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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.

Beyoncé

Hey Harout, sorry for being late, I've been busy lately. But here are the certs that appears to be missing/dated:

  • New Zealand: The 2x Platinum for "Perfect" is for all versions, not just for duet with Beyonce, that's the reason I only added the 2x Platinum to Ed Sheeran's total. Notice when "Perfect" had received its first Platinum by December 2017, and the Duet version had already been released as well, but not charting separately. The two versions combined peaked at No. 1 in mid December 2017, and the standard version no longer is listed separately.
  • Sweden: I have "Best Thing I Ever Had" as Platinum on my file.
Good job, here is the updated file.--Harout72 (talk) 13:54, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
So, is it okay if I put her with 120m claim now? Thanks Politsi (talk) 14:51, 21 January 2022 (UTC)
If it's a reliable source, why not, the difference is only 2 million.--Harout72 (talk) 15:04, 21 January 2022 (UTC)

Hey Harout, I've just had one last glimpse on the file and it seems that the single Baby Boy is certified Gold (400,000) in the UK in 2020. (Listed in ur file as Silver) Moh8213 (talk) 22:06, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

Whitney Houston

Harout. I Will remove her 170m claim because she's already at 152m in certified sales. Thanks. Politsi (talk) 03:48, 25 January 2022 (UTC)

Let's remove the 170 million when she's closer to 160 million with her certified sales. After all, her recent certs on singles must be streaming generated.--Harout72 (talk) 12:47, 25 January 2022 (UTC)
Can you please give me your file on Whitney?.— TheWikiholic (talk) 17:17, 25 January 2022 (UTC)
Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 18:17, 25 January 2022 (UTC)
The total digital certifications of Whitney from the USA is 29.5 million. If we deduct them from her total certifications, it will be still at 123.1 M, and it's around 62% for her 200M claimed sales which I think is good enough for an artist who got her first certification in 1985.— TheWikiholic (talk) 14:47, 26 January 2022 (UTC)
TheWikiholic, make sure you make your comments clear before you decide to remove sales figures. You said nothing about 170 million, your comment is about 200 million and it's already in the list. If you were referring to 170 million, then why should there be 40 million units of gap? BTW, UK and Denmark both have large number of certifications for Houston that are Streaming generated.--Harout72 (talk) 03:51, 4 February 2022 (UTC)
My comment was about why the sales claim of 170M is no longer required for Whitney. The discussion was also about that. The total available certification of whitney from Denmark is 515K and certainly her UK certification since 2014 will not be crossing 10M. If you check her streaming trends you can see that her worldwide digital certification from all are not streaming dominant, but digital download. Oddly, Whitney's contemporaries, like Madonna, has a gap of 94M records between her certfied sales and claimed sales. Considering all these facts the 40M gap is not a big one, at all.— TheWikiholic (talk) 07:04, 4 February 2022 (UTC)
All certifications on singles issued after 2017 are heavily streaming generated, in all of the western world. The 40 million gap would immediately become 70 million gap if the 170 million claim is removed prematurely. For that reason, it should remain in place until the gap becomes smaller. Madonna doesn't have any streaming generated certs in US, in fact, Madonna's US record company hasn't re-certified her catalogue since 2012, so Madonna isn't a good comparison. But AC/DC is in Whitney's section, and their gap is relatively small between their certified sales and the lower claimed figure, but also would leave a huge 65 million units of gap if the 150 million figure is removed prematurely.--Harout72 (talk) 13:40, 4 February 2022 (UTC)
Harout, Whitney Houston’s digital certifications are certainly not heavily generated by streams. If you have any doubt, please have a look at her stats on popular streaming websites, such as Youtube and Spotify. There are two reasons that Whitney is being compared to Madonna; the first is that both are from the same era, and the second is that Madonna had a gap of over 146.7M units between her claimed sales and certified sales when this page began using her 300M claim. I would also like to point out that you already replied to Politsi, saying that it was okay to remove her 170M claim once her certified sales had reached 160M, which is 7.4M away from her current claimed sales. Could you please provide me with an adequate explanation on how having 7.4M more claimed sales would justify the removal of her 170M claims?— TheWikiholic (talk) 19:12, 4 February 2022 (UTC)
You should provide sources for her digital sales that Whitney's digital certifications are not mainly Streaming generated. I already explained above why Madonna should not be compared to Whitney in this situation. If you can produce reliable sources for Whitney's digital sales and they are at least 75% Digital Download based, and not Streaming generated, then by all means I'd agree to remove the 170 million.--Harout72 (talk) 20:02, 4 February 2022 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 26 January 2022

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Hello. Just wondering if Cardi B is eligible for the list. Her total RIAA units surpass 90 million . The website Sportskeeda backs it up:

https://www.sportskeeda.com/pop-culture/how-much-cardi-b-worth-rapper-s-fortune-explored-gifts-husband-offset-2-million-birthday. 181.65.101.55 (talk) 02:02, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

Is there a reliable source that claims at least 75 million records for her? RIAA supports only 48 million.--Harout72 (talk) 05:56, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

48 million for her singles as a lead act, a total of 96 including featuring credits . 181.65.101.55 (talk) 06:27, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

We include only the certifications for those singles that have maximum of three artists involved. The certs for singles with four or more artists are not included. To be included on this list, we'd first need a reliable source that claims at least 75 million records for her, and since she's a new artists, her worldwide certified sales would have to be over 150 million units because more than 50% (if not 75%) of her certified sales are streaming generated and not based on downloads or physical sales.--Harout72 (talk) 13:02, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

I see. Without "Taki Taki" (the only with four artists) it would be 92 million US units. I'll look for a claim of 75 million. Is there a total worldwide units compilation available? To see where her total stands. 181.65.101.55 (talk) 17:39, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

I don't think Cardi B is ready to be on the list. She's still need another six years to be. Politsi (talk) 15:21, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 29 January 2022

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add the 1981 Australian platinum certification for 50,000 albums sold for the Police's Outlandos ablum to the Police's certified units from 527,000 to 577,000. Erycartmani (talk) 22:42, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

  1. "Kent Music Report No 341 – 5 January 1981 > Platinum and Gold Albums 1980". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 12 November 2021 – via Imgur.com.
Looks to be same vandal who inflated sales and certification for Police as before. Hzh (talk) 10:19, 30 January 2022 (UTC)
In order for us to use the certs in Kent Music Report, the cover page, introduction page and the page for certifications all need to be scanned, not just one page.--Harout72 (talk) 13:23, 30 January 2022 (UTC)

Robbie Williams,Green Day,Kylie Minogue and Post Malone

Hey Everyone, although i might not have signed in yet, but due to the given privileges of Misplaced Pages been a user friendly Website i wish to cite these loopholes. I understand that you all have been doing much but there are still some unresolved additions I really do not know the reasons for this: missing certs or other reasons best known to everybody but I do feel that these artistes listed have qualified in every Single criteria so, I fee so should be out into their additions with other artistes to like Andrea Boceli,Gloria Estefan,The Who... Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.190.12.9 (talk) 09:25, 30 January 2022 (UTC)

Eminem's claimed sales

Per promotion for the Super Bowl halftime show, Eminem's claimed sales figures are now in the 390 million - 500 million range, far above the currently listed 220 million. https://twitter.com/ShadyTimes/status/1487927738069659652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1487927738069659652%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html1487927738069659652 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bzg0515 (talk • contribs) 02:26, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

Janet Jackson

Can one please check if these two songs' certifications are added here? What's It Gonna Be?! was certified Gold in the USA in 1999. Feel It Boy was certified Gold in Australia.

Got ‘Til It’s Gone single is Silver in your file; isn't it Gold on the SNEP website? Isn't All for You certified Gold on SNEP? Isn't WHOOPS NOW is certified Gold on SNEP? Israell (talk) 20:11, 1 February 2022 (UTC)

Comment about French certs and applicable to all artist. SNEP database is a kind of mess site (like was CAPIF in Argentina), because now every previous silver certification is "Gold" in their new database and that's simply an error. I think InfoDisc provide if older singles were "Gold" or "Silver"- --Apoxyomenus (talk) 20:16, 1 February 2022 (UTC)
The French certs mentioned above are all Silver, the SNEP database isn't programmed to bring up the Silver awards. The US Gold for "What's It Gonna Be" and the Australian Gold for "Feel It Boy" were just added. Here is the updated file for Janet. Let me know if you see anything else missing.--Harout72 (talk) 20:55, 1 February 2022 (UTC)

Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode is missing. They have sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Sources: German link Billboard (sources from their article)

Sony Music (in German) Official UK Charts

Best Regards--88.150.88.93 (talk) 12:12, 2 February 2022 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 2 February 2022

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Changing the total claimed sales for Madonna from 300 m to 335m. Guinness world records (one of two main and valid verification sources) recognises Madonna’s sales at 335 m. This source is from 2015, more recent than the sources which give the current figure on this Misplaced Pages article. In order to increase the factual accuracy and reliability of this article, updating this error to match the verified source is required.

Source - https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/amp/news/2018/8/madonnas-career-in-10-records-as-queen-of-pop-turns-60-536857 220.238.96.237 (talk) 13:40, 2 February 2022 (UTC)

I suggest you read up the Definitions on the main page.--Harout72 (talk) 13:51, 2 February 2022 (UTC)
Guinness World Records are irrelevant to music sales certification. They even say that worldwide sales of Elvis are 1 billion, of which 129.5 million are sales in America. It's just ridiculous. 31.4.229.77 (talk) 20:26, 2 February 2022 (UTC)
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