Leading art markets and auction houses worldwide

In 2020, the United States, United Kingdom, and China were the leading countries in the global art market, cumulatively holding over 80 percent of the total market value. That year, while the U.S. generated the highest overall sales value, China retained the biggest share of fine art auction revenue worldwide.

In terms of auction sales, two auction houses, both founded in London during the 18th century, dominate the market: Christie’s and Sotheby’s. In 2020, total auction sales of Christie’s worldwide amounted to 4.4 billion U.S. dollars, declining from nearly six billion in 2019. Meanwhile, Sotheby’s global auction sales rose in 2020, reaching five billion U.S. dollars.

Online art market

While the art market remains predominantly offline, the online art market grew in importance during the last few years, causing a sharp rise in online sales during the pandemic in 2020, and a boom in the crypto art market in 2021. Crypto art refers to digital artworks that can be authenticated, and therefore sold, once they are turned into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) - unique digital assets stored in blockchain. In April 2021, total monthly sales of NFTs on the online platform Nifty Gateway, including both the primary and secondary market, added up to nearly 51 million U.S. dollars.

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