born in London, Canada. He is a songwriter, singer, and actor that was discovered through YouTube. He had an estimated of 100 million sales, and became the best-selling male Canadian singer and the world’s best-selling song performers. The repetitive lyrics, friendly musical style, and engaging rhythm in his songs which makes people easy to sing and relate with. His first single “One Time” was released when he was only fifteen, after that he gained popularity in and out of the country from this, like in US, China, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. In 2010, he released “Baby” from his first album and ‘My World 2.0’ featuring Ludacris and grasped the record for the highest certified digital track of all time. Since then, Justin Bieber became a household name across the world. The song “What Do You Mean?” was Spotify’s most popular song in one week with 30,723,708 streams, which ranked first on the Billboard 200 chart, and was streamed 205 million times worldwide in just one week. He also broke the record of having 17 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Justin Bieber continued his digital dominance and broke the records of his YouTube channel and Twitter profile. He is one of only three people to have more than 100 million followers on Twitter. And his nearly 10.5 billion streams on YouTube created the most viewed music channel on the platform. Throughout his career, he has won one Grammy Award, two British Music Awards, three NRJ Music Awards and 13 Billboard Music Awards. He also won numerous fan-voted awards, including 20 Teen Choice Awards, 18 MTV European Music Awards and 8 American Music Awards.
8. Celine Dion (Canada)
Celine Dion was destined from the start to be an incredible singer and songwriter. Born in Quebec, she was one of 14 children and had extremely musical parents. They performed all throughout Canada when she was still an infant, and as she grew up, she too became a musical sensation. By the age of just 18, she had recorded nine French albums and won numerous awards, however she was ready to take her talents to the US and expand her singing career to different audiences. Her first English album, Unison, was released in 1990 and sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Her popularity grew immensely when she recorded the theme song of Beauty and the Beast. This song made it to number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won both a Grammy and an Academy Award. This song was featured on her second English album, Celine Dion. This album was even more successful, selling more than 12 million copies internationally. Her song “If You Asked Me To” ranked number 1 on the adult contemporary chart at this time, which allowed her to start her very first tour in the United States. Her popularity skyrocketed from her tour, landing two of her songs on the number 1 spot of Billboard’s Top 100. Her international fame was set in stone when she performed at the 1996 Olympic Games, capturing the hearts of millions watching. Despite this success, her fame was still growing, and gained even more recognition from her feature in the hit movie Titanic, with the song “My Heart Will Go On.” This ended up being her third song at number 1 and sold over 50 million copies worldwide. Other popular songs by Celine Dion include “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,” “The Power of Love,” and “Because You Loved Me.” Celine Dion is so successful internationally due to her ability to sing in multiple languages and musical versatility. Although she does not write her own songs, she has a set style of classical and gospel music and a strong voice with an unbelievable range, making her enjoyable to listen to. Her songs are very emotional and mainly about romance, allowing people to connect the power of her songs with their own strong emotions. In addition, her song “My Heart Will Go On” being paired with an extremely successful movie captured the attention of many, allowing her name to be associated with such prosperity.
7. Jay Chou (China)
Jay Chou has enjoyed enormous success in Asia as an award singer and songwriter. He is the most successful and influential Chinese singer since 2000 and was the top-selling artist for eight consecutive years in China. In only eight years, he has won more than 200 major music awards which include best singer, best album and best single. For example, he achieved the golden melody awards which are presented annually by Taiwan, and this achievement in music production is Taiwan’s equivalent to the Grammy Awards. He has sold more than 30 million units to date. His songs creatively combine Chinese and Western music styles to create unique songs that absorb rap, classical, rock and R&B. His catchy tunes and meaningful lyrics directly and instantly captured fans in Asia. Some of his most famous songs like “Blue and White Porcelain,” “Aiyo Bu Cuo,” “Jay Chou’s Bedtime Story,” “Love Confession,” and “Listen to Mama’s Words.”
6. WizKid (Nigeria)
WizKid was born in Lagos, Nigeria. His breakthrough came in 2009 when he collaborated with renowned musician M.I. where they produced award winning track “Fast Money” which became very popular not only in Nigeria, but also in many other African countries. His music career continues to grow today as he works both locally and internationally. In 2014, his rise in popularity became clear when he became the first Nigerian musician to gain over one million followers in Twitter and became one of the most recognizable Afrobeats artists. Then, in 2016, WizKid received international recognition after his collaboration with Drake on the hit “One Dance,” which went on to reach number one in 15 countries including Canada, Australia, UK, and the US. He has also worked internationally with other artists such as Chris Brown, Trey Songz, and French Montana. WizKid was able to become popular because he introduced a unique aspect as his music incorporated a blend of pop and Afrobeats that involves heavy percussion, complex rhythms, and repetitive vocals.
5. Luis Fonsi (Puerto Rico)
Luis Fonsi entered the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in September 2008 with his song “No Me Doy por Vencido”, debuting at number 98 and peaking at number 92. He became a global phenomenon in 2017 with the release of his single, “Despacito,” featuring Daddy Yankee. The song represented a breakout of Latin music as streaming allowed for it to be heard by a global audience which would not have been possible previously and it became one of the most popular songs of all time. Part of what made it so well-known was due to its catchiness and the fact that it was in Spanish appealed to other countries as the rhythm was easy to follow. In April 2018, his music video reached five billion views on YouTube, along with that, it was number one on every Latin Billboard chart. Because of Luis Fonsi’s growing popularity, Justin Bieber, Canadian singer and songwriter, collaborated with him making an English version of the song Despacito, further increasing its popularity and making it another hit all over the world.
4. Drake (Canada)
Drake’s universal appeal has made him one of the most popular artists of this generation; his unique blend of rap and pop made his music distinct from other artists. He rose to fame after the release of his song “Best I Ever Had” featured on his third mix tape which was nominated for two Grammy Awards and peaked at number two on Billboard Hot 100. Part of the reason why Drake has become a global artist is because he has consistent hit songs that are often paired with specific dance moves making the songs more popular (such as the ‘In My Feelings’ challenge). Rap is a growing genre, and with Drake’s consistent hit songs, whenever he releases new singles they are almost immediately popular due to his already established fame. He often pairs up with other famous artists in the pop and rap category such as Beyonce, Rihanna, DJ Khaled, Future, French Montana, and many more. With such a wide range of songs that include other artists, his fame is more widely spread and connected to other popular rappers and singers. Drake also has 20 million albums and 100 million singles sold globally, showing his influence abroad. A few of Drake’s hit songs from throughout his years include “God’s Plan,” “Hotline Bling,” “Take Care,” “Started From the Bottom,” and “Controlla.”
3. Ariana Grande (United States)
Ariana Grande is a 25 year-old singer who developed from a small-time TV star into a major pop singer. People like her songs because her voice is powerful and unique, and the music is catchy. The lyrics in her songs also can easily relate to human emotions, and strengthen the relationship between her and the listeners, not only in U.S., but also around the world. She is not only one of the most followed female singers on YouTube, but also the second most followed account on Instagram with 146.29 million followers. She also is the first artist in the Billboard Hot 100 to debut all of her lead singles from 5 different albums in the top 10. Her second studio album which was released in 2014, ‘My Everything’ entered at #1 in the U.S. and charted in the top 10 in 24 other countries too. After her fourth studio album, Sweetener in 2018, her song “thank you, next” achieved #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. She has held the three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 with “7 rings,” “break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored,” and “thank u, next” — a feat last accomplished by The Beatles. Since January 2019, she won 108 awards from 220 nominations. Grande was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2017.
2. BTS (South Korea)
The seven-member K-pop group started out with humble beginnings, but eventually rose to achieve global success and recognition due to their extreme dedication, hard work, and passion for their music and spread of profound and relatable messages about love, hardships, mental health, and societal issues. A large part of their success is due to their extremely supportive and devoted global fanbase who encouraged them to continue and gave them hope when the media initially thought they would fail. BTS has been instrumental in bringing K-Pop to a global stage; despite their songs mostly being sung in a Korean, the passion of group proved that music is a universal language leading them to become a global sensation. Their second full album, Wings (2016), sold more than 1.5 million copies, making it BTS’s first million seller. Due to their influential success, other artists such as Japanese-American record producer Steve Aoki, Halsey, The Chainsmokers, and Ed Sheeran reached out to them to collaborate, giving them further global recognition.
1. Ed Sheeran (United Kingdom)
He is placed as the top global artist because of how impactful his music is all over the world. He is a singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and guitarist who began first recording music in 2004, and later moved to London where he began playing in small venus that kicked off his career. In 2009, he released the song, “The A Team” which quickly gained popularity and became a defining start to his career; this became the best selling debut single and overall eight best selling single of 2011, selling 801,000 copies. He became a global success after this single also became a top 10 hit in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxemburg, New Zealand, Norway, and the Netherlands. His later albums went to have even more success than imagined; in 2017, Sheeran was named Spotify’s most streamed artist with 6.3 billion streams. A few more of his most popular songs include “Perfect,” “Shape of You,” “Photograph,” and “Galway Girl.” His songs are full of romance and allow the listener to picture their lives as a sort of fairytale. Many of his hit songs are played at weddings and dances, having a slow, calm beat with lyrics encompassing love. His songs also hold many other basic themes, such as break ups, happiness, and sadness. Thus, the messages he conveys can apply to anyone from any region of the world, increasing his popularity internationally.
