Tag Archives: Billboard Best Selling Music Artists of All-Time

Best Selling Music Artists of All-Time

Posted on by

The list of best selling music artists includes artists with claims of 75 million or more record sales in multiple third-party reliable sources. The claimed sales figures and the total certified sales figures (for each country) within the provided sources include sales of albums, singles, compilation-albums, music videos as well as downloads of singles and full-length albums. The artists in the following tables are listed with both their claimed and certified sales figures and are ranked in descending order, with the highest claimed sales at the top. Artists with the same claimed sales are then ranked by certified units. Sales figures, such as those from Soundscan, which are sometimes published by Billboard magazine, have not been included in the certified units column. Currently, The Beatles are listed at the top of the list as they are considered the highest-selling band based both on sales claims and certified units. Elvis Presley, who is listed the second on the list is considered the highest-selling individual artist based both on sales claims and certified units.

All artists included on this list, which have begun charting on official albums/singles charts have their available claimed figure(s) supported by at least 20% in certified units. That is why Cliff Richard, Diana Ross, Charles Aznavour, Bing Crosby, Nana Mouskouri, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Tom Jones, The Jackson 5, Dionne Warwick, The Andrews Sisters,Luciano Pavarotti and others have not been included on this list. The percentage amount of certified sales needed increases the newer the artist is, meaning, artists such as Rihanna are expected to have their claimed figures supported by over 60% in certified units. The certified units are sourced from available online databases of local music industry associations. Note that all certified units are converted from Gold/Platinum/Diamond certification awards based on criteria provided by certifying bodies.

The requirements of certified sales are designed to avoid inflated sales figures, which are frequently practiced by record companies for promotional purposes.

The claimed figures are sourced to articles that use the term records (singles, albums, videos) and not albums. However, if all available sources for an artist/band say albums, such sources can only be used if the certified album units of the said artist meet the required percentage amount. Note that this list uses claimed figures that are closer to artists’ available certified sales. In other words, inflated claimed figures that will meet the required certified sales amount but are unrealistically high from available certified sales, will not be used.

Best Selling Music Artists of All-Time

  • The Beatles Best Selling Music Artists of All-Time with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

    The Beatles

The Beatles United Kingdom 1960–1974
 1962
 Rock / Pop

600 million
Michael Jackson Best Selling Music Artists of All-Time with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

Michael Jackson

 

Michael Jackson
 United States 1964–2009
 1971
 Pop / Rock / Dance /R&B

400 million
350 million
300 million
  • Madonna Best Selling Music Artists of All-Time with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

    Madonna

Madonna United States 1979–present
 1982
 Pop / Rock / Dance

300 million
275 million
  • Led Zeppelin Best Selling Music Artists of All-Time with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

    Led Zeppelin

    Led Zeppelin United Kingdom 1968–1980
    		 1969
    		 Hard rock / Heavy metal

    		300 million
    200 million

    I am not surprised The Beatles are #1 but am a bit so that Elvis Presley is ahead of Michael Jackson, due to Michael Jackson’s global appeal. It is somewhat amazing that Led Zeppelin can be this high on Best Selling Music Artists of All-Time without a long history of hit singles, based solely on the strength of their album sales. These have been the most consistent hit producers of Pop Music and deserve their ranking. All are great artists for any professional Wedding DJ or Party DJ.

    is there any artist(s) that you thought would be in the top five Best Selling Music Artists of All-Time that did not reach this level of sales?

    DJ Mystical Michael New jersey DJ & Boston DJ

    973.908.8147

This Weeks Billboard Top 200 Albums Featuring Pink Floyd? A Curious DJ

Posted on by

As a professional full-time DJ, I like to scan the Billboard Charts weekly to keep up on what is new, fading and different trends. Today I was viewing the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts and saw something that had me tilting my head in confusion; Pink Floyd has FOUR albums in the current Top 200! What?

 

The professional DJ wonders, “Can that really be true?”

 

It turns out it is true. For reasons I do not understand, Pink Floyd albums are still selling at a very high rate. Not that I think their albums are not worthy of sales, but all the albums that are on the charts are over twenty-five years old! The highest is Dark Side Of The Moon, which remained on the charts for 741 weeks from 1973-1988 consecutively; the longest in history, but that was almost thirty years ago. I actually had both an 8-track and vinyl version of the album but again, that was twenty-eight years ago.

 

Also charting this week in order of appearance on the charts are The Wall, Wish You Were Here and Animals. It is peculiar to see Pink Floyd albums surrounded by Maroon 5, LMFAO, Blake Shelton and Taylor swift, again, not judging any of the artists, just peculiar. It certainly demonstrates how different the American music industry is today. Any genre from Pop, Dance, R&B, Rap, Hip Hop, Rock, Country even Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra can produce a strong-selling album and professional DJs will play them at Weddings and events.   The Singles Chart has always allowed for diversity since it is just a song and not an entire album. By the way, Adele currently has two albums in the top ten, 21 and 19, with “Someone Like You” #1 on The Top 100 Singles, her second #1 following the success of “Rolling in The Deep”.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ