Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of best-selling boy bands

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 23:30, 10 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

List of best-selling boy bands

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

List article entirely consisting of original research. Despite the very clear cut ranking of bands, determining which bands should, or should not, be included is not. So those included in each list is purely at the opinion of the contributing editors. Omissions and arbitrary decisions therefore affect the rankings calculated and shown. Sources used to support the sales figures do not classify or rank any of the bands in this manner, so each resulting list is the product of original synthesis. Escape Orbit ^(Talk) 21:23, 30 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: I outlined a few specific examples of the fundamental problem with this article on its talk page a few months back. --Escape Orbit ^(Talk) 21:31, 30 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Delete since there's no specific definition of a "boy band" and as a result, no criteria for inclusion on the list. Is Rascal Flatts one, for example? The fact that no one can agree on what is and isn't a boy band shows that this list is inherently flawed. Ten Pound Hammer • ^{(What did I screw up now?)} 22:20, 30 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Music-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 01:07, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Lists-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 01:07, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Keep There is a definition at the main page, a boyband is a vocal group who mainly sing and dance and usually has 3-6 members. Another main factor that define a group as a boyband is their target market, boybands usually targeted to preteen, teenage, and young women. But I don't think there should be any detailed definition in this particular page since there's already a page Boy band dedicated to that. There's also this page List of best-selling girl groups that is the equivalent but nobody seem to be contesting that, I wonder why. Krystaleen (talk) 01:16, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It is now. Ten Pound Hammer • ^{(What did I screw up now?)} 01:55, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Okay. At least be consistent. But back to my argument, there's already a page dedicated to defining a boyband and what determines whether a group is a boyband or not so I guess it's pretty clear. Krystaleen (talk) 02:30, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That's all very well, but where has this "loose" definition come from? Who decided, for instance, on the 3 member threshold? I produced a few example of anomalies within the page which, if simple judgement calls went the other way, would completely change the ranking of sales. This illustrates the meaninglessly arbitrary nature of everything the page says. The Boy band article states the definition is a "loosely defined". Is that enough of a criteria to produced hard statistics, as this page attempts to? And even if a definitive definition can be cited, combining this with cited sales figures to produce a chart is the very definition of original synthesis.

That's not to say it would be completely impossible to create a credibly sourced article of Best Selling Boy Bands, but the attempt to create a chart out of nothing but raw sales figures and POV estimations of who qualifies is a mistake.--Escape Orbit ^(Talk) 12:43, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Good points you have there. The 3 members threshold I guess came from the definition of a group itself, because 1 would be solo and 2 is a duo. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think people usually refer to a group of 2 as a band.

Okay I just did a quick search and apparently there's no article of best selling bands, male/female solo artist but they are all lumped together in one huge article List of best-selling music artists. Why not separate those? I'm sorry this is getting kind of off topic. But yes you raised some good points there. Krystaleen (talk) 15:38, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Delete Per "loose definition" of what constitutes a boy band. --Starcheerspeaksnewslostwars^{Talk to me} 08:13, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Now that the afd discussion for List of best-selling girl groups has been concluded as keep, I think this should be kept too. Krystaleen (talk) 16:43, 10 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.