Top 100 Best Selling Music Artists of All Time

[Darkavius]

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.

I did forget Mariah. She was big in the late 80's/early 90's but luckily for her in the mid to late 90's hip-hop was popular which helped her, but don't even bring up that Christmas song. It's one of the worst things that come around during Christmas.

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.

What I meant is that I am under the opinion that Whitney should be higher on the list. She is one of the best voices of all time and in today's era there is no one that can sing as good as her. As far as Michael Jackson goes though even though I don't like their music I will give The Beatles their due. However, I have said this before and I will say it again. In my lifetime there has never been anyone more famous than Michael Jackson. Younger generations will not understand but Michael Jackson was the ultimate definition of famous. Before it was easy to get on a computer and look up anything there were small towns and villages you never heard of around the world that knew who Michael Jackson was.

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.

Question. I get what you are saying and I agree but doesn't streaming actually make it harder to get noticed? Back in the day you were limited to what store had what music but now there are so many options there's no way to see them all. Add in the fact that traditional tv and radio don't hold the same value they used to and wouldn't this make streaming more valuable?

 

[Mujeriego]

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.

Why don't you go make one then slick.

 

[Gigacardio]

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.

Usher hasn't been anywhere near the top of the charts in many years.

There are plenty of bad things to say about Britney's music, voice, and personality but I'm still glad she has placed so much higher than many other solo female singers, including the likes of Beyonce.

Pink and Katy Perry are in the top 100. The latter's personality is a very mixed bag but I'm still glad for them.

Metalica is ranked super high despite not singing a genre that has mass appeal....and I think they've had only one hugely successful album, right?

How In the world is Janet Jackson not higher on the list???

 

[Gigacardio]

I did forget Mariah. She was big in the late 80's/early 90's but luckily for her in the mid to late 90's hip-hop was popular which helped her, but don't even bring up that Christmas song. It's one of the worst things that come around during Christmas.



What I meant is that I am under the opinion that Whitney should be higher on the list. She is one of the best voices of all time and in today's era there is no one that can sing as good as her. As far as Michael Jackson goes though even though I don't like their music I will give The Beatles their due. However, I have said this before and I will say it again. In my lifetime there has never been anyone more famous than Michael Jackson. Younger generations will not understand but Michael Jackson was the ultimate definition of famous. Before it was easy to get on a computer and look up anything there were small towns and villages you never heard of around the world that knew who Michael Jackson was.



Question. I get what you are saying and I agree but doesn't streaming actually make it harder to get noticed? Back in the day you were limited to what store had what music but now there are so many options there's no way to see them all. Add in the fact that traditional tv and radio don't hold the same value they used to and wouldn't this make streaming more valuable?

Less talented or not, Madonna is just as famous as Michael Jackson.

 

[Streeter]

Elvis was definitely not white.

There's a chsnce Michael wasn't really white either. Not as obvious as Elvis or MM though.

 

[Spam On Rye]

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.

No argument here. I just find their music lacks aesthetics. They always seemed like a watered down version of the Kinks tbh. Plus Lennon had a knack for writing pretentious drivel and pushed his talentless wife's music onto the poor unsuspecting world.

 

[Madmick]

I did forget Mariah. She was big in the late 80's/early 90's but luckily for her in the mid to late 90's hip-hop was popular which helped her, but don't even bring up that Christmas song. It's one of the worst things that come around during Christmas.

However you feel about it that song is the most commercially profitable song of all time, the most played song since it was made by far, and forever changed the music industry.

Question. I get what you are saying and I agree but doesn't streaming actually make it harder to get noticed? Back in the day you were limited to what store had what music but now there are so many options there's no way to see them all. Add in the fact that traditional tv and radio don't hold the same value they used to and wouldn't this make streaming more valuable?

It makes it more competitive to be a mainstream success, but I browse Spotify all the time, and come across artists that nobody on Sherdog would recognize if I named them, and yet their top song has over 200m streams. Besides, that's irrelevant to the fact that once an artist becomes a corporate media darling, their penetration from those streams is vastly beyond what it was decades ago.

 

[mozfonky]

No argument here. I just find their music lacks aesthetics. They always seemed like a watered down version of the Kinks tbh. Plus Lennon had a knack for writing pretentious drivel and pushed his talentless wife's music onto the poor unsuspecting world.

That was post beatles, an arguement can be made that none of them had any greatness apart from the whole. McCartney had plenty of hits but the critics and his public wasn't always to keen on it. Lennon had some pretty good stuff post beatles, I'm with you on the Yoko shit, god that codependent bullshit was vomit inducing. We don' need to hear about it John. Poor George, who wrote a couple tunes that were as great as anything the other two did when he was with the beatles got treated fairly badly by the other two. Ringo was an incredible drummer who even today, many, many drummers will shit on. He revolutionized drumming in my mind. It used to be a back beat until he came along, then people started using more of the entire kit with more imagination. The great motown drummers were doing that and James brown was hiring some inventive cats but pop music was pretty limited in terms of bass and drums, so, McCartney, with his melodic bass lines had a hand in some instrumental innovation too. Very special band who's legacy will only grow with time.

Talk about a legacy in jeapordy, Prince's music is probably going to be forgotten about, not because it wasn't great but just because of the way it's being handled. He left no will and there doesn't seem to be any real direction, in many ways, kind of like he went on tangents when he was alive. Just no real forward push going on for this very special artist.

 

[Spam On Rye]

That was post beatles, an arguement can be made that none of them had any greatness apart from the whole. McCartney had plenty of hits but the critics and his public wasn't always to keen on it. Lennon had some pretty good stuff post beatles, I'm with you on the Yoko shit, god that codependent bullshit was vomit inducing. We don' need to hear about it John. Poor George, who wrote a couple tunes that were as great as anything the other two did when he was with the beatles got treated fairly badly by the other two. Ringo was an incredible drummer who even today, many, many drummers will shit on. He revolutionized drumming in my mind. It used to be a back beat until he came along, then people started using more of the entire kit with more imagination. The great motown drummers were doing that and James brown was hiring some inventive cats but pop music was pretty limited in terms of bass and drums, so, McCartney, with his melodic bass lines had a hand in some instrumental innovation too. Very special band who's legacy will only grow with time.

Talk about a legacy in jeapordy, Prince's music is probably going to be forgotten about, not because it wasn't great but just because of the way it's being handled. He left no will and there doesn't seem to be any real direction, in many ways, kind of like he went on tangents when he was alive. Just no real forward push going on for this very special artist.

I agree that you can't really replace anybody in that kinda group without fucking up the chemistry. That being said, I don't mind a few songs from their boy band era and actually don't mind Ringo or George as far as solo stuff goes. I guess I'm mostly turned off by their hippy/drug culture phase and what came after. Don't like any of that shit. Also love a good back beat. Early James Brown with the Famous Flames and the stuff with the J.B.s is great.

I'm a fan of Sign O The Times. Dude was crazy talented. Looks like everybody in Prince's circle is trying to get a piece of the pie. Sad way to see a legacy go.

 

[mozfonky]

I agree that you can't really replace anybody in that kinda group without fucking up the chemistry. That being said, I don't mind a few songs from their boy band era and actually don't mind Ringo or George as far as solo stuff goes. I guess I'm mostly turned off by their hippy/drug culture phase and what came after. Don't like any of that shit. Also love a good back beat. Early James Brown with the Famous Flames and the stuff with the J.B.s is great.

I'm a fan of Sign O The Times. Dude was crazy talented. Looks like everybody in Prince's circle is trying to get a piece of the pie. Sad way to see a legacy go.

The hippy thing, well, some great music but ya, it was bullshit and thankfully didn't really last all that long. They were the very forefront of the music at that time so sure they'll get the blame. Even Hendrix had to go that way when I don't really know how much that was really him, all these years, I still don't know. I know he was crazy and wierd but the hippy influence in his lyrics I see as a calculation on his part to crossover (and it worked). He didn't live long enough to see where he'd go but it would have been in another crazy direction. People that knew him say he was embarrassed by it, the psychedelia. He shouldn't be, he did what he had to do. And, he really always was an outcast, even to black people so him being on the fringes made sense but he was basically a blues guitarist.

With Prince's legacy, my fear isn't about the money of course, I worry that it'll all get bungled so badly that he'll never even have a chance to have a future legacy enjoyed by The Beatles, MJ and Elvis. They were so huge that they don't really need much help, Prince wasn't. Yet, Ironically, he's the guy with the most new music just laying around, around 2-3000 songs. I've heard some of the stuff and some of it is just ok, some of it is mindblowing and some of it is just so mindblowing that it'll never work as far as a pop audience, it's just too much for them. Then, we have all his live shows since a certain point, recorded and filmed in high quality. yet, all they do is re-release purple rain era stuff that we've seen before. I wanna support but I don't always get it. They have managed to release several gorgeous boxsets of different eras of music but only diehards will spend 200 for those, (I have all but one so far).

Some people believe Sign O' The Times is the greatest album ever, I don't even think it's the best Prince album ever but that's the light it's seen in. I'm not ready to place it above Sgt. Peppers or Songs In The Key of Life which I don't know, those two are just so incredible in different ways, I don't really know how anyone can eclipse them. Stevie did not have as long a period of productivity, I can't even listen to much after Hotter than July. Prince was always worth listening to and even if an album sucked there was always something that I loved on it.

 

[mozfonky]

Less talented or not, Madonna is just as famous as Michael Jackson.

She's at that level, certainly, I don't think people in faroff tribes know Madonna or much anyone else but they'll sometimes know MJ.

I understand the pop world, what bothers the hell out of me is when Madonna and others like her get people to think that she is somehow "great" or "a great artist" or talented. No one has ever adequately or convincingly explain that. She sold being a total whore and she sold to the women by telling them to be bitches to men too. That worked for her but how is that great art? And how much of it was by her? People like her are able to hire the best of the best to put together everything and she can put her name on it.

 

[Mangar]

number 9 is off white

as is #2

 

[Mangar]

It hurts my heart to see Rod Stewart at 17.

I don't think that guy's ever had a good song. That Maggie May song is his biggest hit and it's garbage.

I like his music but I am a bit surprised to see him that high. I'd say Young Turks is by far my favorite song from him.

 

[Osculater]

I've been claiming him as Indian for years but my friends tease me. The rumor has been out there since he started that he was black and passing for white. some just claim he's "redbone" which is a melange of white.black and Indian, I could believe it. I wish one of his descendants would do a DNA test.

How much native would he had because the dude was blonde but he dyed his hair black

 

[Gigacardio]

She's at that level, certainly, I don't think people in faroff tribes know Madonna or much anyone else but they'll sometimes know MJ.

I understand the pop world, what bothers the hell out of me is when Madonna and others like her get people to think that she is somehow "great" or "a great artist" or talented. No one has ever adequately or convincingly explain that. She sold being a total whore and she sold to the women by telling them to be bitches to men too. That worked for her but how is that great art? And how much of it was by her? People like her are able to hire the best of the best to put together everything and she can put her name on it.

Far off tribes? They won't know about Michael Jackson either.

Madonna at least had a lot of catchy and down right good songs but you're right that she did NOT write them herself. Fun fact: most people don't know it but she started out as a BALLERINA (attended a ballet academy as an adult for two years)!

 

[mozfonky]

How much native would he had because the dude was blonde but he dyed his hair black

we don't know, no one does, and neither do I really. There was supposedly some evidence in Elaine Dundy's book (I think), Gladys and Elvis that he had Cherokee from 2 sources. He also apparently had a maternal jewish grandmother which people seem to not know about, the reason he had a star of david on Glady's tombstone.

Overall though, he doesn't really have the typical bonestructure of a white man. That's why so many people were convinced he was passing for white in the early days, that and the b&w photos where he did look ambiguous, even sexually. A dna test might give us some answers but they've never done one. I could definitely see some black blood in their too, especially as his ancestors came from the area that Natives/whites/blacks pretty much all mixed together. It's always been a topic too, the movie King Creole played off of it. If you've ever seen a creole you could see how they'd pass for white if they wanted. The boxer, Willie Pastrano, was creole but he could have just as easily passed for white, italian or something.

 

[mozfonky]

Far off tribes? They won't know about Michael Jackson either.

Madonna at least had a lot of catchy and down right good songs but you're right that she did NOT write them herself. Fun fact: most people don't know it but she started out as a BALLERINA (attended a ballet academy as an adult for two years)!

Some tribes do know MJ, not all, there's vids on youtube proving it. It's a big world out there with lots of people from very different worlds. I'd say MJ reaches farther than anyone though. Ali used to be that guy but time and MJ erased that.

Ya, I know that about Madonna, I read all about her in the 80's when I was young, even went to a concert of hers, don't really know what I was thinking. It was mediocre, everything, the singing, the dancing and the sound which wasn't her fault, we had a building in seattle known for bad acoustcs then, the Kingdome.

 

[pv3Hpv3p]

It hurts my heart to see Rod Stewart at 17.

I don't think that guy's ever had a good song. That Maggie May song is his biggest hit and it's garbage.

Ooh la la is a great song

 

[Gutter Chris]

Where are Insane Clown Posse?

Pop hits and what is actually awesome are not always the same thing. Not a whole lot of 90s midwest punk ska on that list either but damned if it's not better than most of it.


Considering how specific it is to south eastern Michigan white trash culture I'm shocked there are juggalos world wide.

 

[mozfonky]

Pop hits and what is actually awesome are not always the same thing. Not a whole lot of 90s midwest punk ska on that list either but damned if it's not better than most of it.


Considering how specific it is to south eastern Michigan white trash culture I'm shocked there are juggalos world wide.

absolutely right, but the very best have a knack for combining greatness with fluff, it's why I'd consider George Michael a better pop songwriter than MJ or Prince. The hardcore artistry of Prince or Mj even with their eyes on sales never, ever let them get too far away from dark, brooding, serious sick and twisted shit. Billy Jean and When Doves Cry, their biggest hits are not really pop songs. Billy Jean is the blues with the quincy jones, modern studio sheen, When Doves Cry is so bizarre and unusual for the pop audience that it had the effect where we all remember where we were when we first heard it.