List of best-selling music artists
The world's best-selling music artists cannot be listed officially, as there is no organization that has recorded global music sales in the manner that the RIAA does in the United States. This page lists those artists who have made claims to be among the top sellers. Within their sales brackets, artists are listed in alphabetical order, rather than by number of records sold. Equal weight is given to album and single sales, as well as paid downloads. Sources are typically fan sites, record labels, newspaper articles or manual addition of figures from various official sources. This means that these figures should be considered claims, not facts.
Possible biases of this page
- Bias towards acts who have had success in the United States of America. Though on the one hand the USA provides the largest music markets in the world, the RIAA, which records sales figures in the country, has been accused of deliberately certifying certain American artists' records (and other Western acts who have been successful there) in order to boost their sales position.
- Bias towards modern artists. Comparatively less successful modern artists will have sold more records, as both global spending power and population have increased. In 1950, the world's population was 2.5 billion; by 2000 it had risen to 6 billion [1]. Also, older artists suffer from bias as their record sales are less likely to have been noted, and estimates of their sales are likely to be more vague.
- Fan sites, press articles, certification authorities and record companies are also accused of inflating record sales. This could be for publicity reasons, or under the belief that quantity of sales suggests a greater quality of music.
- Certain artists who have sold millions of albums over their career, will be excluded from the list. George Michael, for example, does not appear, despite claims for over 80 million record sales [2], as he achieved fewer than fifty million as Wham!, and fewer than fifty million as 'George Michael'.
World's best seller
The actual best selling musician in the world will probably never be known. Records of sales in many countries, particularly in the developing world, are poor and date back less than 20 years. The Beatles, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley are all, however, regularly cited as being the top sellers. Less common claims are made for a number of other artists though these are usually taken as less valid.
Artists claimed to have sold 250 million records or more
- In alphabetical order
ABBA Sweden 70s-80s Rock/Pop/Schlager [3][4] Alla Pugacheva Russia 70s-00s Pop [5] The Beatles UK 60s-70s Rock/Pop Guinness estimate [6] [7] Bing Crosby U.S. 20s-70s Pop (Traditional) [8] Chubby Checker U.S. 60s-00s Pop/R&B [9] [10] Sir Cliff Richard UK 50s-00s Pop [11] Sir Elton John UK 70s-00s Piano Rock [12] [13] Elvis Presley U.S. 50s-70s Rock'N'Roll/Pop/Country/Gospel [14] [15][16] Frank Sinatra U.S. 30s-90s Pop (Traditional) [17] Julio Iglesias Spain 70s-00s Pop (Latin) [18] Led Zeppelin UK 60s-80s Hard Rock/Blues Rock/Heavy Metal [19] Madonna U.S. 80s-00s Pop/Dance/Electronica/R&B [20] Michael Jackson U.S. 60s-00s Pop/R&B/Rock/Disco/Soul/Dance/ Gospel/Ballads/Rap [21][22] Nana Mouskouri Greece 60s-00s Pop [23][24] Queen UK 70s-00s Arena/Glam/Heavy Metal/Progressive Rock [25] Tino Rossi France 30s-80s Pop [26]
Artists claimed to have sold 100 million records or more
 | This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
AC/DC Australia 70s-00s Hard Rock [27] Aerosmith U.S. 70s-00s Hard Rock [28] A. R. Rahman India 90s-00s Classic (Soundtracks) [29] Barbra Streisand U.S. 60s-00s Vocal/Pop [30] Barry White U.S. 70s-00s Pop/R&B [31] The Beach Boys U.S. 60s-90s Pop/Surf Rock [32] The Bee Gees Isle of Man/Australia 60s-00s Pop/Disco [33] Billy Joel U.S. 70s-00s Piano Rock [34] [35] Bon Jovi U.S. 80s-00s Rock [36] Brenda Lee U.S. 50s-60s Pop/Country [37] The Carpenters U.S. 60s-80s Pop [38][39] Céline Dion Canada 80s-00s Pop [40] Charles Aznavour France 50s-00s Pop [41] Cher U.S. 60s-00s Pop/Rock/Disco/Dance [42] Chicago U.S. 60s-00s Pop [43] Creedence Clearwater Revival U.S. 60s-70s Pop/Rock [44] [45] David Bowie UK 60s-00s Rock/Pop [46][47][48][49] Deep Purple UK 60s-00s Hard Rock/Heavy Metal [50] Dionne Warwick U.S. 60s-00s Pop/R&B [51] Dolly Parton U.S. 60s-00s Country/Pop [52][53] Donna Summer U.S. 70s-00s Disco/Pop [54] Duane Eddy U.S. 50s-80s Rock [55] Eagles U.S. 70s-00s Rock [56] Engelbert Humperdinck UK 60s-00s Pop [57] Fats Domino U.S. 40s-00s Rock/R&B [58] Fleetwood Mac UK/U.S. 60s-00s Rock [59] Frankie Laine U.S. 40s-00s Jazz/Pop/Gospel/Country [60] Garth Brooks U.S. 80s-00s Country [61] Gene Autry U.S. 20s-90s Country [62] Genesis UK 70s-00s Progressive Rock / Pop Rock [63] The Jacksons U.S. 60s-80s Pop/R&B/Disco/Rock/Soul [64][65][66] John Denver U.S. 60s-00s Folk/Rock [67] [68] Johnny Hallyday France 50s-00s Pop [69] Johnny Mathis U.S. 50s-00s Pop (Traditional) [70] Joni James U.S. 50s-60s Pop (Traditional) [71] Kenny Rogers U.S. 50s-00s Country [72][73] Lionel Richie U.S. 80s-00s R&B [74] Luciano Pavarotti Italy 60s-00s Opera [75] [76] Mariah Carey U.S. 90s-00s Pop/R&B [77][78] Mireille Mathieu France 60s-00s Pop [79] Modern Talking Germany 80s-00s Pop/Dance [80] Neil Diamond U.S. 60s-80s Pop [81] Patti Page U.S. 40s-00s Pop/Country [82] [83] Perry Como U.S. 30s-00s Pop [84] Phil Collins UK 80s-00s Soft Rock [85] Pink Floyd UK 60s-00s Psychedelic Rock/Progressive Rock [86][87] Prince U.S 70s-00s Pop/R&B/Funk/Soul/Rock [88] Ricky Nelson U.S. 50s-80s Pop/Country [89] Rod Stewart UK 60s-00s Pop/Rock [90] The Rolling Stones UK 60s-00s Rock [91] The Royal Canadians Canada 30s-50s Pop (Big Band) [92] Stevie Wonder U.S. 60s-00s Pop/R&B [93][94] Status Quo UK 60s-00s Hard Rock/Blues [95] Tommy James U.S. 60s-00s Rock [96] U2 Ireland 70s-00s Rock [97] Vicky Leandros Greece 60s-00s Pop [98] [99] Wei Wei China 80s-00s Pop [100] [101] Whitney Houston U.S. 80s-00s Pop/R&B/Gospel/Soul [102] The Who UK 60s-00s Hard Rock [103]
Artists claimed to have sold 75 million records or more
| This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
Alabama U.S. 70s-00s Rock/Country The Andrews Sisters U.S. 30s-50s Pop (Swing)/Vocal [106] B'z Japan 80s-00s Rock/Pop [107] Backstreet Boys U.S. 90s-00s Pop [108] Barry Manilow U.S. 70s-00s Pop [109] Bob Dylan U.S. 60s-00s Folk/Rock [110] Bobby Vinton U.S. 60s-90s Pop/Vocal [111] [112] Britney Spears U.S. 90s-00s Pop [113] Dalida France/Italy 50s-80s Pop [114] Earth, Wind & Fire U.S. 70s-00s R&B/Disco/Pop [115] Eddy Arnold U.S. 40s-90s Country [116] Eurythmics UK 80s-90s Pop/Rock [117] Gene Austin U.S. 20s-30s Pop (Traditional) [118] Guns N' Roses U.S. 80s-00s Hard Rock/Heavy Metal [119] [120] Hank Snow Canada 30s-90s Folk [121] Jean-Michel Jarre France 70s-00s Pop (Synth) [122] Journey U.S. 70s-00s Rock/Pop [123] Kenny G U.S. 80s-00s Jazz [124] KISS U.S. 70s-00s Rock [125] Linda Ronstadt U.S. 60s-00s Country/Pop [126] Metallica U.S. 80s-00s Heavy Metal/Thrash Metal [127] The Osmonds U.S. 70s-00s Pop/Rock [128] Salvatore Adamo Belgium 60s-00s Pop [129] Santana Mexico 60s-00s Rock/Blues [130] Van Halen U.S. 70s-00s Hard Rock [131] [132] The Ventures U.S. 50s-00s Rock [133] Victor Silvester UK 30s-80s Dance/Pop [134] Willie Nelson U.S. 50s-00s Country [135]
Artists claimed to have sold 50 million records or more
| This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
Notes
- 1 Source states that Mark Knopfler's total career sales are 105 million albums. Removing his solo work, this places Dire Straits in the 50 million plus category