Best-selling recording artists of all-time

[Wayne]

TOP TEN BEST-SELLING OVERALL ACTS OF ALL-TIME (albums + singles):

1. The Beatles - 525m records worldwide

2. Elvis Presley - 400m records worldwide

3. Michael Jackson - 340m records worldwide

4. Madonna - 300m records worldwide

5. Elton John - 260m records worldwide

6. The Rolling Stones - 250m records worldwide

7. Queen - 231.5m records worldwide

8. Celine Dion - 225m records worldwide

9. Frank Sinatra - 225m records worldwide

10. Mariah Carey - 205m records worldwide

Other 200m+ sellers:

Pink Floyd - 205m records worldwide
Rod Stewart - 205m records worldwide

Others close to the 200m+ threshold include the Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, & U2 (all between 190m-198m)

[Wayne]

Top10 Biggest-Selling bands

Unsurprisingly, this list comprises of mostly rock bands; pop bands generally don't have a reputation for longevity.

1. The Beatles - 375m albums worldwide | 150m singles worldwide

Quite simply, the biggest-selling music act of all time, and they will never ever be surpassed. They sold millions in the 60's, and sold even more since then through their outstanding catalogue sales. A remastered catalogue has enabled the group to amass even more millions in sales, with their 2010 album sales of 3m+ ranking amongst the highest in the world

2. Pink Floyd - 190m albums worldwide | 15m singles worldwide

No band on a worldwide scale has had as much widespread success as Pink Floyd (the Beatles aside, obviously); the group have scored #1 albums in every corner of the globe. They truly are an albums act, having sold over 190m albums worldwide, and only 20m singles

3. The Rolling Stones - 170m albums worldwide | 80m singles worldwide

The closest active group we have to the 60's era, and they are still going strong. They make most of their money nowadays through touring; whilst they don't sell many copies of one particular album in catalogue, their catalogue sales as a whole are still very healthy. Take the UK for e.g. the group sold some 328,385 albums in 2010 inside of the UK, despite having charted no new releases. Such is their selling power and continued widespread appeal, the band are rumoured to be embarking on a new tour - their farwewell tour, which is guaranteed to be a sell out

4. Queen - 171.5m albums worldwide | 60m singles worldwide

Fronted by one of rock's biggest-ever frontmen, Queen are one of the top3 biggest selling bands in the UK and their GH is the UK's biggest selling album, having sold some 5.8m copies; newly remastered, the album will continue to shift additional copies, until its eventual reaching of 6m. The group easily hold their own against the likes of Pink Floyd and U2, and continue to sell hundreds of thousands of records each year.

5. U2 - 165m albums worldwide | 25m singles worldwide

The most successful Irish act in music history, by far. Their worldwide success over the last 25 years is unequalled by any group - they have sold over 100m albums, over 20m singles and grossed over $1 billion from touring, all in that time frame. Truly a remarkable group, they are in the midst of what is going to become the biggest tour ever, in terms of monetary gross and number of tickets sold.

6. Led Zeppelin - 160m albums worldwide | ~15m singles worldwide

This group rely heavily on their rich catalogue of music, which continues to sell hundreds of thousands of copies each year. Like most rock groups, they sell albums well, singles not so well. In fact, they have sold fewer singles than any other group on this list

7. The Eagles - 145m albums worldwide | 20m singles worldwide

A common misconception with this band is that they have sold well only inside the USA. Whilst the group have sold some 100m albums in the US, they've done respectably outside of it too, shifting some 30m albums.

8. AC/DC - 130m albums worldwide | ??

Much like Zeppelin, they continue to shift millions of albums through catalogue WW. I can remember when Black Ice was released, their record label released a press statement commenting how they'd shipped over 10m new AC/DC albums in the year (5m of Black Ice + 5m catalogue albums). And just last year (2010), they sold some 589,032 albums in the UK - the only two bands on this list to sell more than that were Bon Jovi and the Beatles.

9. Bee Gees - 122m albums | 75m singles

Another legendary rock group, and one that ushered in the disco era of the 70's, with their famous Saturday Night Fever album springboarding them to superstardom and selling over 30m copies in the process. They are also known for their impressive single sales

10. Fleetwood Mac - 121m albums worldwide | ??

Mac's Rumours is one of the biggest-selling albums of all-time, in the vicinity of Saturday Night Fever, and the band have amassed an impressive collection of hit singles

11. Santana - 115m albums worldwide | ??

12. Aerosmith - 115m albums worldwide | 40m singles worldwide

13. Bon Jovi - 110m albums worldwide | 45m singles worldwide

14. Abba - 107.5m albums worldwide | 75m singles worldwide

15. Metallica - 105m albums worldwide | 20m singles worldwide

[Wayne]

Top10 Best-Selling females of all time

The top 10 females list is dominated by pop females - its in stark contrast to both the males list and the groups list

1. Madonna - 190m albums worldwide | 100m singles worldwide

With a 25+ year career at the top, Madge has carved herself a huge piece of Pop history. She is the biggest-selling female artist of all time, with total record sales of over 290m

TOP ALBUM: Immaculate Collection - 28m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 70m

2. Celine Dion - 173m albums worldwide | 51m singles worldwide

A little girl from Quebec, Canada hit the big time...but it took her 12 years to do so. She didnt make it big until 1993 when the Colour of My Love was released. She is the only female artist in history to have 4 albums sell more than 16million copies apiece. She is also the most succesful music act of the last 20 years, male or female. With 45m singles sold & over 4m DVD's, her total record sales are an unrivalled 220m.

TOP ALBUM: Lets Talk About Love - 31m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 62m

3. Mariah Carey - 150m albums worldwide | 55m singles worldwide

A record shattering female vocalist who was the most successful Billboard artist of the 90's. With 18 #1's to her name, she is more successful on the Billboard 100 format than any other soloist. A 150m albums estimate is a very generous estimate for Mariah (probably too generous), whereas 50m singles might not be enough!

TOP ALBUM: Music Box - 26m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 67.5m

4. Barbra Streisand - 135m albums worldwide | 45m singles worldwide

85million of these allbum sales are in the USA, where she is the most successful female singer of all time. She continues her life in retirement, hence a few "quiet" years for her catalogue, but she'll be back with a new album in no time

TOP ALBUM: Guilty - 13m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 85m

5. Whitney Houston - 135m albums worldwide | 55m singles worldwide

Regarded as one of the all-time greatest female singers, Whitney has built her career on breaking chart records. Despite so few releases, she has amassed worldwide sales in excess of 190m, and her Bodyguard OST release has sold over 40m worldwide, ranking as one of the best-selling albums ever.

TOP ALBUM: The Bodyguard OST - 40m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 58m

6. Enya - 76.5m albums worldwide | 10m singles worldwide

TOP ALBUM: A Day Without Rain - 14.5m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 30m

7. Shania Twain - 76m albums worldwide | 20m singles worldwide

TOP ALBUM: Come On Over - 37m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 45m (shipments of 50m - Up! counts as two discs)

8. Britney Spears - 75m albums worldwide | 50m singles worldwide

TOP ALBUM: Baby One More Time - 24m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 36m

9. Sade - 72m albums worldwide | ??

TOP ALBUM: Diamond Life - 15.5m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 28.5m

10. Janet Jackson - 67m albums worldwide | 50m singles worldwide

TOP ALBUM: Janet - 13.5m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 40m

11. Gloria Estefan - 58m albums worldwide | ??

TOP ALBUM: Cuts Both Ways - 8m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 28.6m

12. Reba McEntire - 56m albums worldwide | ??

TOP ALBUM: Greatest Hits Volume II - 6m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 54m

13. Tina Turner - 55m albums worldwide | 15m singles worldwide
TOP ALBUM: Private Dancer - 13.35m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 16m

14. Diana Ross - 54 million albums worldwide | 30m singles worldwide (soloist + 40m more with the Supremes)
TOP ALBUM: Diana - 5m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 23.5m

15. Cher - 50m million albums worldwide | 40m singles worldwide

TOP ALBUM: Believe - 12m
TOP COUNTRY: USA - 23.5m

[Wayne]

Top25 Biggest-Selling Male soloists

1. Elvis Presley - 250m albums worldwide | 150m singles worldwide

My main reason for crediting Elvis with this number is that I've seen verifiable evidence on sites such as Haven, Buzzjack and UKMix that refutes the '1 Billion records sold' claim put forward by RCA and other media outlets. The King of Rock n Roll was never ever the biggest album seller on a per album basis (his biggest seller barely shipped 10m worldwide), and even during his peak, he'd sold about three times more singles than albums (typical of the 50's/early 60's). Alas, he has benefited from a grand total of over 500 studio and compilation albums as well as EP's/LP's and more...he is my #1 ranked male best-seller.

2. Michael Jackson - 220m albums worldwide | 120m singles worldwide

As a soloist, he's arguably the most famous male celebrity of all-time, and that's bound to have a positive impact on his record sales. As well as releasing the biggest-selling album of all time, Jackson has also put out four other albums that sold over 19million albums. In all, he released over 10 studio albums, and numerous greatest-hits collections, and this has all contributed to his album sales.

He has sold 35m albums since his death. Just unbelieveable.

3. Elton John - 170m albums worldwide | 90m singles worldwide

The man has been going for over 4 decades and he continues to release studio albums. Whilst he will probably never ever join the '200million club' Elton can take joy in having the biggest-selling single of all time. He is also the most successful British soloist ever

4. Frank Sinatra - 150m albums worldwide | 75m singles worldwide

Before Elvis, there was Frank Sinatra; that's all that needs to be said really. This man is a FORCE in charts, selling the equivalent in his heyday to millions upon millions nowadays. Just a massive, massive star.

5. Rod Stewart - 145m albums worldwide | 60m singles worldwide

The man with the husky voice, now Sir Rod, has had a lengthy career of over four decades. He has been richly rewarded with a fortune of over $200million and with record sales in excess of 200million. His album sales are a brilliant 140million and he continues to set the charts alight with his American Songbook Series selling millions this decade. He is arguably the most consistent seller out of all the males as he has figured in the top40 selling acts of the 70's, 80's, 90's and the 00's

6. Bruce Springsteen - 135m albums worldwide | 25m singles worldwide

One of Rock's most enduring stars, this guy has had more no1 albums in the US than everyone except the Stones, the Beatles and Elvis (maybe a couple of others!). His last no1 came earlier this year, during the same week he did the SuperBowl Halftime Show. Like everyone in the list before him, he has a sizeable discography, which certainly helps his sales. A 'Rock God' to some

7. Eric Clapton - 130m albums worldwide | 15m singles worldwide

8. Phil Collins - 125m albums worldwide | 20m singles worldwide

9. Billy Joel - 125m albums worldwide | 30m singles worldwide

10. Garth Brooks - 120m albums worldwide | ??

The most successful Country superstar in history, he has sold over 100m of his albums in the USA, and just a couple of million outside of it!

11. Bob Dylan - 115m albums worldwide | 10m singles worldwide

12. Neil Diamond - 110m albums worldwide | ??

13. Paul McCartney - 105m albums worldwide | 60m singles worldwide

This is just his sales as a soloist, add in his sales with the Beatles and Wings, and you get the highest-selling artist ever, with over 650m sales

14. Prince - 100m albums worldwide | 40m singles worldwide

15. David Bowie - 100m albums worldwide | 50m singles worldwide

16. Eminem - 92.5m albums worldwide | 40m singles worldwide

17. Kenny Rogers - 90m albums worldwide | ??

18. Julio Eglesias - 88m albums worldwide | 15m singles worldwide

19. Stevie Wonder - 90m albums worldwide | 50m singles worldwide

20. Bob Marley - 85m albums worldwide | 10m singles worldwide

21. Neil Young - 80m albums worldwide | ??

22. Kenny G - 78m albums worldwide | ??

23. George Strait - 74m albums worldwide | ??

24. Willie Nelson - 73m albums worldwide | ??

25. Tom Jones - 70m albums worldwide | 40m singles sold worldwide

DROP OFFS:

Sting - 66million albums worldwide | ??

[gimme1mimi]

Madonna/Mariah's USA sales >>> Janet's Total ww sales. :shock:

:crazy:

[Wayne]

LOL! Yes, Janet's American sales are fantastic (she is certified for having shipped over 29m albums, but her actual shipments are over 40m). Its her international sales that have always let her down; don't get me wrong, she isn't a poor seller! But she certainly isn't as popular internationally as she is in the States. Her career album sales in Europe for e.g. are a paltry 11m+. Considering she started around the same time as Madonna & Michael Jackson, and arguably had hits as big as the two, the success just didn't transcend into album sales!

[Wayne]

Okay, I've extended the females list; next up, I shall extend the females some more & then do a top 20 bands! Its much harder to document the females, as they didn't dominate the early music scene like the males/bands did, so there sales and achievements aren't as documented.

[Neil]

22. Willie Nelson - 73million albums worldwide

23. Eminem - 73.5million albums worldwide

Wrong way round.

[Wayne]

You nit picking sod! lol

I've added more bands to the list + some extra info for the females list!

[Wayne]

I've updated this now. After revising Elvis' figures, I've updated his total to include a hefty '40m of missed or miscounted' album sales. He's now the #1 ranked soloist of all-time. Following him is Michael Jackson, who I now credit with 228m albums worldwide - 28m of which he has sold since his death. Absolutely phenomenal.

I recognise Madonna's transition to 200m albums worldwide now; this makes her only the third soloist in history to surpass 200m in worldwide album sales - truly one of the all-time greats. The two 90's divas Celine & Mariah are still going at it - I added 0.5m to Celine's total, to take into consideration recent shipments of her My Love collection and her catalogue sales in the States. I added 1m+ copies to Mimi to take into consideration the worldwide shipments of MOAIA and some catalogue sales. Mimi is closing in on Celine in the all-time ranks, having now sold 202m records - only 18m behind Celine's 220m tally.

[HeatSeeker]

^Celine's next album will probably outsell Mariah's next album (sadly), so the "closing in" shouldn't be a problem lol.

[Wayne]

Yes, my provisional estimations for her next English album (which incidentally hasn't even been confirmed yet - all we know is shes 'working on new material') are:

USA - 500,000 (if she releases at Christmas, then she might ship 1m copies again, but honestly, I'd be happy with a Gold album)
Canada - 250-300,000

The Americas = 1.25m-ish (IF she can nail the USA & Canada down)

UK - 400,000 (the UK STILL love her - if she can nail down some decent promo, then she should have no trouble selling Platinum (300k) and then some!)
France - 80-125,000 (TC shipped around 150k)
Germany - 80-100,000 (similar to Whitney's recent comeback)
Netherlands - 70,000 (her TC DVD is the most pre-ordered music DVD in the country, 3.5 weeks before its released)

Europe = 900,000-1m

Australia - 70,000
New Zealand - 15,000

I estimate that she should sell around 1.5m for a moderate success and around 2.5m+ for a great success. Went off on a tangent there, apologies!

[stevyy]

Many people seem to forget, that Madonna had a considerable time ahead of Mariah and Celine. Madonna heavily benefited from her 80's career which was HUGE, she was hugely outsold by Celine and Mariah during the 90's.. Both sold at least up to 40m albums more than Madonna, but as we all know, Madonna had a huge revival in 2000 and outsold both, Mariah and Celine. Mariah and Celine were en par until 2000, but unfortunately Mariah's career went downhill from 2001-2004. A time when Celine and Madonna had some big sales. Only since 2005 Mariah made herself a bigger force in music again.

Even Whitney's sales don't refelct that there was a time when no other female artists could even come to 1/3 of her popularity.. had she released more material she might have at least outsold Mariah.

Mariah is often credited as the biggest female artist of all times (in the us) because of her impressive Hot 100 success. 18 number #1's is indeed a remarkable number. From the BIG 4 she is the one who still reached the higher positions on the Hot 100. Maybe this makes her seem as a bit more current than the rest. But when it comes to touring or international appeal she can't rival Madonna, Celine or even Whitney (anymore)..

But from 1994-1996 Mariah was the music industries's Queen. Her career peak years were incredible. Unfortunately her best work was not released then, it was released 1997. Celine was a BIG name in the US and in some international markets but the Titanic era made her THE star. She was the biggest overall selling artist from 1997-2000. (maybe even beginning with 1996, cause Falling into you was a mega blockbuster). During this time Mariah had a huge album with #1's (15m), Madonna with Ray of Light (15m) and Whitney with My Love is Your Love (14m). OUR ladies reigned the decade at any time. Madonna opened the decade with TIC which was a blockbuster, Whitney took over with The Bodyguard until Mariah's Without You blockbuster overtook her. And it needed a sinking ship to dethrone Mariah, and Celine became THE artist. OK there also was Michael Jackson, or Janet or even Aerosmith BUT no one could top the divas. the 90's was the year of BIG voices.

and they are all very relevant even now.
Mariah was named the #11 most successful or best charting overall artists of the 00's in the US
Madonna's and Celine's tours establish new records everytime again. Both sold extremely well during the last decade. Celine even made the soundscan top 20 of the decade for the US. Her international sales aren't by any standard weaker (same for Madonna).

only Whitney had troubles thoughout the decade. Beginning it with a flop album (Just Whitney) and closing it with I look to you, which sold less than 3 million copies, but was a bigger success adjusted to the market size.

as we can see, the divas are still important and when we combine their sales they are still reigning the industry.

that's why i would always vote for a allstar divas concert! Just imagine Madonna, Celine, Mariah and Whitney on tour together.. i would def. stand front row screaming and loving all 4.

[HeatSeeker]

^ That was a very good analysis, stevyy! *Reps*

[Wayne]

According to the 2011 Top 10 of Everything book,

Top selling artists worldwide
1 - Beatles = 346m
2 - Michael Jackson = 235m
3 - Queen = 200m
4 - Pink Floyd = 194m
5 - Elvis Presley = 187m
6 - Madonna = 185m
7 - Celine Dion = 183m
8 - Elton John = 177m
9 - U2 = 170m
10 - Rolling Stones = 168m

[HeatSeeker]

^ Mandonna is only 2m albums ahead of Celine? She must be quite ahead in single sales then?

[Wayne]

That's just a list published by The Top Ten... annual - they are similar to Guiness, and usually get their data fed to them via record labels/chart experts. So their information is at best only semi-accurate.

I don't buy that list one bit - Elvis as little as 187m - I don't think so. Even with the double albums variable withstanding, Elvis has not sold "that little".

RE: Celine vs Madonna - Celine's label released a somewhat accurate assessment of Celine's album shipments back in 2004 ("According to Sony Music and IFPI, Celine Dion sold, from 1987 to August 31, 2004, a total of 174,436,400 albums worldwide. The sales of her first twelve albums, in French, recorded before the signing of her Sony contract, in 1987, were not included in this total" - CELINE DION THREAD (http://www.vanityedge.com/forum/showthread.php?5-Celine-Dion-Charts-amp-Sales)). Whilst I've never been convinced of this total, the figure is too precise to merely disregard, and as its one that the IFPI and Sony both endorse, a degree of accuracy in researching it will have been needed.

Anyway, that's just the top 10 list, according to the book :)

[Wayne]

^ Mandonna is only 2m albums ahead of Celine? She must be quite ahead in single sales then?

Oh forgot to answer the latter part of your question; Madonna (or Mandonna as you like to call her :P) has sold over 100m physical and digital singles, compared to Celine who has barely sold half of that.

[HeatSeeker]

Thanks for the quick response Wayne!

[Wayne]

First page updated; now with album and single sales. And the first post details my list of the top selling overall acts of all-time.

[HeatSeeker]

Thanks for this Wayne. I love how Mariah never moves past 200 million records on people's lists, since like 2007 LOL

[Wayne]

Its just really hard to account for Music Box's 27m figure, and Daydream's 20m odd figure. And the 17.5m figure for her #1 collection. They really are the very top end - the absolute maximum. Same with Celine, I've reduced her by a couple of million albums too (she was 172m).

[Wayne]

This is currently getting between 150-300 views per day, a lot from web crawlers, but a lot from UNIQUE IP addresses (i.e. a lot of these views are from actual people), and I've also noted that a lot of my work is being published around the web. Therefore, I've decided that I'm going to turn this into a website of its own (for reference purposes) and use it as an affiliate of Vanity Edge! I've purchased a domain name (and shall let you guys know first, when its ready to go), and I'm now in the process of creating the site! :D Its going to be real basic (I'm using either Wordpress or Dreamweaver to create the site), as its only for reference purposes, but I hope it'll grow into something quite nice! :)

[HeatSeeker]

This is currently getting between 150-300 views per day, a lot from web crawlers, but a lot from UNIQUE IP addresses (i.e. a lot of these views are from actual people), and I've also noted that a lot of my work is being published around the web. Therefore, I've decided that I'm going to turn this into a website of its own (for reference purposes) and use it as an affiliate of Vanity Edge! I've purchased a domain name (and shall let you guys know first, when its ready to go), and I'm now in the process of creating the site! :D Its going to be real basic (I'm using either Wordpress or Dreamweaver to create the site), as its only for reference purposes, but I hope it'll grow into something quite nice! :)

:cheer: can't wait to see it!

[Wayne]

Hit a snag! Rest assured though, I'm still working on this :)

[Wayne]

Re-doing ALL of my estimations; its taking much longer than I thought though. I expect to have the site up & running by the end of May, which is roughly one and a half months from now. To give you an indication of how long it takes though:


I first check my current notes with my old notes, to look for discrepancies
I then do a quick search of various places relating to the artists, and trawl through Google books to see if any new magazines/books have surfaced
And I then formulate the estimations

To redo Celine, it took me just shy of three hours; to redo Mariah, it took me 2 hours. To do Shania, it took 40 minutes, and to do Pink, it took me 35 minutes. Obviously, the bigger the catalogue the harder the work. But I aim to get at least three acts done each day for the next month and a half, and then finish building the site. So far...

Celine Dion
Mariah Carey
Whitney Houston
Shania Twain
Pink

Next up, I'm doing Rihanna & Beyonce. Got lots of long hours ahead! :/

[HeatSeeker]

It's interesting to read about your process. Good luck!

[stevyy]

can't wait to compare your stats with the ones MJDangerous gave us!

[caroline953]

The Beatles has claimed 600 million sales in 1960-1970. They have released first charted record in 1962.

Total Certified Sales

US: 207.1 million
JAP: 1.8 million
GER: 8 million
UK: 7.4 million
FRA: 3.1 million
AUS: 2.7 million
CAN: 13.5 million
NLD: 295,000
SPA: 640,000
BRA: 550,000
AUT: 400,000
BEL: 265,000
SWI: 350,000
SWE 485,000

[DionmyheartBarbra]

Hi Wayne I am a chinese fan of Celine and Barbra, I have recently read Barbra 's Guilty's sales had been count in 14.5M in MJdangrous's website Fan of music ,and could you tell me how much singles Barbra have sales in USA ? I want E sales ,not Riaa.Thank you very much.

[Wayne]

Hi Wayne I am a chinese fan of Celine and Barbra, I have recently read Barbra 's Guilty's sales had been count in 14.5M in MJdangrous's website Fan of music ,and could you tell me how much singles Barbra have sales in USA ? I want E sales ,not Riaa.Thank you very much.

I have Guilty at 13m worldwide - fairly conservative. But a good estimate nonetheless. A small breakdown:

Guilty

North America: 6,000,000
Europe: 5,500,000
Australasia: 575,000
Rest: 1,000,000+

= 13,000,000

As for her single sales, I've never looked into them properly. However, I have her down as the third best-selling female singles artist in US history, behind Patti Page [47m+], Madonna [40m+] & then Barbra with over 31m so far. Mariah is fourth with over 29m single sales in the USA.

[DionmyheartBarbra]

It's so kind of you. Barbra‘s single sales has been a big confused for me .thanx very much.
:roll:BTW：I am so gald to see there‘s some chart and sales experts among celine’s fans，so we can know and learn lots of useful information about Celine‘s chart ，tour，sales and son on.

[Wayne]

^ :)

Celebrating over 55,000 views of this topic! :o

[Wayne]

Blimey, and even some people have liked it via Facebook!