Billboard Year-End Top Artist

Billboard Year-End Top Artist (also known as Billboard Artist of the Year) is the annual top-charting music artist in the United States. The accolade has been published by Billboard magazine since 1981, based on a combined statistical performance on the weekly charts of the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Hot 100.^[1] Between 1963 and 1980, the top artists were separated for albums and singles. In 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary became the first annual Top Albums Artist and The Beach Boys became the first annual Top Singles Artist. In 1981, REO Speedwagon became the first annual Top Artist of the Year.

During the 1970s and the 1980s, before the advent of the Billboard Music Awards, the Year-End Top Artists were honored with trophies as part of the Billboard Number One Awards/Trendsetter Awards. The Top Artist category of the Billboard Music Awards has been created since 1993, although it did not always correspond with the Year-End Top Artist, due to the difference of cut-off period. The 2011 Year-End Top Artist was Adele, but Eminem received the Top Artist trophy at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards. Other Year-End Top Artists who have not won the trophy include Bruno Mars (2013), One Direction (2014), and Bad Bunny (2022).

Taylor Swift has been named the Year-End Top Artist four times, more than any other act. She achieved the title in three separate decades—the 2000s, the 2010s, and the 2020s. In 1990, New Kids on the Block became the first act to top the Year-End Top Artists chart twice, and in 2016, Adele became the first act to top the chart three times. Prior to the existence of the combined artists charts, the Beatles became the first act to be simultaneously listed as the Top Albums Artist and Top Singles Artist of the Year in 1964. In 1983, Michael Jackson became the first act to achieve all the Top Artist, Top Albums Artist, and Top Singles Artists titles in the same year.