List of best-selling music artists

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The world's best-selling music artists cannot be listed officially, as there is no organization that has recorded global music sales. This page lists those artists who have had claims made 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 record labels, newspaper articles or manual addition of figures from various official sources. This means that these figures should be considered claims, not facts.

Constraints in establishing best-selling status

Although the criteria for the following list are intended to be expansive (including comparisons for total sales for all recording artists) there are certain limitations and constraints that may limit the conclusions that can be derived from this data.

Such constraints include:

Bias towards acts who have had success in a specific country or region.

Bias towards modern artists. There is now a broader genre spectrum of music to listen to now which limits the number of listeners.

Bias of fans, who feel that quantity of records sold equates to quality of music

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. Also, older artists suffer from bias as their record sales are less likely to have been accurately tracked, and estimates of their early sales are likely to be more vague.

Bias towards older artists. Particularly, those artists who began their recording careers since 1990 may have experienced some loss in sales from illegal downloading of tracks.

Fan sites, press articles, certification authorities and record companies have been known to inflate record sales claims.

Inflated claims for artists who performed in different acts during their careers. Sometimes all of the sales data is attributed to an individual artist. For the purposes of this list, an effort is made to separate the individual acts (e.g., the sales figures for The Beatles and Paul McCartney & Wings are mutually exclusive).

Inconsistencies between the sources of the various statistics. For example in some cases world sales are compared to US (RIAA certifies US sales only).

World's best seller

The best-selling musical act in history cannot be accurately determined. However Michael Jackson, The Beatles, and Elvis Presley have been given the title by various sources.

Artist	Country	Period	Genre
Michael Jackson	U.S.	1967–Present	Pop / R&B / Rock / Soul / Dance / Swing / Disco / Motown / Gospel
Bing Crosby	U.S.	1926–1977	Jazz / Vocal / Pop
Elvis Presley	U.S.	1954–1977	Rock / R&B / Gospel / Blues / Rockabilly / Pop / Country
Frank Sinatra	U.S.	1935–1995	Pop / Easy Listening / Vocal / Jazz / Swing
The Beatles	United Kingdom	1960–1970	Rock / Pop / Psychedelic / Experimental

Artist	Country	Period	Genre
A. R. Rahman	India	1992–Present	Film Score / World Music
ABBA	Sweden	1972–1982	Pop / Disco
Alla Pugacheva	Russia	1965–Present	Pop
The Bee Gees	Australia	1958–2003	Pop / Disco / Adult Contemporary / R&B
Celine Dion	Canada	1981–Present	Pop / Chanson / Rock / Adult Contemporary
Cliff Richard	United Kingdom	1958–Present	Pop / Rock / Adult Contemporary
Elton John	United Kingdom	1964–Present	Pop / Rock / Adult Contemporary
Julio Iglesias	Spain	1968–Present	Latin
Led Zeppelin	United Kingdom	1968–Present	Hard Rock / Blues / Heavy Metal / Folk Rock
Madonna	U.S.	1982–Present	Pop / Dance / Electronica
Nana Mouskouri	Greece	1958–Present	Pop / Folk / Jazz
Pink Floyd	United Kingdom	1964–Present	Progressive Rock / Psychedelic / Hard Rock
Queen	United Kingdom	1970–Present	Hard Rock / Glam Rock / Pop / Heavy Metal / Progressive Rock
Rod Stewart	United Kingdom	1962–Present	Rock / Pop
The Rolling Stones	United Kingdom	1962–Present	Rock / Hard Rock / Pop
Tino Rossi	France	1929–1982	Swing
Wei Wei	China	1986–Present	Pop

Artist	Country	Period	Genre
AC/DC	Australia	1973–Present	Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Adriano Celentano	Italy	1957–Present	Pop
Aerosmith	U.S.	1970–Present	Hard Rock / Blues Rock
Backstreet Boys	U.S.	1993–Present	Pop
Barbra Streisand	U.S.	1960–Present	Pop / Adult Contemporary / Classical / Easy listening / Showtunes
Barry White	U.S.	1972–2003	Pop / Disco / R&B
The Beach Boys	U.S.	1961–1996	Rock / Pop
Billy Joel	U.S.	1964–Present	Pop / Rock / Adult Contemporary
Bon Jovi	U.S.	1983–Present	Hard Rock / Glam Metal
Boney M.	Germany	1975–Present	Pop / Disco
Brenda Lee	U.S.	1957–Present	Pop
The Carpenters	U.S.	1967–1983	Pop / Adult Contemporary
Charles Aznavour	France	1936–Present	Pop / Chanson / Jazz
Cher	USA	1964–Present	Pop / Disco / Rock / Dance / Funk
Chicago	U.S.	1967–Present	Rock / Blues / Jazz / Adult Contemporary
Creedence Clearwater Revival	U.S.	1959–1972	Rock
Dalida	France	1956–1987	Pop / Disco
Dave Clark Five	United Kingdom	1964–1970	Rock
David Bowie	United Kingdom	1964–Present	Pop / Rock / Folk Rock / Glam Rock / Hard Rock / Dance / Electronica
Deep Purple	United Kingdom	1968–Present	Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Dionne Warwick	U.S.	1962–Present	Pop / R&B / Soul / Adult Contemporary
Dire Straits	United Kingdom	1975–1995	Rock
Dolly Parton	U.S.	1964–Present	Pop / Country / Folk / Bluegrass
Donna Summer	U.S.	1971–Present	Pop / Disco / R&B / Dance
Duane Eddy	U.S.	1958–1986	Rock
The Eagles	U.S.	1971–Present	Rock / Country
Electric Light Orchestra	United Kingdom	1970–1988	Progressive Rock / Pop Rock / Electronica
Engelbert Humperdinck	United Kingdom	1956–Present	Pop / Easy Listening / Vocal
Fats Domino	U.S.	1949–Present	Rock / R&B
Frankie Valli	U.S.	1967–Present	Doo wop / Pop / Disco
Garth Brooks	U.S.	1989–Present	Country
Gene Autry	U.S.	1931–1964	Country
Genesis	United Kingdom	1967–Present	Progressive Rock / Pop Rock
Gheorghe Zamfir	Romania	1964–Present	Instrumental
Herbert von Karajan	Austria	1943–1989	Classical
Iron Maiden	United Kingdom	1975–Present	Heavy Metal
Janet Jackson	U.S.	1977–Present	R&B / Soul / Dance / Pop
Johnny Hallyday	France	1957–Present	Rock / Pop
Johnny Mathis	U.S.	1956–Present	Jazz / Pop
Joni James	U.S.	1952–1964	Rock
KC and the Sunshine Band	U.S.	1973–Present	Pop / Disco / Funk
Kenny Rogers	U.S.	1958–Present	Country / Pop
Kiss	U.S.	1973–Present	Metal
Lionel Richie	U.S.	1968–Present	Pop / R&B / Soul / Adult Contemporary
Luciano Pavarotti	Italy	1963–2006	Opera
Mariah Carey	U.S.	1990–Present	Pop / R&B
Metallica	U.S.	1981–Present	Heavy Metal
Michiya Mihashi	Japan	1955–1995	Enka
Mireille Mathieu	France	1950–Present	Pop
Modern Talking	Germany	1984–2003	Disco / Synthpop
Neil Diamond	U.S.	1966–Present	Pop / Rock / Adult Contemporary
Patti Page	U.S.	1948–Present	Country
Perry Como	U.S.	1933–1998	Pop / Swing / Easy Listening
Pet Shop Boys	United Kingdom	1981–Present	Synthpop / Electronica
Phil Collins	United Kingdom	1980–Present	Rock / Pop
Prince	U.S.	1978–Present	Pop / Funk / R&B / Rock / Soul
Ricky Nelson	U.S.	1957–1985	Pop
Roberto Carlos	Brazil	1950–Present	Latin
Status Quo	United Kingdom	1967–Present	Rock
Tina Turner	U.S.	1955–Present	Pop / R&B / Rock / Soul / Dance
Tommy James	U.S.	1971–Present	Rock
U2	Ireland	1976–Present	Rock
Valeriya	Russia	1991–Present	Pop
Whitney Houston	U.S.	1977–Present	Pop / R&B / Adult Contemporary / Gospel / Dance
The Who	United Kingdom	1964–Present	Rock / Hard Rock

Artist	Country	Period	Genre
a-ha	Norway	1982–Present	Pop / New Wave
Adamo	Belgium	1966–Present	Pop
The Andrews Sisters	U.S.	1937–1951	Swing
B'z	Japan	1988–Present	Rock / Pop / Hard Rock
Barry Manilow	U.S.	1973–Present	Pop / Easy Listening / Adult Contemporary
Black Sabbath	United Kingdom	1968–Present	Heavy Metal
Bobby Vinton	U.S.	1967–1991	Pop
Bonnie Tyler	United Kingdom	1975–Present	Pop / Rock / Adult Contemporary
Britney Spears	U.S.	1999–Present	Pop
Bryan Adams	Canada	1977–Present	Rock / Pop / Adult Contemporary
Carlos Santana	Mexico	1966–Present	Rock / Blues
Donny Osmond	U.S.	1961–Present	Pop
The Doors	U.S.	1965–1973	Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Blues Rock
Earth, Wind & Fire	U.S.	1969–Present	Pop / R&B / Disco / Soul / Funk
Eddy Arnold	U.S.	1946–Present	Country
Eurythmics	United Kingdom	1980–Present	Pop / Rock / New Wave
Fairuz	Lebanon	1949–Present	Pop
Gloria Estefan	U.S.	1977–Present	Latin / Dance
Guns N' Roses	U.S.	1985–Present	Hard Rock
Hank Snow	Canada	1936–Present	Country
Hibari Misora	Japan	1949–1989	Enka
James Brown	U.S.	1956–2006	Soul / R&B / Funk
Jean Michel Jarre	France	1971–Present	New Age
Kenny G	U.S.	1987–Present	Instrumental / Jazz
Metallica	U.S.	1981–Present	Heavy Metal / Thrash Metal / Hard Rock
Mina	Italy	1958–Present	Pop
The Osmonds	U.S.	1970–Present	Rock
Peter Wolf	Austria	1968–Present	Pop / Rock
Roxette	Sweden	1986–Present	Pop / Rock
Scorpions	Germany	1969–Present	Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Van Halen	U.S.	1972–Present	Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
The Ventures	U.S.	1959–Present	Instrumental Rock
Victor Silvester	United Kingdom	1935–1978	Classical
Willie Nelson	U.S.	1956–Present	Country

Artist	Country	Period	Genre
Alanis Morissette	Canada	90s-00s	Alternative / Folk Rock
Alabama	U.S.	70s-00s	Country
Alice Cooper	U.S.	60s-00s	Hard Rock / Heavy Metal / Shock Rock / Glam Rock
Andre Kostelanetz	U.S.	40s-70s	Easy Listening
Andrea Bocelli	Italy	90s-00s	Opera / Classical
Anne Murray	Canada	60s-00s	Pop / Country
B.J. Thomas	U.S.	60s-00s	Country
Blondie	U.S.	70s-00s	New Wave
Bob Dylan	U.S.	50s-00s	Folk / Rock / Blues / Country
Bob Marley	Jamaica	60s-80s	Reggae
Bob Seger	U.S.	60s-00s	Rock
Boyz II Men	U.S.	90s-00s	R&B / Soul
Bruce Springsteen	U.S.	60s-00s	Rock / Folk Rock / Heartland Rock
Cat Stevens	United Kingdom	60s-00s	Folk / Pop
Charlie Daniels	U.S.	70s-00s	Country / Rock
The Corrs	Ireland	90s-00s	Rock
Def Leppard	United Kingdom	70s-00s	Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Depeche Mode	United Kingdom	1980–Present	New Wave / Synthpop
Destiny's Child	U.S.	90s-00s	Pop / R&B / Dance
Dreams Come True	Japan	80s-00s	Pop / Jazz
The Diamonds	Canada	50s-70s	R&B
The Doobie Brothers	U.S.	70s-00s	Rock
Don Cornell	U.S.	50s-90s	Pop
Duran Duran	United Kingdom	1981–Present	New Wave / Synthpop / Rock
Enya	Ireland	80s-00s	New Age / Celtic
Eric Carmen	U.S.	70s-00s	Pop / Easy Listening / Adult Contemporary
Fleetwood Mac	United Kingdom/U.S.	60s-00s	Rock / Blues
Four Tops	U.S.	50s-00s	R&B
George Michael	United Kingdom	80s-00s	Pop
George Strait	U.S.	70s-00s	Country
Heino	Germany	60s-00s	Country
Herb Alpert	U.S.	50s-90s	Instrumental Pop / Easy Listening
James Last	Germany	60s-00s	Instrumental / Classical
Jethro Tull	United Kingdom	60s-00s	Progressive Rock / Hard Rock /Rock
Johnny Cash	U.S.	50s-00s	Country
Kazuhiro Moriuchi	Japan	70s-00s	Enka
Kylie Minogue	Australia	80s–Present	Pop / Dance
Linda Ronstadt	U.S.	1967–Present	Rock / Pop / Country
Linkin Park	U.S.	90s-Present	Alternative Rock/ Nu Metal
Luis Miguel	Mexico	80s-00s	Latin
Meat Loaf	U.S.	70s-00s	Rock / Hard Rock
Mills Brothers	U.S.	30s-70s	Pop
Mr. Children	Japan	80s-Present	Pop / Rock
Nat King Cole	U.S.	30s-60s	Jazz / Vocal / Pop
Nelson Gonçalves	Brazil	40s-90s	Samba
New Kids on the Block	U.S.	80s-90s	Pop
Nirvana	U.S.	80s-90s	Grunge / Alternative Rock
'N Sync	U.S.	90s -00s	Pop/Dance
Oasis	United Kingdom	90s-00s	Britpop / Alternative Rock
Olivia Newton-John	Australia	70s-00s	Adult Contemporary / Pop
Orhan Gencebay	Turkey	60s-00s	Arabesque / Folk
Ozzy Osbourne	United Kingdom	80s–Present	Heavy Metal
Paul Revere & The Raiders	U.S.	60s-00s	Pop
Pearl Jam	U.S.	1990–Present	Grunge / Rock / Hard Rock
Petula Clark	United Kingdom	50s-00s	Pop
The Police	United Kingdom	70s-80s	Rock / New Wave
Ray Conniff	U.S.	50s-00s	Pop / Easy Listening
Reba McEntire	U.S.	70s-00s	Country
Red Hot Chili Peppers	U.S.	80s-00s	Funk Rock / Alternative Rock
Richard Clayderman	France	60s-00s	Easy Listening / Instrumental Pop
Robbie Williams	United Kingdom	80s-00s	Pop
Sade	United Kingdom	80s-00s	R&B / Soul / Jazz
Shakira	Colombia	90's-00s	pop
Shania Twain	Canada	90's-00s	country / pop
The Seekers	Australia	60s, 90s-00s	Folk / Rock
Spice Girls	United Kingdom	90s-00s	Pop / Dance
Stevie Wonder	U.S.	1961–Present	R&B / Soul / Funk
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	U.S.	70s-00s	Rock
The Turtles	U.S.	60s	Rock
UB40	United Kingdom	80s-00s	Reggae
Vernon Dalhart	U.S.	10s-40s	Country

Constraints in establishing best-selling status

World's best seller

Artists by reputed sales

500 million records or more

200 million records or more

100 million records or more

75 million records or more

50 million Records Or More

References