Top 100 Best Selling Music Artists of All Time

[mozfonky]

very surprised Prince is ranked as highly as he is. He's historically forgotten about on lists of all kinds and if not forgotten about, ranked way down near the bottom, his death might have changed that. Like I say, I don't trust lists. Little Richard once complained about how the guys he actually helped launch careers or was affiliated in some way with, like Jimi Hendrix or The Stones or The Beatles might beat him out on some list as singers or artists. He was right, subjectivity will always sink in, especially at the Rolling Stone where he did his complaining.

 

[Cherry Brigand]

it is, he was widely considered a talent for his era who threw it away for the sex drugs and rock and roll, but even in the seventies, the hot legs and do you think i'm whatever were big hits. I tend to really like his 80's stuff and for my idol Terence Trent D'arby to be a huge fan tells me everything about his abilities.

I wouldn't say he threw it all away. Guy has been in the scene for 50 years. Saw one of his shows in the 90s. Knew nothing about him. It was awesome. And his unplugged and seated album was amazing.

 

[Darkavius]

Not a big shakira fan at all but she has awesome charisma and stage presence, her abilities as a performer, with and without the sex appeal is entrancing. As far as her songs, I only know the whenever Wherever which is a great tune. I've seen clips of her performing dance and playing her instrument, those things are a plus in my mind. Her being any sort of consistently great album artist, you're probably right, I never listened to her full albums.

Janet Jackson, who can't really do anything but dance at least had the great fortune or running into two very hungry and eager to prove themselves producers. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were fired by Prince and took all his secret ingredients away to have a much bigger hit list than their mentor, a lot of it because of Janet.

I think Janet's voice is decent but you brought up Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Man....the hits those guys created were massive. They were biggest during the New Jack Swing era from the mid to late 80's. That produced some of the best music which is part of the reason I like 80's R&B over 90's R&B.

very surprised Prince is ranked as highly as he is. He's historically forgotten about on lists of all kinds and if not forgotten about, ranked way down near the bottom, his death might have changed that. Like I say, I don't trust lists. Little Richard once complained about how the guys he actually helped launch careers or was affiliated in some way with, like Jimi Hendrix or The Stones or The Beatles might beat him out on some list as singers or artists. He was right, subjectivity will always sink in, especially at the Rolling Stone where he did his complaining.

I don't get the impression people forgot Prince especially after the Dave Chappelle/Charlie Murphy skits. He was already huge in the 80's and 90's and then Dave helped him into a bigger star of a newer era I believe after the skits. Some of what Prince had though as far as sales though does come from people he helped get put on such as Morris Day and The Time.

 

[mozfonky]

I think Janet's voice is decent but you brought up Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Man....the hits those guys created were massive. They were biggest during the New Jack Swing era from the mid to late 80's. That produced some of the best music which is part of the reason I like 80's R&B over 90's R&B.



I don't get the impression people forgot Prince especially after the Dave Chappelle/Charlie Murphy skits. He was already huge in the 80's and 90's and then Dave helped him into a bigger star of a newer era I believe after the skits. Some of what Prince had though as far as sales though does come from people he helped get put on such as Morris Day and The Time.

Jimmy and Terry are legends. Janet has a voice good enough to do what she did and she wasn't unusual for the business for female singers and their singing abilities. That had been going along for a long time.

Prince, compared to his fellow megastars, always came across as underrated, or as a lot of people, even black people will say, "he was a weirdo". I did karaoke last week, sang I Wanna Be Your Lover and the lady, black lady from Texas, did say he was weird. That's not uncommon in life or death for Prince. A lot of the public just didn't know what to make of him. And that's all seperate from his sales but are reflected in those sales. He came out with many, many albums which if someone else came out, say a young pretty, fresh face, the critics would have went nuts. He also glutted the market with his music in an era where it was considered unwise to release an album every year. He also, in his prime, had the balls to eschew the Purple Rain popstar success and put out albums to cut his new audience to a third of what it was (and it dwindled steadily up to his all too brief 2004 renaissance). If you're old enough to remember, in the 90's the war with Warners had everyone writing him off as a force in the business, only Prince could come through that and comeback the way he did. Still, by the end, from many accounts, he was depressed that he sensed his time was past and got defensive at being called a "legacy" or oldies act when he was still creating vibrant, new music. Poor guy, he made allusions in his final Piano and a Mic tour to "they can go with those others (other better selling artists) but I got so and so many thousands in the bay area" I think he may have committed suicide over that along with all his other issues but we'll never know for sure.

 

[mozfonky]

I wouldn't say he threw it all away. Guy has been in the scene for 50 years. Saw one of his shows in the 90s. Knew nothing about him. It was awesome. And his unplugged and seated album was amazing.

I know he was, I'm saying that the hopes of the scribes and the critics was that here was a talent who could write, sweet, sentimental songs like maggie may and that once he got a taste of the good life, just went with it. Many artists do you know. Elvis had fans from his early, Rockabilly days to say, "he sold out to the girls" as he became more a crooner over the years. It's all subjective. Rod's songs were still good enough to hit as we all know but the depth of do ya think i'm sexy or hot legs isn't really there. Not the first artist to dissapoint people and not the first artist to make what someone else considers a mistake.

I mentioned Terence Trent D'arby, got off to a bang up start only to hamstring himself. Now that's a case where I don't see how it can be argued, dude had everything you could want and was growing just too fast for any sort of pop audience to keep up with. What the hell's he following up a huge debut with his version of Sgt. Peppers? It ruined him and he never recovered even though I still consider Symphony or Damn better than anything by anyone in the 90's and I still love his new music and tell him on FB every chance I get. Dude's a genius and a victim of his own hubris and the machinations of the business. They say MJ was so threatened by him that he got him semi-blackballed.

 

[560ti]

The biggest surprise in the top 20 imo is Rod Stewart. Did not see that one coming.

He's got huge worldwide appeal. Over 100 million albums and one of the few artists that's done over 3,000 live shows.

Eric Clapton is a bit of a surprise.

If you include all of the bands, he's been with I think he's over 200 million albums sold and over 2,000 live shows. His longevity is high.

 

[mozfonky]

He's got huge worldwide appeal. Over 100 million albums and one of the few artists that's done over 3,000 live shows.

If you include all of the bands, he's been with I think he's over 200 million albums sold and over 2,000 live shows. His longevity is high.

Good looking bloke(as the brits would say) that Rod, it's not easy for any star not to fall into the screwing as many women as they can and gearing their aesthetic to that end. It sells and it gratifies their egos.

Clapton I'm not too hip to, he's a legend for sure. Some critics have said he can't really play, same was said of Jimmy Page too. I wouldn't know, they play a helluva lot better than I do.

 

[Corona]

Goatler swift is gonna smash these records in the next 5-10 years

 

[Spam On Rye]

Elvis is King! Also, Beatles suck.

 

[moreorless87]

Were I think these lists fall down is a lot of album and single sales in the mid/late 20th century outside of the typical western markets were really not tracked very well.

How much was say Pink Floyd selling in Brazil or AC/DC in Argentina?

I think rock bands from the 70's and the 80's probably miss out most of this as there draw was starting to become very wide but the tracking of sales was not keeping pace.

 

[Darkavius]

Goatler swift is gonna smash these records in the next 5-10 years

It could happen but I hate the idea of it. Nothing against Swift but the quality of her competition just isn't there compared to other artists in their primes. Obviously that is not her fault but who is her biggest musical competitor now? Rihanna does not release music anymore. Beyonce maybe but she's been around and popular for at least 25 years now and not in her prime anymore musically. Possibly Bad Bunny?

 

[mozfonky]

Elvis is King! Also, Beatles suck.

He is King but the Beatles don't suck. I've said it here before but acts have built entire careers around coming up with one song like the beatles came up with all the time.

 

[mozfonky]

It could happen but I hate the idea of it. Nothing against Swift but the quality of her competition just isn't there compared to other artists in their primes. Obviously that is not her fault but who is her biggest musical competitor now? Rihanna does not release music anymore. Beyonce maybe but she's been around and popular for at least 25 years now and not in her prime anymore musically. Possibly Bad Bunny?

Beyonce may not be in her pop prime but listening just to her singing, she's way better than she was when I was first disgusted by her singing. She's become a real singer over the years. A major problem is that there aren't the places anymore for our young to incubate and grow from the gitgo. I mean, sure, some still exist but not like they used to. Our young really have no way to work on music in those important early years. Now, I know, as a musician, that we do have some. Often, ironically, they are the upper class kids who's parents can afford to get them all the tutoring and lessons. Why is that ironic? Well, most american music has been by the not haves, not the haves and the not haves today have a hard time getting access to all the resources the haves get.

 

[Morning Star]

Which is odd to me considering of her counterparts she was a worse singer than Christina Aguilera. Christina's songs were just not as catchy or even as good for that matter. In the past 30 years I would say the biggest female pop stars in no order are: Britney, Rihanna, Beyonce, Taylor and Gaga.

I think you're forgetting Mariah Carey. She's got 19 #1 Singles and 11 of those are in the last 30 years. Only Rihanna and Taylor have more than 11 in that same timespan. That Christmas Song that gets played on loop every year of her's is going to outlive us all.

 

[Brother Numsi]

Dark Side of The Moon alone stayed in the Billboard Top 200 from its release in 73 to 1988. It's entered the Billboard Top 200 on and off for nearly 1000 weeks, charting as recently as last December

That is just insane

Even Thriller didn’t do that and it’s the biggest selling album of all time

 

[RollSonnenRoll]

That is just insane

Even Thriller didn’t do that and it’s the biggest selling album of all time

Unbelievable longevity. That December charting was 5,000 units. It's still moving 5,000 copies 42 years later, in a time where nobody buys albums anymore. It's only 3 weeks away from being on the charts for a total of 19 years.

 

[Brother Numsi]

About what I expected

Eminem being above Elton John, Led Zeppelin and U2 is insane giving the influence those legends have.

Taylor will probably be in the Top 5 if not Top 3 when it’s all done.

Say what you want about white folks but DAMN y’all really support the artist you like

 

[Mujeriego]

Just some observations looking over the list.

• Surprised Usher is so low on the list considering he's been relevant for about 25 or so years now.
• Happy to see Sade on the list in the top 100. Her music still holds up today.
• Shakira being in the top 100 is terrible. I've listened to like 2 of her albums and they were terrible.
• Britney Spears in the top 50....I get it but no. Personally never understood what people liked about her music.
• Stevie Wonder at #42 is way too low.
• Don't really understand the love for Aerosmith. Not a bad band by any means but just not my thing.
• Whitney Houston is way too low for what I consider to be the best major industry artist to ever sing.
• Shame Oasis did not crack the top 100. Their first 2 albums are really good along with The Masterplan album.

Whitney has some of the best selling albums off all time though.

And fuck all the other shit.
Its pure album sales that matter.

Michael Jackson wins.

Streams? Fuck outta here, with those made up numbers.

 

[mozfonky]

Whitney has some of the best selling albums off all time though.

And fuck all the other shit.
Its pure album sales that matter.

Michael Jackson wins.

Streams? Fuck outta here, with those made up numbers.

Whitney is on a very short list of the best singers ever

MJ has and will have the best selling album ever forever.

 

[Madmick]

Cool resource, but even at 1:1500+ streams are weighted way, way, way too heavily. Shit is free. If you're going to do that, get an estimate for total radio plays, and afford the older stars a similar addition to their totals.

Also, streaming is fairly global at this point. The market reach of albums to be sold 70 years ago even for the biggest stars with the widest export net would have been a prospective for about 1 out of 8 people on the planet. You didn't even have a chance to sell to the other 7. Streams are probably reaching over 90% of the population, now, and the population has nearly tripled.

So it would be interesting to see a list like this adjusted for population growth, too.