Best selling artists, albums and singles of all-time
Albums Ranking – CSPC – Overall sales
This list is about the most successful albums of all time (understand “which have generated the most sales”). The figures are given in EAS (equivalent album sales).
Please keep in mind that some artists are missing, because their analysis has not been done yet. The complete list is available here. Sales figures reflect the value as collected at the time of the artist’s respective articles while streams are updated daily. Albums from unstudied artists which gained significant streams are listed but miss the sales component.
Available Lists
In the following results table, all categories display figures in equivalent album sales. If different, pure sales are listed between parentheses.
If you are on mobile, be aware that detailed sales by format are displayed on larger devices.
| # | Cover | Album | Sales* | Streams | Total CSPC | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio Albums | Other LPs | Physical Singles | Digital Singles | EAS | Daily Increase | |||||
| 1 |  | Tracy ChapmanTracy Chapman | 22,470,000(06/25/19) | 2,561,000 | 521,000(1,737,000) | 1,161,000(7,740,000) | 1,266,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 560LD: 740 | 27,979,000 | |
| 2 |  | WatermarkEnya | 13,130,000(02/25/18) | 6,007,000 | 465,000(1,550,000) | 225,000(1,500,000) | 395,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 160LD: 190 | 20,222,000 | |
| 3 |  | New JerseyBon Jovi | 13,900,000(01/28/22) | 3,328,000 | 1,740,000(5,800,000) | 495,000(3,300,000) | 528,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 280LD: 300 | 19,991,000 | |
| 4 |  | ?And Justice For AllMetallica | 15,840,000(02/13/19) | 1,725,000 | 435,000(1,450,000) | 659,000(4,390,000) | 1,234,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 560LD: 710 | 19,893,000 | |
| 5 |  | Rattle And HumU2 | 13,800,000(09/18/21) | 1,839,000 | 870,000(2,900,000) | 255,000(1,700,000) | 246,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 120LD: 130 | 17,010,000 | |
| 6 |  | Gnr LiesGuns N' Roses | 9,940,000(03/01/18) | 1,125,000 | 273,000(910,000) | 293,000(1,950,000) | 545,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 230LD: 320 | 12,176,000 | |
| 7 | More Dirty DancingDirty Dancing | 8,780,000(01/13/18) | 2,310,000 | 0(0) | 4,000(30,000) | 3,000 (01/13/18) | N/A | 11,097,000 | ||
| 8 |  | Stronger than PrideSade | 8,280,000(07/02/20) | 1,977,000 | 296,000(985,000) | 143,000(950,000) | 191,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 90LD: 140 | 10,887,000 | |
| 9 |  | A Fresh Aire ChristmasMannheim Steamroller | 6,645,000(12/28/20) | 1,887,000 | 0(0) | 116,000(770,000) | 39,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 20LD: 0 | 8,687,000 | |
| 10 |  | KylieKylie Minogue | 5,040,000(04/16/18) | 1,488,000 | 1,872,000(6,240,000) | 69,000(460,000) | 148,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 80LD: 120 | 8,617,000 | |
| 11 |  | Out Of OrderRod Stewart | 4,600,000(11/23/19) | 1,237,000 | 753,000(2,510,000) | 243,000(1,620,000) | 83,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 40LD: 50 | 6,916,000 | |
| 12 |  | OU812Van Halen | 5,795,000(08/14/20) | 264,000 | 377,000(1,255,000) | 108,000(720,000) | 64,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 30LD: 30 | 6,608,000 | |
| 13 |  | Xou da Xuxa 3Xuxa | 3,325,000(10/13/22) | 3,074,000 | 5,000(18,000) | 5,000(30,000) | 61,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 50LD: 60 | 6,470,000 | |
| 14 | BusterPhil Collins & Various Artists | 3,090,000(04/11/18) | 1,509,000 | 1,545,000(5,150,000) | 209,000(1,390,000) | 40,000 (04/11/18) | N/A | 6,393,000 | ||
| 15 |  | Seventh Son of a Seventh SonIron Maiden | 4,815,000(11/12/21) | 979,000 | 260,000(740,000) | 50,000(330,000) | 180,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 90LD: 100 | 6,283,000 | |
| 16 |  | GreenR.E.M. | 4,765,000(09/24/21) | 427,000 | 246,000(815,000) | 92,000(610,000) | 112,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 60LD: 70 | 5,641,000 | |
| 17 |  | LovesexyPrince | 3,390,000(10/04/18) | 232,000 | 552,000(1,840,000) | 38,000(250,000) | 18,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 10LD: 0 | 4,230,000 | |
| 18 |  | Blow Up Your VideoAC/DC | 3,860,000(02/20/18) | 170,000 | 90,000(300,000) | 15,000(100,000) | 64,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 30LD: 30 | 4,199,000 | |
| 19 |  | No Rest for the WickedOzzy Osbourne | 3,690,000(03/12/20) | 99,000 | 15,000(50,000) | 21,000(140,000) | 33,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 10LD: 20 | 3,858,000 | |
| 20 |  | Till I Loved YouBarbra Streisand | 2,550,000(03/16/18) | 78,000 | 219,000(730,000) | 5,000(30,000) | 15,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 2,867,000 | |
| 21 |  | American Dream [CSNY]Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | 2,430,000(05/16/21) | 2,000 | 86,000(288,000) | 15,000(100,000) | 14,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 0LD: 10 | 2,547,000 | |
| 22 |  | Reg Strikes BackElton John | 1,880,000(02/05/18) | 54,000 | 527,000(1,757,000) | 5,000(30,000) | 26,000 (02/04/23) | Av.: 10LD: 20 | 2,492,000 | |
| *Pure sales figures updated on date below studio album sales. 'Av.' stands for Average, 'LD' for Last Day. | ||||||||||
Sandy & Júnior is a brasilian duo, sold more than 2,5 million Records with “As quatro estações “ in 1999. In 2000 sold more than 3 million with “as quatro estações ao vivo”..
If the daily gains (Av and LD) are an indicator, and I extrapolate them with rounded figures for the top albums EAS, the top 20 would look something like this in 10 years: 1. Thriller 130 2. Hotel California 76 3. SNF 75 4. Rumours 72 5. Bad 71 6. Nevermind 69 7. Back in Black 68 8. 21 66 9. DSOTM 63 10. IV 62 11. Bodyguard 58 11. Grease 58 11. The Wall 58 11. SWW 58 15. AfD 57 15. Metallica 57 17. Eminem Show 54 18. Joshua Tree 53 18. The Fame / Monster 53 20.… Read more »
It’s nice to see some “newer” albums possibly entering the top spots. Adele top 10, and Lady Gaga and Eminem top 20. The top of the lists are finally changing!
And who knows how close 1989 and Divide will be by then!
1989 will be around 50m or probably higher given tht its doing 8000 daily right now and its rerecording is coming soon
That’s definitely possible, but the LD’S of newer albums are changing more than older albums, so it’s even more speculating to predict their future numbers.
I believe that today there is an error for the daily streaming for The Joshua Tree (U2), yesterday it reported 2,011,000 streams with a daily stream of 1,160 strams and today instead always 2,011,000 streams with a daily stream of only 140, therefore still less than War, The Unforgettable Fire, Rattle And Hum, Achtung Baby and All That You Can’t Leave Behind.
There is an error in today’s stream numbers for …And Justice for All (Metallica)
Hello.
Can you check the sales for singer Anastacia? Her self-titled album seems to have sold circa 10 M in Europe in 2004, being allegedly the second most successful album behind Usher’s confession.
Thank you!
It’s only 3x platinum in Europe… Her best selling album sold maybe 5 million worldwide, she had zero success in the US which is kinda weird considering she’s American!
In a few hours Nevermind replaces in eighth place current album The Dark side of the moon.
i noticed that maybe there are some errors for physical singles of some artists like Sting & Police, Metallica, U2, so maybe their total of their physical singles in their CSPC articles where there is also streaming might change, check it out I await your reply.
Of the artists studied so far, how many have sold more than 100 million albums (all types) outside the United States?
Off the top of my head there are the obvious candidates like The Beatles, Queen, MJ, Pink Floyd, Madonna, The Stones etc. U2 might sneak it?
Are there any others I’ve missed?
Cheers!
Maybe Celine Dion and Abba have also managed?
Approximately :
The Beatles 170m
MJ 155m
Queen 145m
Madonna 130m
Pink Floyd 125m
ABBA 110m
Céline Dion 110m
Rolling Stones 110m
U2 105m
Cheers! Quite a select group…
When will Melanie Martinez be on the list? She definitely has enough sales and streams…
She has sold about 6-7M albums. I doubt she even has enough for a light article.
I’m sorry, but there is an article about Zara Larsson who is in the same league as Melanie Martinez. I doubt I deserved the dislike for what I was saying. She deserves to be on the list.
its obvious that Paramore have at least +15million albums sales worldwide….they have like 60 million singles too, why not update??? 😓