Best selling artists, albums and singles of all-time
Artists Ranking – ASR – Overall
The ASR (Artist Success Rating) represents the cumulative success of an artist, regardless of how the value of the discography has been exploited. Each figure is a key indicator, without any unit. For a better readability, it is given in base 1000.
Please keep in mind that some artists are missing, because their analysis has not been done yet. The complete list is available here. All figures reflect the value as collected at the time of the artist’s respective articles.
1. Michael Jackson – 1000 (as of Sep 2017)
2. The Beatles – 928 (as of Mar 2017)
3. Queen – 843 (as of Jan 2020)
4. Elvis Presley – 696 (as of Sep 2018)
5. Eagles – 639 (as of Dec 2017)
6. Led Zeppelin – 583 (as of Aug 2016)
7. ABBA – 582 (as of Nov 2016)
8. Madonna – 552 (as of Aug 2017)
9. Pink Floyd – 551 (as of Jun 2017)
10. The Rolling Stones – 551 (as of Dec 2016)
11. Simon & Garfunkel – 542 (as of May 2018)
12. Elton John – 542 (as of Feb 2018)
13. AC/DC – 507 (as of Feb 2018)
14. Bee Gees – 501 (as of Apr 2017)
15. Eric Clapton – 497 (as of Oct 2022)
16. U2 – 497 (as of Aug 2016)
17. Céline Dion – 490 (as of Sep 2016)
18. Whitney Houston – 463 (as of May 2017)
19. Fleetwood Mac – 463 (as of Oct 2016)
20. Rod Stewart & Faces – 458 (as of Nov 2019)
21. Phil Collins – 455 (as of Apr 2018)
22. Bon Jovi – 444 (as of Nov 2016)
23. Bob Marley – 440 (as of Nov 2017)
24. Mariah Carey – 426 (as of Apr 2017)
25. Eminem – 424 (as of Jun 2021)
26. The Police – 419 (as of Jun 2020)
27. Garth Brooks – 409 (as of Jan 2019)
28. Billy Joel – 408 (as of Oct 2016)
29. Guns N’ Roses – 403 (as of Mar 2018)
30. Bruce Springsteen – 402 (as of Jul 2017)
31. The Doors – 396 (as of Mar 2019)
32. Adele – 383 (as of Jun 2022)
33. Metallica – 382 (as of Feb 2019)
34. Santana – 376 (as of Aug 2020)
35. Dire Straits – 375 (as of Mar 2018)
36. Aerosmith – 365 (as of Jun 2018)
37. Nirvana – 349 (as of Jul 2017)
38. Creedence Clearwater Revival – 343 (as of Jan 2019)
39. Jimi Hendrix – 341 (as of Dec 2021)
40. Bryan Adams – 339 (as of Mar 2019)
41. Barbra Streisand – 333 (as of Mar 2018)
42. Journey – 322 (as of Sep 2019)
43. Backstreet Boys – 318 (as of Feb 2017)
44. Stevie Wonder – 316 (as of Mar 2021)
45. Britney Spears – 314 (as of Apr 2019)
46. Shania Twain – 305 (as of Dec 2016)
47. Prince – 304 (as of Oct 2018)
48. George Michael & Wham! – 302 (as of May 2017)
49. Bob Dylan – 294 (as of Oct 2016)
50. David Bowie – 292 (as of Jan 2017)
51. Deep Purple – 283 (as of Aug 2021)
52. Van Halen – 270 (as of Dec 2020)
53. Coldplay – 269 (as of Jun 2021)
54. Taylor Swift – 268 (as of Nov 2022)
55. Genesis – 264 (as of May 2022)
56. John Lennon – 260 (as of Oct 2018)
57. Red Hot Chili Peppers – 257 (as of Mar 2018)
58. Ed Sheeran – 251 (as of Oct 2021)
59. Sade – 250 (as of Jul 2020)
60. Black Sabbath – 247 (as of Mar 2020)
61. Alanis Morissette – 244 (as of Jun 2018)
62. Supertramp – 242 (as of Aug 2019)
63. Enya – 242 (as of Feb 2018)
64. R.E.M. – 241 (as of Sep 2021)
65. BTS – 240 (as of Jun 2022)
66. Meat Loaf – 234 (as of Jun 2018)
67. Linkin Park – 233 (as of Jun 2017)
68. Justin Bieber – 233 (as of May 2022)
69. Iron Maiden – 230 (as of Nov 2021)
70. Cream – 230 (as of Oct 2022)
71. Beyonce – 229 (as of Jul 2022)
72. Green Day – 228 (as of Mar 2017)
73. Sting – 227 (as of Jun 2020)
74. Rihanna – 225 (as of Jun 2021)
75. Lady Gaga – 225 (as of Dec 2020)
76. Paul McCartney – 223 (as of Dec 2018)
77. Robbie Williams – 217 (as of Dec 2019)
78. P!nk – 214 (as of Jun 2022)
79. Crosby Stills & Nash – 214 (as of May 2021)
80. Cher – 213 (as of Aug 2017)
81. Jackson 5 & The Jacksons – 211 (as of Sep 2017)
82. Janet Jackson – 205 (as of Apr 2017)
83. Boston – 204 (as of Jun 2019)
84. Neil Young – 203 (as of May 2021)
85. 2Pac – 203 (as of Jan 2022)
86. Spice Girls – 203 (as of Mar 2017)
87. Maroon 5 – 201 (as of Dec 2019)
88. Tracy Chapman – 194 (as of Jun 2019)
89. Destiny’s Child – 193 (as of Jul 2022)
90. Oasis – 190 (as of Dec 2017)
91. Bruno Mars – 185 (as of Jun 2019)
92. Paul Simon – 182 (as of May 2018)
93. Norah Jones – 176 (as of Nov 2016)
94. No Doubt – 172 (as of Mar 2020)
95. Black Eyed Peas – 170 (as of Aug 2017)
96. TLC – 169 (as of Apr 2019)
97. The Weeknd – 165 (as of Jul 2022)
98. Cranberries – 162 (as of Jan 2018)
99. Shakira – 161 (as of Jun 2018)
100. Usher – 159 (as of Sep 2017)
101. Ozzy Osbourne – 157 (as of Mar 2020)
102. Katy Perry – 156 (as of Jun 2019)
103. Nickelback – 153 (as of Jun 2017)
104. Michael Buble – 152 (as of Dec 2016)
105. Drake – 151 (as of Jul 2021)
106. Ayumi Hamasaki – 150 (as of Sep 2019)
107. Alicia Keys – 148 (as of Nov 2016)
108. Evanescence – 147 (as of Jun 2019)
109. NSYNC – 146 (as of Feb 2018)
110. Christina Aguilera – 145 (as of Mar 2017)
111. Fugees – 141 (as of Feb 2021)
112. Avril Lavigne – 141 (as of Feb 2018)
113. Justin Timberlake – 137 (as of Feb 2018)
114. Take That – 137 (as of Dec 2019)
115. Amy Winehouse – 134 (as of Jul 2019)
116. Johnny Hallyday – 127 (as of Jan 2018)
117. Enrique Iglesias – 127 (as of Sep 2016)
118. Ariana Grande – 127 (as of Sep 2021)
119. Billie Eilish – 126 (as of Jul 2022)
120. Shawn Mendes – 124 (as of Dec 2022)
121. Dido – 123 (as of Feb 2019)
122. One Direction – 123 (as of May 2017)
123. Jennifer Lopez – 123 (as of Jun 2018)
124. James Blunt – 121 (as of Feb 2019)
125. Kelly Clarkson – 117 (as of May 2018)
126. Dua Lipa – 115 (as of May 2022)
127. Foo Fighters – 110 (as of Oct 2017)
128. Imagine Dragons – 107 (as of Sep 2018)
129. Miley Cyrus – 107 (as of Dec 2020)
130. Ms. Lauryn Hill – 107 (as of Feb 2021)
131. Kylie Minogue – 105 (as of Apr 2018)
132. Charlie Puth – 103 (as of Dec 2022)
133. Post Malone – 102 (as of Nov 2020)
134. Kendrick Lamar – 97 (as of May 2022)
135. Mannheim Steamroller – 95 (as of Dec 2020)
136. Lana Del Rey – 93 (as of Aug 2022)
137. Arctic Monkeys – 93 (as of Oct 2022)
138. Bad Bunny – 92 (as of Jun 2022)
139. Carrie Underwood – 90 (as of Sep 2018)
140. Sam Smith – 89 (as of Oct 2017)
141. Gwen Stefani – 86 (as of Apr 2020)
142. Travis Scott – 86 (as of Apr 2022)
143. Lil Nas X – 85 (as of Aug 2022)
144. Carly Rae Jepsen – 85 (as of Dec 2022)
145. Selena Gomez – 84 (as of Mar 2021)
146. Gorillaz – 81 (as of May 2017)
147. Meghan Trainor – 76 (as of Oct 2022)
148. Harry Styles – 75 (as of May 2022)
149. Blackpink – 72 (as of Sep 2021)
150. Macklemore – 72 (as of Nov 2017)
151. Buffalo Springfield – 71 (as of May 2021)
152. Fergie – 71 (as of Jul 2017)
153. Cardi B – 70 (as of Sep 2021)
154. Björk – 68 (as of Dec 2018)
155. Xuxa – 67 (as of Oct 2022)
156. Olivia Rodrigo – 66 (as of Aug 2022)
157. Blind Faith – 66 (as of Oct 2022)
158. The Yardbirds – 66 (as of Oct 2022)
159. Avicii – 65 (as of Apr 2018)
160. Doja Cat – 63 (as of Aug 2022)
161. Aaliyah – 61 (as of Feb 2017)
162. Juice Wrld – 60 (as of Aug 2021)
163. Lin-Manuel Miranda – 59 (as of Jan 2022)
164. Lewis Capaldi – 58 (as of Sep 2021)
165. SZA – 54 (as of Dec 2022)
166. Lorde – 51 (as of Jun 2017)
167. Renaud – 48 (as of Nov 2017)
168. Will.i.am – 46 (as of Jul 2017)
169. Demi Lovato – 43 (as of Oct 2018)
170. Little Mix – 34 (as of Feb 2020)
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??? 😓