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Talk:List of best-selling music artists

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It is essential to provide reliable sources when editing this article. For examples, see the references section. Unsourced or unreliably sourced additions will be removed immediately.

The list is frequently edited in good faith to update the certified sales figures; however, claimed sales figures need to be supported by reliable sources, preferably from news organizations.

Artists with claimed sales figures below 75 million may not be added to the list.

Whilst we encourage editors to be bold, it is highly recommended to discuss changes on this talk page before editing.

Below you can get an understanding as to when certifications for songs are added to the total certified sales of the listed artists.

  • One lead artist and one featured artist. (The issued certification(s) should be added to the total of both, the lead artist and the featured artist as both will have almost equal amount of part).
  • Two lead artists. (The issued certification(s) should be added to the total of both lead artists as both will have almost equal amount of part).
  • Two lead artists and one featured artist. (The issued certification(s) should be added to the total of both lead artists as well as the featured artist. Both lead artists will play a significant part in a song and the part of the featured artist also should be significant enough).
  • One lead artist and two featured artists. (The issued certification(s) should be added to the total of the lead artist and to the total of both featured artists as almost all should have equal amount of part).

The year next to markets below indicates how far back the certification systems go in each country. The percentages stand for the global market share based on a 2007 IFPI report.

Multiple artists feature rule

I think this rule should be abolished, as it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to limit entry just to three artists, cuz first of all, who are we to judge how much an artist contributed to a song? Cuz no matter how minor their contribution were, they've got paid for it at the end of the day, and as long as they're appropriately listed as a "featured" artist on the track, then surely we should include the certification to that artist's overall certified sales. If there are no objections, then I guess it's safe to say that we'll proceed with the change. Moh8213 (talk) 18:30, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

That's a good point, especially if the track is included on participating artists' albums, which then get certified based on the track's sales and streams (if the song is a big hit it would weigh in much more than any solo tracks of the album). So, it doesn't have much sense to not include certification of the single, but include certifications of the album which features the single.--Uncleangelo (talk) 17:43, 1 October 2022 (UTC)
I totally agree with the abolition of this rule. It is, as was the case with other conditions under the past methodology, something fabricated and, in this case, difficult to find sense in it. Salvabl (talk) 22:38, 2 October 2022 (UTC)
So what are we going to do in cases like the song We Are The World.—TheWikiholic (talk) 03:30, 4 October 2022 (UTC)
Well, that's not the same case as that song is credited to a supergroup 'USA for Africa', and not to individual participating artists. On the other hand, songs that include four or five artists who are all credited should be included, because as Moh8213 mentioned, how can we really tell how much the credited artist contributed to the song? For example, 'Lady Marmalade' has vocals by four artists, yet Christina Aguilera has contributed more to that single, then to 'Moves Like Jagger' where, even though she's the only artist featured, her part is only about 20 seconds long? Also, certifications of Kanye West's 'Monster' aren't added to his total, yet the song is on his album and has contributed to the album's certifications.--Uncleangelo (talk) 20:18, 4 October 2022 (UTC)
Good luck working out Snoop Dogg's worldwide sales as a featured artist... Richard3120 (talk) 15:39, 4 October 2022 (UTC)
Snoop Dogg is not on the list.--Uncleangelo (talk) 15:18, 6 October 2022 (UTC)

Moving Rihanna to Tier 2

Hi all. It's been a while. I applaud all of your work and understand this list has been the source of much contention lately. I'd like to open up some dialogue, as I haven't been around for quite some time.

I propose that we move Rihanna down to the 200-250 million group. She started in 2005, has not had any wildly successful album sales and is just postured by her certifications from streaming and singles. As an example, Eminem is an artist from 1999-2000 and he also is in the same certification range (320-340 million), yet he has actually released albums that have sold 20-25 million physical copies. My suggestion is have Rihanna at the top of Tier 2 with the claim of 230m, Eminem next with his current claim of 220m and the rest of the list remains untouched. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.--PeterGriffin • Talk2Me 06:01, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

I agree. Let's do that. Politsi (talk) 06:51, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
Respect your suggestion, but I disagree. After Rihanna being on that club for a long time, I don't see any purpose to move her to tier 2. There are a lot of people who have unfavourable view on singles, and they'd comment that singles can't be on the same level as albums, while that's true to a certain extent, singles (just like albums) are still considered "records", regardless of its significance, and Rihanna sold tons of singles even prior the "streaming" era. Moreover, Rihanna has always been considered the most successful artists who come out on the last 17 years, so it shouldn't be surprising that she's the only one who make it to that club. As for that Eminem comparison, yes, he did sale more albums than Rihanna, but their singles sales is pretty much at the same rate, let's not forget that Eminem also has a strong streaming-generated singles on his catalogue. There have been proposals to move Eminem to tier 1, the only problem is that we currently don't have any reliable source that explicitly states that he sold 250 million, so that's why he's still at tier 2. Moh8213 (talk) 11:00, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
I also support the move. It seems she sold millions of downloaded songs, but there are heavily streaming generated figures, pre/post retroactively. She has now several years in the tier-1 club, but as for the context in the streaming era, I tend to believe there would be necessary at that time, a broadly discussion like it happened with Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift instead of merely move her with one/two users opinion. --Apoxyomenus (talk) 15:30, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
I oppose the move. Rihanna's catalog isn't fully certified, unlike Eminem. And I think most of her certifications are before 2016 and they are mostly generated by song downloads. Once her solo work is recertified like Eminem in the USA it would be more than 298M units. Furthermore, moving Rihanna to tier two will also impact the current positions of artists like Taylor Swift and Beyonce. TheWikiholic (talk) 03:43, 13 October 2022 (UTC)

Christina Aguilera

Hi. What level of certifications should Christina Aguilera have under the new guidelines to adding her among the 100 million records sold group? It can be supported by this source from NME magazine. Melketon (talk) 14:25, 16 October 2022 (UTC)

She must have at least 82m certified sales and the source support must come from a news organization. Politsi (talk) 10:58, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
abtc.ng is a content scraper, not a reliable source with editorial oversight – I am not going to mess with the table in the article, but please find a reliable source for the "Clamed sales" info about Aguilera, which is currently sourced to abtc.ng. --bonadea contributions talk 13:32, 18 October 2022 (UTC)
abtc.ng is owned by Wiggles Creatives, which is an online media publishing. It's not a prestigious news source, but still it's a legal news organization. Therefore we can use it only for temporary. How about you? can you help us to find a better source for Aguilera's 90m claim?. Politsi (talk) 03:25, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 17 October 2022

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90.246.80.228 (talk) 22:03, 17 October 2022 (UTC)Sabhi Jaman is a popular youtuber
 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Vladimir.copic (talk) 04:51, 18 October 2022 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 4 November 2022

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In Section "250 million or more records" change table heading "Release year of first charted record" to "Release-year of first charted record".

This will match the other tables on the page. 199.27.253.151 (talk) 22:59, 4 November 2022 (UTC)

 Done Aoidh (talk) 08:11, 5 November 2022 (UTC)

Rihanna

Why are Rihanna's claimed sales lower than her confirmed ones? 216.164.249.213 (talk) 17:46, 14 November 2022 (UTC)

Lady gaga missing certification

Someone most add the missing certification of Lady gaga. In uk gold for Love game. In Canada Platinum for Hold my hand. In France a Platinum for Million Reasons. 151.66.39.126 (talk) 18:46, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

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