bad guy by Billie Eilish Named Biggest Global Single of 2019

10 March 2020 - Press release

IFPI, the organisation that represents the recorded music industry worldwide, has named bad guy by Billie Eilish as the biggest global single of 2019. 

bad guy is the fifth single from Eilish’s first album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? and was released alongside it on 29th March 2019. The song was an instant hit, topping the charts in more than 15 countries around the world, including the US, Australia, Canada and Mexico. bad guy became Spotify’s second-most streamed song globally last year and, according to Shazam, was the most searched-for track of 2019. 

bad guy won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 62^nd Grammy Awards in January 2020, making Eilish the youngest-ever artist to win the latter category.  

Frances Moore, chief executive of IFPI, said: “Billie Eilish has taken the world by storm with her incredible voice and genre-defying sound. She is also an artist who addresses important issues like mental health in her lyrics that clearly resonate with her fans all over the world. We wish her success for what will no doubt be another standout year.” 

Old Town Road by Lil Nas X was the second-biggest global single of last year. The TikTok viral sensation dominated charts for much of 2019. The track, unique in its fusion of country and rap, broke the record for longest consecutive run in the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 

Señorita, the duet by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello (who had the global number one single in 2018 with Havana ft. Young Thug), takes third place in the chart. The collaboration is the second for the artists and reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as in thirty-five other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. It was also the most-streamed song globally on Spotify in 2019. 

The IFPI Global Digital Single of 2019 is the second of the annual awards announced this year from IFPI’s global charts, following the announcement that Taylor Swift was named the Global Recording Artist of the Year 2019. 

The IFPI Global Digital Singles Chart is the only ranking to accurately measure consumption across audio streaming, video streaming and permanent downloads on a global basis. It is weighted based on the relative value of each method of consumption. 

Top 10 Global Digital Singles 2019 

Rank	Artist	Track Name	Global converted track equivalents (millions)
1	Billie Eilish	bad guy	19.5
2	Lil Nas X	Old Town Road	18.4
3	Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello	Señorita	16.1
4	Post Malone, SwaeLee	Sunflower	13.4
5	Ariana Grande	7 rings	13.3
6	Tones and I	Dance Monkey	11.4
7	Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber	I Don't Care	10.3
8	Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper	Shallow	10.2
9	Lewis Capaldi	Someone You Loved	9.1
10	Halsey	Without Me	9.1